On three separate visits to Rotax, I was able to attend one of their Fly-in events, plus a special visit just for aviation journalists.

Beautiful and inviting as Wels is, this is not an easy visit for folks from the company’s far-flung customer base in nearly every country on Earth. So, in addition to inviting the world to their headquarters event, Rotax is going abroad.

Get ready for Rotax’s World Tour 2024

The Biggest goes Bigger

BRP-Rotax is the Austrian subsidiary of BRP Inc., “a leader in the development and production of propulsion systems for the recreational and power sports markets,” according to the company.

Founded in 1920, BRP-Rotax builds innovative Rotax four-stroke and two-stroke high-performance engines used in products such as Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobiles, Sea-Doo personal watercraft, Can-Am onroad and offroad vehicles, as well as for karts and sport planes. More than 1,700 employees work in Gunskirchen with a smaller, separately-quartered group focused exclusively on aircraft engines (considered a premiere job within the enormous facility).

Headquartered in Quebec, Canada, BRP has annual sales of CA $10 billion from over 130 countries and a global workforce of close to 23,000.

In the light aviation community, the Rotax name dominates with more than 75 percent of the market. Rotax works directly through a network of national distributors, which in turn serve more than 250 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)… or, simply, aircraft manufacturers to you and me.

If it’s light and flies, odds are high it is powered by a Rotax engine.

• READ MORE: CubCrafters Votes for New Rotax Powerplant

Given its globe-spanning reach, the company’s World Tour 2024 will bring the company directly to customers and businessmen alike. Read below what each of the locations has to offer.

Rotax announced from Gunskirchen, Austria on February 6, “The Rotax Fly-In event, which in the past exclusively took place in Wels, Austria, will be rolled out internationally, as announced last August. Brazil was the first stop of the Rotax Fly-In world tour, reflecting the high interest in BRP events far beyond Europe, with almost 200 aviation enthusiasts in attendance.”

Rotax’s Fly-In World Tour “serves as a platform for all aviation enthusiasts and curious minds to celebrate the aviation community, discover new developments, and put things to the test.,” the company wrote. “In other words, the Rotax Fly-In World Tour is a new international aviation festival. Similar to the Rotax Fly-In in Austria, all events are designed to be informative and entertaining, maintaining the quality standards of BRP-Rotax. The events will be organized and hosted by the independent distribution and service partner network.” 

“Being able to announce such an impressive lineup in the first year highlights once again the commitment of our network partners. This event series is exactly what our customers have been asking for,” said Peter Oelsinger, general manager, BRP Rotax.

Welcome from Each Location

Rotax Fly-In Australia

April 12-14

Location: Parkes Airport, Parkes (NSW 2870), Australia

Organizer: Bertflood Imports Pty, Ltd.

“Explore the World of Rotax Aircraft in a friendly and informal environment at the Fly-In 2024 at Parkes Airport in NSW. See the latest Rotax engines and chat with like-minded pilots and flight enthusiasts from Australia and all over the world. Visit the aircraft demonstration area and see the latest new aircraft. Listen to expert speakers and get great tips on engine maintenance. Rotax has provided a fantastic program with exciting activities and catering. Don’t miss out–come and join us!”

Rotax Fly-In Austria

August 23-24

Location: Weiße Möwe Wels (LOLW), Austria

Organizer: BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG

“Discover the world of Rotax Aircraft in a casual atmosphere at the Fly-In 2024 in Wels. Chat and share your experiences with like-minded pilots and flight enthusiasts from all over the world. Rotax has planned a program with exciting activities and catering. Don’t miss it!” This beautiful town in Austria is also near the Rotax factory; if tours are offered, by all means, go. —DJ

Rotax Fly-In Canada

September 7

Location: Vernon – Rotech Motor Ltd. (CYVK), BC Canada

Organizer: Rotech Motor Ltd.

“The Rotax Fly-In World Tour is set to visit Canada in a very big way. Vernon, B.C., Canada, is home to the world’s first Rotax aircraft engine distributor—now with a flourishing community of Rotax pilots. Don’t miss this chance to visit such a beautiful region of The Great White North with like-minded aviators.”

Rotax Fly-In Argentina

October 26-27

Location: Aeroclub La Cumbre (SACC), Argentina

Organizer: Ultralight SRL

“Beautiful Argentina has yet another attraction to see. La Cumbre, near the city of Cordoba, is one of those destinations not to be missed. La Cumbre, meaning ‘the peak,’ is sure to be one of the peaks of 2024. This World Tour event will be filled with fun, community, food, and flying, of course!”

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Dreadnought, the flagship of the Sanders race team, is a fixture at the Reno Air Races. Since the heavily modified Sea Fury’s first race in 1983, it has been a constant menace to the souped-up racers who gathered each September at Stead Field (KRTS) to race for the Sunday Unlimited Gold. In the words of Matt Russell, longtime race enthusiast, “Dreadnought kept everyone honest. Without ‘The Buick’ in the field, there was considerably less pressure to push the racers to the limit. That ship kept everyone motivated.” 

Chatter between fans and Dreadnought crew in the pits at Stead makes it clear that after the Mayday call during qualifying this year, Dreadnought’s engine is toast. “You can push on the prop if you want, but it won’t turn,” one mechanic told a fan. After landing, the crew pulled the oil screens and found slivers of metal likely indicating the master rod bearing failed. The damage was such that the crew didn’t even bother opening the cowlings. Dreadnought was down for the remainder of the race. While fans hoped desperately for a miracle—a Pratt & Whitney R-4360 race engine materializing was beyond the pale of the miracles one might encounter on the ramp at Reno. 

This race engine has been on Dreadnought for 15 years; the crankshaft was installed in the prior engine that ran 13 years before that. Needless to say, 28 years of life on a crankshaft in a racer is remarkable—but it was apparent Dreadnought’s caretakers are concerned the failed master rod bearing could have caused irreparable harm to the beating heart of the beloved racer. 

In a radial engine, the master rod is a connecting rod from the crankshaft to a piston, and the connecting rods to all the other cylinders bolt to the master rod. The crew was quick to point out that had the master rod actually failed, the damage would have been absolutely catastrophic. “There would have been cylinders all over the race course,” a mechanic said in conversation with a fan.

Crew members said Dreadnought will remain on display through the remainder of the event and will be trucked home for repairs after the Sunday Race. The Sanders team has a trailer set up for Sea Fury racers. They’ll pull the wings, mount Dreadnought on the trailer in a pretty aggressive bank angle to meet roadway restrictions, and it’ll head home a bit more humbly than it arrived.

“You’ve not seen the last of this bird, not by a long shot,” fans were told. Wherever the next iteration of unlimited air racing happens to come along, we’re sure the distinctive gray racer will rejoin the ranks and push the field to race all the way to the finish line on Sunday.

The post ‘Dreadnought’ Sidelined for the Remainder of Reno appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

Answer: You won’t find a reference in the federal aviation regulations (FARs) that says fuel gauges are only required to read accurately when the tank is empty. That statement “only when empty” is a myth that has been handed down through the decades.

What you will find in Part 23 (which covers the certification of aircraft) under FAR 23.1337(b) powerplant instrument installation is “Fuel quantity indication. There must be a means to indicate to the flight crew members the quantity of usable fuel in each tank during flight.” The reg continues: “Each fuel quantity indicator must be calibrated to read zero during level flight when the quantity of fuel remaining in the tank is equal to the unusable fuel supply.”

Unusable fuel is what’s left in the bottom of the tank or the fuel lines that can’t reach the engine for operation. It is like the mustard in the bottom of a jar that you can’t get to. This unusable fuel is not going to help you keep the engine running anymore than the mustard you cannot reach can go on the sandwich.

One could surmise that if the tank has run down to “unusable fuel,” the pilot will figure it out when the engine sputters then quits due to fuel exhaustion. So perhaps that is where the fuel gauge myth began.

The post How Accurate Are Airplane Fuel Gauges? appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

Yet Carbon Cub UL is also the first aircraft in the world to be fitted with the Austrian engine maker’s newest 916iS powerplant. Why did the Washington state company do this?

One main reason given by Brad Damm, the company’s vice president of sales and marketing, is because customers asked for it. However, Brad has several other good reasons, which he shared in the video below.

916iS Launch Customer

At Sun ‘n Fun 2023, CubCrafters introduced a new variant of its Carbon Cub aircraft line. Being developed with a special eye for international markets, the west coast company named it “Carbon Cub UL.”

“We invested in several new technologies to make the Carbon Cub UL even lighter and better performing than its predecessor, the Carbon Cub SS,” stated CubCrafters. “The goal is a new airplane that features multi-fuel technology (mogas and/or avgas), fully meets ASTM standards, and carries two adult people with a full fuel load and a reasonable amount of baggage at a takeoff weight of 600 kilograms or 1,320 pounds.”

Key to the development of the new aircraft is CubCrafters’ collaboration with BRP-Rotax, said CubCrafters, because the engine maker chose top launch their new 160 horsepower turbocharged engine on the Carbon Cub UL. The new 916iS engine is lighter, more fuel efficient, and thanks to turbocharging, can produce more power than the normally aspirated CC340 engine on the Carbon Cub SS (especially) in higher density altitude scenarios.

  The UL concept of a lighter and even better performing version of the Carbon Cub for international markets was first seen for a stunt in Dubai, UAE. A technology demonstrator version of the aircraft was able to successfully land and take off again from a 27-meter (about 90 foot) diameter heliport that is suspended 56 stories above the ground on top of Dubai’s iconic skyscraper, Burj Al Arab hotel as part of a recent Red Bull project that inspired audiences worldwide.Much more information about the Carbon Cub UL, including a product launch Q&A, engine technical specifications from Rotax, and video and still images of the aircraft and engine for editorial use can be found on this dedicated webpage.

ARTICLE LINKS:

• CubCrafters, contact info and content on this website
• CubCrafters, special launch page for the Carbon Cub UL
• CubCrafters, main factory website
• Rotax 916iS, launch website

The post CubCrafters Votes for New Rotax Powerplant appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

“We (some manufacturer) offer two 100-horsepower choices: a Rotax 912ULS (carbureted) and 912iS (fuel injected), plus the new 141-horsepower 915iS (fuel injected, intercooled). Yet everyone is ordering the 915.” More power always draws interest.

BRP-Rotax has bumped up the juice on the 912iS. Paul Mather of M-Square reported, “Rotax’s latest 912iS now offers 105 horsepower.”

This increase is not particularly unusual. BRP-Rotax has long been quite conservative with their initial numbers. Before the 915iS was ready for market, the Austrian manufacturer said to expect 135 horsepower. It turned out to test at 141 continuous horsepower, a 4-percent increase.

And Now…Rotax’s newest 916iS

At their Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo 2023 press conference, Rotax said, “We are proud to achieve a new level of performance with the launch of our Rotax 916iS/c aircraft propulsion system, which makes it perfectly suitable for four seater planes and for high performance two seaters.” Float-equipped airplanes may embrace the more potent engine as an aid to break water faster.

How about 160 horsepower!? That’s a 19-horse or 13-percent gain in power, all essentially from the same engine core? With Mosaic set to allow four seaters, heavier airplanes, greater speed, and probably retractable gear, the newest 916iS seems perfectly situated for Mosaic.

However, since the new rule won’t allow deliveries before early 2025, does that mean a long wait for a 916iS? No, as it is not made expressly for Mosaic. Indeed, BRP-Rotax already has a launch customer: CubCrafters.

The popular Cub maker has never used Rotax. They used their own engine (one they had manufactured to their specifications). Understandably, the European engine maker is pleased to win CubCrafters as a new customer.

Rotax observed, “Our Rotax 916iS/c showcased its power for the first time in the new CubCrafters Carbon Cub UL, a new engineering prototype equipped with the 916iS.”

“Working with Rotax on the 916iS/c has been a great collaboration. We are excited to launch our latest products together and make them available worldwide,” said Patrick Horgan, president and CEO of CubCrafters. “The powerful and smooth single lever operation Rotax 916iS/c is outstanding, bringing the latest engine technology to the Carbon Cub family.” Patrick added that 916iS/c is compatible with fuels available worldwide.

Single lever control is a simplified means of offering an in-flight adjustable pitch propeller. SLC does not increase the pilot’s workload, eliminating the need for flight training required to use a constant-speed propeller. The concept, also used in every Cirrus airplane, was promoted by LAMA and is likely to be accepted by the FAA in Mosaic.

Progressive Aerodyne’s Searey offered a long-time test bed for single lever control installation. This particularly handsome Searey is operated by FlytheBeach.com, an active northern Florida flight operation that “has more Seareys than Searey.” FlytheBeach is operated by partners Ryan and Rose who have 4,500 Searey hours between them. This beautifully painted Searey was parked at Sun ‘n Fun 2023.

“The launch of the 916 ISC is yet another testament to our commitment to developing groundbreaking technologies and creating the most advanced propulsion system for our customers,” stated Rotax General Manager Peter Ölsinger of Rotax Propulsion Systems. He continued, “For us, it was crystal clear that we had to build on the success of the 915 engine. We can now seize new opportunities in the four-seat market segment with a perfectly mature product.”

How “mature” is this brand-new engine? Most new powerplants, especially from careful producers such as Rotax, begin life with a 1,000- or 1,200-, or perhaps a 1,500-hour time between overhaul (TBO). However, right out of the gate, 916iS/c offers a 2,000-hour TBO, matching the best from any engine maker in the industry. That shows confidence.

The latest 916iS/c has a maximum operating altitude of 23,000 feet; maximum continuous power is available to 15,000 feet.

Little Things That Matter a Lot

Notice that “c” on the end? It’s a little letter with a big meaning — “certified.” Rotax noted, “In addition, the 916iS/c is an alternative for IFR flights as well as for commercial flying, for example, flight schools. Of course, that little letter “c” its going to increase the price because it is “certified.”

However, Rotax literature specified other variations, such as the 916iS (no “c”), which they describe as the ASTM compliant engine, making them suitable for LSA today and Mosaic LSA or mLSA in 2025. The 916iS/c is certified by EASA (Europe’s rough equivalent to FAA). Commonly, reciprocal agreements between CAAs in western European nations and FAA in America allows the U.S. agency to accept EASA’s approval and vice versa.

Helicopters (and, finally, fully-built gyroplanes) are also expected to be permitted under Mosaic. As rotary aircraft often prefer higher power, 916iS appears to offer a good fit.

Since 915iS has been winning converts steadily, I predict a wonderful response to the latest and greatest from the largest supplier of light aircraft engines in the world.

Strap your seat belt securely, clear the sky ahead and push that SLC throttle to the max. Hoo-yah!

The post Rotax Surprises with a Mosaic-Ready Powerplant appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.

Here are seven engines—and one motor—that changed the game. 

READ MORE: Rotax 912

Gnome/Le Rhône Rotary

Even by the start of the 1910s, it had long been known that weight is the enemy of flight. Power, conversely, was an airplane’s best friend. So, the quest to build ever-lighter and more powerful engines was the critical pursuit as designers around the world sought to create engines to power new, truly practical aircraft. 

Liberty L-12

The Liberty L-12, which emerged toward the end of WWI as a real player, is a fork-in-the-road product, one that marks the divergence of lower-powered engines from engines that would get bigger and more powerful. The L-12 is actually a family of engines, with six- and eight-cylinder models produced, as well. But it was the L-12, a water-cooled, V-12 engine that opened people’s eyes to the potential of gas piston engines. With an engine able to produce 400 horsepower, nearly four times that of the most popular rotary engines of the day, it became clear to designers that the future of aviation power and, hence, aviation itself, was boundless.  

Wright Whirlwind

In light aviation before the era of the air-cooled opposed aero engine, the radial engine was the dominant engine type. This is in part because United States military planners voted strongly for the type, and their hunch paid off handsomely, as a number of radial engines from relatively compact to staggeringly powerful were installed in aircraft from trainers and personal travelers to the biggest bombers. If you want to understand the difference between the potential of the engine types, just picture a radial-engine-powered Beech Staggerwing of 1945 next to an opposed four-cylinder Beech Bonanza of 1945.  

The radial engine that started a flurry of development of this still-much-beloved-but-now-largely obsolete engine type, the Wright Whirlwind was a radial engine whose development dates back to the early 1920s, when the Navy forced Wright’s hand into developing this type. It started as a nine-cylinder radial, but the company soon started building lower-power, lower-weight models of five and seven cylinders, too, for lighter aircraft. 

The advantage of the radial engine was that it was air-cooled, and with the cylinders right out there in the open, they naturally got plenty of air, which eliminated a dangerous failure mode, the loss of liquid cooling, whereas air cooling had no such risk factor; as long as you were flying, the airflow was there. 

There were disadvantages, too. Radial engines have a big footprint, so they are inherently more draggy than inline or V-configuration engines, and as they got larger and more powerful, they were forced toward larger applications, too.

Radials by Pratt & Whitney (the Wasp Junior), Continental, Jacobs and Wright itself, with its Cyclone series, were all mass produced for aircraft between the wars and, at a lesser rate, beyond, being outfitted into some of the most beautiful and prized light aircraft ever built before giving way to opposed engines and a new, more modern world of light personal flying. 

Continental A40 Piper Cub Engine

The increasingly urgent need for greater speed and payload demanded that commercial and military applications go with large radial engines or, less frequently, inline or V-configuration designs. But for light aircraft, those layouts didn’t translate well, as they were relatively heavy, complex and expensive to produce. The engines that caught on were the series of four-cylinder opposed, air-cooled models built by Continental Motors and based on the Piper (nee Taylor) Cub. The 40-hp, magneto-spark engine weighed around 155 pounds, and its compact shape made it the perfect small engine to power what would be known within a few years as a groundbreaking design, C.G. Taylor’s E2 Cub, which morphed into the much-beloved Piper J-3 Cub. 

It was clear from early on that 40-hp was passable but not ideal, so the A40 grew into ever-increasingly powerful and only slightly heavier versions, the ultimate expression of which were the 90-100-hp C-90 and A-200 models, which produced an additional 50-60 horsepower for only an additional 15-25 pounds of dry weight. 

A very similar engine, the Lycoming O-145, emerged shortly thereafter, and it, like its Continental competitors, was perfectly suited for the light planes of the day, including the Piper Cub, into which the Lycoming was also fitted. It’s hard to find details on how many of these engines were produced during their heyday, but the numbers likely are far greater than 100,000, perhaps, apiece. 

Together, the two companies dominated the light plane engine marketplace for decades, and they still provide most of the engines for new-manufacture light aircraft today, all of which are based on these original designs. 

Lycoming 540/Continental 520/550-Series Engines

It might seem odd to break off the Continental and Lycoming six-cylinder engine models from the four-cylinder air-cooled opposed models they were based upon, but their impact on light aviation has been huge. The two companies’ star engines, the 550-series for Continental Aerospace Technologies and the 540-series for Lycoming, have given developers of high-performance single- and twin-engine aircraft a go-to motor for delivering reliable power for some of the most noteworthy aircraft of the modern era, including the Beech Bonanza, the Cessna 210 Centurion and the Cirrus SR22. While conventional wisdom holds that these engines have stood still as time progressed, that’s not really true. The technology behind them, including turbocharging and greatly improved manufacturing processes, have made them more reliable and powerful over the years. 

Rotax 912

One of the most revolutionary engines in light aircraft history, the Rotax 912 has gone into hundreds of different models of certificated and sport aircraft. A four-cylinder, hybrid cooling (air and liquid) engine, the first 912, introduced in 1989, boasted 80 horsepower of smooth, efficient power that helped catapult sport aviation to another level. Previously, two-stroke engines, many of them manufactured by Rotax, ruled the segment. The company has manufactured an estimated 75,000 aircraft engines, many of them derived from their popular engines for snowmobiles. 

The 912 was launched the same year, 1989, as a new, advanced two-stroke design, the 582, which is still in production. It was the pinnacle of Rotax’s line of two-stroke engines designed for ultralight and very light sport aircraft. It has been standard equipment on more than 225 different ultralight and very light aircraft. 

Producing 65 horsepower, the engine is a tidy fit for two-seat ultralights (most of which are simply small Experimental aircraft and not technically “ultralights” at all). For those who don’t want to mix oil and fuel, the 582 features optional oil injection. The liquid-cooled engine has an integral reduction drive because its normal rpm range of power—max power is delivered at 6,500 rmp—is far too fast for prop efficiency. 

The introduction of the 582 gave developers of very light aircraft a low-maintenance, more reliable and more powerful alternative to existing small engines, and in so doing, it helped launch the Light Sport Aircraft segment and regulations. 

But it was the 912 that helped deliver on the promise of sport aviation. Since 1989, the company has developed follow-on models, including more powerful naturally aspirated and turbocharged models that today with the 915 iS go up to around 150-hp. 

The 912 is around 33% more efficient than conventional gas piston engines, and it can run on auto fuel, as well as 100LL. 

Thielert Centurion 1.7

The latest update to light GA aircraft that has had much impact was the Thielert Centurion 1.7, introduced by Diamond aircraft in its DA42 (then called the Twin Star) in the early 2000s. The engine is an extensive conversion of a Mercedes automobile engine. It was the first successful diesel aero engine, though in this case, “success” is a word to be used with numerous qualifications. 

The four-cylinder, 135-hp, turbocharged, Jet-A-burning engine has numerous advantages, but its most compelling is its great fuel efficiency, in many applications up to 40% more efficient than gas piston engines of similar power rating. It also, as you just read, uses Jet-A fuel, which is widely available around the world and in many places far cheaper than avgas, not to mention that Jet-A is naturally unleaded. And because it’s turbocharged, the engine maintains its rated power to far higher altitudes than its gas piston competitors can. 

But the introduction of the engine was a disaster, with low time-before-overhaul times for critical components, poor reliability on top of that and spotty support, at least initially, from the airframe maker. Thielert itself declared insolvency, and Diamond took the extraordinary step of creating its own engine manufacturing subsidiary, Austro Engines. Thielert engines, now much improved, are produced in the United States by Continental Aerospace Technologies, though they have not had a strong uptake rate in the retrofit market, at least not yet. But given the aero diesel engine’s promise and demonstrated advantages over gas piston engines, many still believe its day will come at last. 

Electric Engines

At least to some degree, it’s not accurate to call electric propulsive devices “engines.” They are actually “motors” because, unlike engines, they don’t produce the energy that they convert into motion. Then again, the terms have become almost interchangeable, to the point that MIT’s guidance on the subject is that the two terms are, for all intents and purposes, interchangeable these days.  

The future of flight at this point looks to be electrically driven, so it would stand to reason that electric motors will be the new objects of study and fascination for pilots in the same way that Merlins and Double Wasps have been up to now. But it’s not likely to happen. Electric motors take electricity that’s stored elsewhere and translate it to a spinning prop. They are dirt-simple compared to even the most rudimentary gas piston engine. Maybe the new figureheads of aviation will be awesome new technology batteries? Yeah, that’s not likely to happen either, though it doesn’t mean we won’t be happy to have them in our lives. 

Six Modern High-Performance Piston Singles

The post Our Top 8 Game-Changing Airplane Engines appeared first on Plane & Pilot Magazine.