Engines

In what appears to be the major product introduction of the Aero show in Friedrichshafen, Piper Aircraft announced Wednesday that it began marketing a diesel-powered Archer, the Archer DX. The aircraft is certified under an STC developed by Piper and Continental Motors and it will have Continentals Centurion 2.0s, a 155-horsepower variant of the base […]

With more 600 exhibitors and increased North American presence, Europes largest general aviation trade show opens in Friedrichshafen today. At least two new certified aircraft are expected to be announced and a number of companies, including Garmin, will introduce Europe-specific products. The show will have four spotlight areas, including an engine display sponsored by AVwebs […]

As Sun n Fun drew to a close over the weekend, Id say that most of the people I spoke to deemed it about average. As Ive said before, its pointless to draw any conclusions about the aviation economy based on how vendors saw the booth traffic or what the daily gate was. Weve long […]

Rotax has tweaked the fuel-injected 912 iS to optimize its application in light sport aircraft. AVweb’s Paul Bertorelli spoke with Dean Vogel of Lockwood Aviation at Sun ‘n Fun. Duration: 6:16 File Size: 5.7 MB download here

Premier Aircraft said this week at Sun ‘n Fun that’s it’s considering expanding its aircraft diesel conversion program to include the Piper Warrior II and III models under STCs originally developed by the former Thielert Aircraft Engines. Earlier this year, Premier announced a Cessna 172 Skyhawk conversion program, using the Continental Centurion 2.0 aerodiesel that’s […]

Power Flow Systems, maker of tuned exhaust system mods, has apparently had enough of the Internet harping of critics of its product and has fired a high-caliber put up or shut up salvo in reply. In an offer entitled “Shoot-Down at High Noon,” Power Flow has said it is willing to come to any of […]

Although it has kept its development out of the public eye, Lycoming appears to be much further along in aircraft diesel engine development than many in the industry realize. Using the booming unmanned aircraft sector as a launching pad, Lycoming told us that it has leveraged automotive technology to develop whats essentially a diesel near-equivalent […]

Although a lot of aircraft engines are approved to burn mogas, that doesn’t include many high-compression, high-horspower engines like the Continental IO-520. That’s where the Airplains ADI system comes in. It injects a water/methanol mixture into the induction system to allow the burning of lower-octane auto gas. Here’s a video tour of the system. view […]

Pipistrels sleek Panthera retractable, announced two years ago, will soon have a six-cylinder Lycoming IO-540 rather than the IO-390 originally planned. The engine switch was forced because Lycoming wont be approving the IO-390 for mogas, according to Pipistrel. The IO-540 replacement, which Pipistrel says will improve short-field and high density altitude takeoff performance, will be […]

In the world of military aviation, the piston engine was left for dead sometime in the 1950s and it would still be thus if drones hadnt come along. But piston engines swinging old-school props give unmanned aircraft something that jet engines cant: unrivaled mid-altitude efficiency and endurance. So as unlikely as it seems, drone technology […]