To Outfit Your Airplane With A New Turbine

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Affordable Turbine Power Co. Inc. (ATP) told AVweb they have, and are currently flying, an experimental Vans RV-4 pulled by their less-than-200-pound turbine engine, which puts out roughly 200hp through a double planetary gear reduction, while burning 13.3 gallons of $1.35 kerosene per hour. Now, the company tells us, “we’re geared up aiming for full production in July,” you too can have one for about $30,000 and (wait for it) certification is just three years away … just as soon as an estimated five million dollars presents itself to ATP. While we checked our pockets, an Aviat representative dropped by and expressed the sentiment to “help out” with certification … but people say a lot of things at air shows. ATP says that without certification, the company is losing $3.4 million/month in replacement engine sales … provided 100LL ceases to exist. The prototype engine has flown some 70 hours tugging it’s RV-4 host and has taught its inventors that when it comes to realizing the power of the engine design, “it’s all about airflow in and airflow out.” Toward that end, the company hopes to team up with a South Carolina fabricator to make available complete retrofit packages (cowling and exhaust kits) for popular experimental designs.

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