Offers Fuel-Injection Option For Radial Engines

Weatherly Aircraft Company, which has made agricultural spraying and fire fighting applications since 1961, says it will soon offer a new electronic fuel-injection option for its radial engine aircraft. The new option, according to a company statement to ANN, significantly increasing fuel efficiency and lowering the total cost of operation over the life of the engine. The option is expected to be certified and available before the end of 2005.

The electronic fuel injection engine has been developed by Tulsa Aircraft Engines in conjunction with RSW Products. Tulsa Aircraft Engines (TAE), in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is Weatherly's long-time supplier of the Pratt & Whitney R-985 radial engine designed into the Weatherly 620-B aircraft model. RSW Products (RSW) is an R&D laboratory in Houston, Texas, headed by Robert Schweis, a leading design engineer who specializes in aircraft power technology "fire-wall forward."

Weatherly has been working with TAE and RSW on specifically applying the fuel injection upgrade to the Pratt & Whitney R-985 radial engine, which is the standard radial engine delivered in the Weatherly Aircraft 620-B. The electronic fuel-injection (EFI) option for the R-985 is designed to improve the radial engine performance by increasing the engine power, reducing fuel consumption and reducing maintenance costs. EFI reduces vibration, cylinder-head temperature and other adverse conditions that contribute to engine wear and breakdown -- lowering the frequency and cost of maintenance for both the engine and the aircraft. Weatherly has the exclusive right to offer the electronic fuel injection engine option upgrade for the R-985 through at least calendar 2006.

Tulsa Aircraft Engines President Sam Thompson said, "We selected the Weatherly 620-B as the first production radial-engine airplane to wear the electronic fuel injection system. Weatherly builds aircraft for ag operators whose operations run on narrow margins and are sensitive to operating efficiencies. As a result, the benefits of the EFI engine upgrade should be easily measurable and noticeable to the ag operator."

"Based on design parameters and the relatively modest cost of the EFI system, the operating savings plus additional revenue from increasing the spray payload and reducing the spray time, should provide a pay-back in less than one season for most ag aircraft operators, and the investment should extend the life of the engine by 25-percent," said Weatherly President and CEO Gary Beck. "After pay-back, the annual financial benefit should be about 3-5% over a comparable non-EFI radial engine. For ag aircraft operations, where margins are narrow, that amounts to appreciable benefits in performance and profits."

FMI: www.weatherlyaircraft.com