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Since the early 80's ultralight aircraft manufacturers have been looking
for a lightweight, reliable and affordable aircraft engine to power
their single place ultralight aircraft. The reason the engine has to be
light weight is because of the 254 lbs weight limit for this category of
aircraft.
One style of engine that has shown promise has been the Rotary
engine. This year Revolution Rotary Engines of Markham Ontario teamed
with Paul Mather of MSquared to produced a part 103 legal single place
ultralight using a Revolution R301A single rotor engine.
According to George Payne of Revolution Rotary Engines the R301A is a
single rotor Wankel style, 35 HP, with a displacement of 294 cc. The
engine has had a very successful career in Kart racing and has been
modified to better suit aircraft installation.
The engine at the show was equipped with a gear reduction drive but
the company is also working on a belt drive system. The engine at the
show had only recently been installed and had only flown for about an
hour, thus the plane was not able to fly at Sun N Fun as that requires
the plane be flown a minimum of 25 hours prior to the show.
However the engine was run about on the flight line several times. It
started very easily, was quiet, and ran very smoothly. George indicates
that Paul will be doing a lot of flying on the engine after the show,
and giving the factory feed back. He will also be taking delivery of a
plane in Canada so that he can get some time on the plane and engine as
well.
In the near future the factory will also be moving into
production of 2, 3, and 4 rotor engines to fit the ultralight, light
sport aircraft and other applications. George reports that future
engines will be able to run on diesel, bio fuel or gasoline, and put out
about 70 HP per rotor. He also indicates that the factory will be
working closely with aircraft manufacturers on engine mounting and
installations as well as exhaust system configurations.
The standard engine configuration comes with an electric start, a
charging system and dual ignition. (The ultralight engine does not have
these to reduce weight.)
George reports an expected TBO on the engines of 2,000 hours. The
factory is in the process of setting of a training syllabus for dealers
and OEM's in both Canada and the U.S.
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