Quote:
Originally Posted by SantosDumont
The TBR isn't as big of a deal as it seems... It's not a brand new $90k engine at TBR, it's $45k for a factory replacement engine.
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Interesting! That is a key piece of information (which I did not know), especially given that $45k is competitive against a new Lycoming.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ruans
I noted in some replies, that the engine is not sold to the experimental market and that is correct. It is to OEM clients only at this stage. The RV-9 being built by Robin Coss will be a production built aircraft. This development will add additional options to the current production built Vans RV range.
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I could be wrong, but I think that most VAF folks live in countries where there is a clear line between factory-built airplanes and homebuilt experimentals. There are enterprises that come close to that line (e.g. A&Ps that will "help" you by doing 49% or more of your build, but work with you to document things in such a way where you can show that you did 51% of the work... and companies that build S-LSAs using manufacturing standards that are not quite up there with Cirrus or Cessna, closer to what you see in an amateur homebuilder's garage) but they're still clearly either "homebuilt/experimental" or "factory built". The line between them remains clear.
So it may be odd/interesting to most people in this forum that, in many countries, there are companies that truly and legitimately straddle this line, building RV-7/8/9/10/14s but being treated by other companies like Continental (and sometimes by local governments) as an "airplane production facility" akin to how Cirrus or Cessna would be treated. So I thought it might be worthwhile to lay this out explicitly for everyone. (In fact, Ruan, I'd be curious to watch an interview with Robin Coss where he clarifies in what ways his business is like an individual amateur homebuilder and in which ways it's not. A lot of VAF users might appreciate something like that).
Quote:
Originally Posted by ruans
I am personally concerned about GA. Avgas might be full up in some parts in the world but, for how long? I would rather let the development and research happen sooner than later.
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I think that's true for most of us, at least when it comes to the inevitability of 100LL eventually going away. (Having a "low-tech" engine might sound like a negative, but on the other hand, we all certainly value reliability).
I'm personally very interested in this topic because we need figure out carbon-neutral flight, and alternative fuels are the best way to do this:
Electric airplanes have serious limitations, and
hydrogen has a lot of unknowns. Synthetic fuels, on the other hand, require little to no changes to current airplane. The main reason why I hope that these diesel engines succeed in the market is because you could then use SAF (i.e. synthetic jet fuel made from biomass rather than from petroleum). However, due to the cost, I still think that
synthetic UL91 or maybe
ethanol are more promising solutions. But if I were to get one of these engines, my reason would be so that I can use SAF and fly carbon-neutral. That would be pretty cool. (Not worth $90k, though, especially since there are cheaper ways to accomplish carbon-neutral flight, some of which can probably be implemented on our good ol' Lycoming engines).
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