Rotax Brings A New Engine Onto The Market For Airplane Homebuilders And Other Lightweight Aircraft

Not all first flight stories are about airplanes. In this case, the big news is about a new engine that Rotax is bringing to the market for light aircraft. The new Rotax 915 iS is bound to make an impact in the light airplane and helicopter regime.

During the press conference at the International Fly-In Expo Sun ‘n Fun, BRP gave an update on the development of the Rotax 915 iS, a 4- stroke, 4-cylinder turbocharged aircraft engine with intercooler and a redundant fuel injection system which is scheduled for serial production second half of 2017.

“The development process has advanced to the extent so that the maiden flight of the Rotax 915 iS aircraft engine was performed on March 12, 2016 at the airfield in Wels, Austria,” informed Marc Becker, sales manager, Rotax Aircraft Business. “Since that date our category 1 test pilot is testing the engine in real flight mode as often as the weather allows it.” In addition to that the engine has been running more than 3,000 operating hours on the test bench up to today.

Selected Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) will receive the first Rotax 915 iS prototype aircraft engines as of August 2016 to be installed into their respective airplanes. In total, more than 40 aircraft manufacturers have confirmed the Design-In of the Rotax 915 iS aircraft engine.

The target market will be high performance 2-seater and 4-seater aircrafts, small helicopters and larger gyrocopters. This more powerful 135-hp Rotax aircraft engine offers a lot of benefits for the pilot. From the best power-to-weight ratio in its class, the full take off power up to 15,000 ft. a service ceiling of 23,000 feet, a better fuel efficiency due to the electronic fuel injection concept, hence lower operating cost up to the ease of use.

With more than 175,000 engines sold in 40 years, Rotax aircraft engines lead the light sport and ultra-light aircraft market. With 19 authorized distributors and a network of more than 220 points of sale and repair centers supporting customers worldwide, Rotax aircraft engines are supplied to more than 80% of all aircraft manufacturers in its segment.

(Image provided by Rotax)

FMI: www.rotax.com  www.flyrotax.com