Props and Turboprops About To Enter The Market

Aircraft Industries of the Czech Republic has a small but steady market for the Soviet-era Let L 410 19-seat utility twin-turboprop. The “new generation” version – with 850 shp. General Electric H85-200s, Garmin G3000 avionics, modernized cabin, extra fuel capacity and a longer nose for additional baggage space – flew in July 2015. EASA certification is planned for next year in spite of funding difficulties caused by AI’s heavy exposure to the falling Russian ruble.

Anticipated NG performance improvements include flight lifetime doubled to 30,000 hours; maximum cruising speed of 227 kt.; and max-fuel range of 1,350 nm. Payload is 4,748 lb.

UK-based Aircraft Integrated Solutions Ltd is managing the return to market of the Ibis Aerospace Ae 270 Spirit on behalf of COPS investment house of Lebanon, which has acquired the Type Certificate. This light utility turboprop was developed in the Czech Republic by Aero Vodochody and the Taiwanese AIDC, first flying in 2000. However, the money ran out in 2007 after three prototypes and three production-conforming aircraft had flown and EASA certification obtained.

A P&WC PT6A-66A turboprop flat-rated at 850 shp. raises two crew and either eight passengers or 2,645 lb. of freight loaded through the 4 ft. 1 in.-wide cargo door. NBAA IFR range is 1,420 nm. Price and proposed manufacturing location are still to be determined.

In 2010, China bought the rights to the Epic company’s family of large kitbuilt jets and turboprops. The five-seat Epic Escape is first to be placed in production, becoming the factory-built AG300, albeit suffering unexplained delays. Although the prototype, powered by an 850 shp. General Electric H85 turboprop, made its “official” first flight in July 2014, it did not fly with wheels retracted until November 2015. However, the static test airframe passed its trials in May of this year and two more pre-production aircraft are under construction. Range is 1,350 nm. and cruise 324 kt. Price: about $1.5 million.

Some time between this year’s EBACE at Geneva and AirVenture, Oshkosh, the Beechcraft Single-Engine TurboProp Concept metamorphosed into the significantly different Cessna Denali, now fully launched and accepting orders at $4.5 million per go. With its 4 ft. 5 in.-wide freight door, it is intended to compete with Pilatus PC-12, Daher TBM 900/930 and Piper M600 in terms of “capability, pilot interface and ownership costs”. Denali will fly in 2018 and be certified to FAR Pt 23 (single pilot).

Propelled by an all-new,1,240 shp. General Electric GE93 turboprop, the aircraft accommodates two pilots and a typical six passengers in a pressurized cabin, the front-seaters assisted by Garmin G3000 avionics, weather radar and today’s other standard aids. Basic data so far announced mentions 1,100-lb. payload, 285 kt. maximum speed and 1,600 nm. range with five-up.

After earlier engine options had been tried and rejected, the ‘Jet Prop 7’ version of DA50 flew in Austria in January 2015, powered by a 465 shp. Ukrainian Motor Sich AI-450S turbine. Certification, once planned for mid/late-2016, is now estimated in early 2018 after two more prototypes have flown. The standard “Speed” version, selling for $1.1 million, will be partnered by a large-wheeled “Tundra” model, with slotted flaps and enlarged door, intended for the Russian market. Range is 1,200 nm. at speeds in excess of 200 kt.

After the JP7, Diamond will return to its earlier plan of offering a piston-Diesel DA50, now envisaged with the planned eight-cylinder 440 hp Austro Engine HIPE AE440. 

Reborn in 2015 with Chinese money, the Dornier family’s 1980s company is back in business, building the first production Seastar amphibians at Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, out of composite parts supplied by Diamond Canada. The first will roll out in June 2017 and revalidate its 1990 Type Certificate the following year, in deference to its Honeywell Primus Epic cockpit, new propellers and numerous other upgrades. Only two prototypes of the 12-seat, push-pull (PT6A) turboprop were built by previous incarnations of the company. Selling for $7.5 million, the aircraft cruises at 180 kt. and has a range of 900 nm.

Russian-owned, Oregon-based Epic is in slow-motion mode, having endured delays with completion of the final Epic LT factory-assist kits and also failed to fly on schedule the second prototype of that aircraft’s E1000 production-line equivalent. The first E1000 was, belatedly, airborne last December, but delay of the first conforming aircraft to later this year makes the 1Q 2017 certification target appear unachievable.

Priced at $2.995 million, typically equipped, and claimed to be the “fastest single-engine turboprop on the market”, the pressurized E1000 offers three-screen Garmin G1000 EFIS and 1,385 nm. range at 325 kt. with its 1,200-shp. (derated) PT6-67A turboprop. It is some time since the tally of 60 sales was updated, the fact that half of them are in Russia perhaps being associated with the above-mentioned slowdown.

All systems are “go” again in the Czech Republic, where the first flight of the conforming second EV-55 on April 8 signaled that funding is available to take the attractive T-tail twin to certification stage next year. A failed Russian partnership had been responsible for the previous slow progress after the first Outback flew in June 2011, yet the manufacturer is now working to secure the financial means to launch production after EASA signs the CS23 Normal Category TC.

A pair of PT6A turboprops optimizes the EV-55 for international markets. Payload is 3,915 lb. – either cargo or between 9-14 passengers, according to certification. Range with nine pax is 800 nm., cruising at up to 220 kt.  Estimated equipped price is $3 million.

Who? It might help to explain that a production license for the former Iowa-based King’s Angel 44 pusher twin-prop was acquired in 2013 by Hubei Taihang Xinghe Aircraft Manufacturing of China. This May, the Hubei local government provided funds to establish a manufacturing plant, immediately prompting an order for 50 by Qinghai General Aviation. Others are required by the Blue Leopard organization for disaster relief operations.

The King's Engineering Fellowship managed to place only four aircraft between its 1984 first flight and 2008, despite its optimization for missionary flying and utility and humanitarian duties. Two 300 hp. Lycoming IO-540s propel this six-seat STOL machine at 169 kt. on 65% power, covering 1,248 nm. at the same setting, or 1,720 nm. on full economy. No details are available of Chinese equipment installation or price.

This Italian manufacturer flew its largest aircraft for the first time on July 21 at a new purpose-built factory at Capua. Due for EASA and FAA certification by December 2018, it is intended to replace ageing Part 23 workhorses such as the Piper PA-31 and Cessna 400-series twins.

As such, it is an economic, rugged, 10-passenger transport with high cantilever wing and fixed landing gear, powered by a pair of 350 hp. Lycoming TEO-540-A1A flat-sixes which can run on Avgas or Mogas. The Traveller will cruise at 170 kt. for 450 nm. with full passenger load, or 720 nm. with eight. Pure-freight and six-person executive versions are among the options. 

The innovative VTOL TriFan is seeking $20 million investment, and planning to start construction of a 10% scale flying model on passing the $1.2 million mark. A propulsion jet stand to ground-test engine, drive train, fans and flight controls will follow, then a 67% manned prototype two years after the model flies.

TriFan is fitted with three five-blade ducted fans – two in the wing leading edges, which swivel through 90 degrees between hovering and forward propulsion, and one fixed vertically in the rear fuselage that will be employed only during take-off and landing. Control is fly-by-wire, while carbon fiber and epoxy feature prominently in the structure. Two 820 shp. Honeywell HTS900 turboshafts in the center fuselage drive the propfans. At this stage performance data for the $12 million craft are sparse, with XTI only quoting a 695 nm. range.