Superior Air Parts Says, "Congratulations"

Superior Air Parts says Dr. William Hayden is the first person in 2005 to build his XP-360 Engine at the company's state-of-the-art engine build center in Coppell, TX.

Hayden will use his new XP-360 to power the GlaStar he is building, which he and his wife plan to use to fly from their home in Kansas City to their summer residence in southern Colorado. "It will turn a very long, 11-hour drive into an enjoyable flight," he said. "I like to fly along and sightsee - that's the beauty of flying to me."

Hayden explained that when it came time to choose his engine, he was looking at a "Lycoming type" but a friend in the EAA recommended he look at Superior's XP-360 Engine. "I was intrigued by the engine and the idea of being able to build it myself under the guidance of an experienced A&P," he said. "I admit I'm kind of a 'gear head' and the idea of erasing my engine ignorance really got my interest up. That and the chance to get my old dentist hands in the grease made the idea very appealing."

Before making his final decision, Hayden made an unscheduled visit to Superior's Coppell, Texas headquarters (file photo of classroom session, above). "I was in the area on business and decided to stop by," he said. "The people were very friendly and I was stunned by the quality and cleanliness of the facility - you'd never know that people actually built engines in there. I decided that if they took that much care in the facility, their engines must be something really special too."

"My experience at the builder's school was better than I ever expected," Hayden explained. "Evan (Yearsley) was my instructor and he was great. I now know what goes on inside that 'black box' and while I'm not going to take my engine apart to fix it, I'll know how to communicate better with my mechanic if a problem ever occurs."

"I also picked up a lot of wonderful pointers that will make my work habits better - he even taught me the right way to use a torque wrench," he said. "Working side-by-side with an experienced engine builder like Evan gave me a chance to learn things he's picked up throughout his whole career - that one-on-one attention was much more than I ever expected to get from the school."

Hayden said that now that he's finished his engine, he's even happier about his decision to buy the XP-360. "With the 180-horsepower XP-360, I'll have lots of reserve power, even at the higher altitudes in Colorado," Hayden continued. "It will be like flying a 172 on steroids. I've read of other GlaStar builders who use the XP-360 getting 167 miles-per-hour cruise at 75% power. And if I want to, I can pull the power back to 55% and fly along all day."

"Attending the build school has given me a tremendous peace-of-mind about my engine," he said. "Every step I completed was checked by Evan and then checked again by the Quality Assurance people - this is probably the most reliable engine I'm ever going to get. I'm confident that it's much more so than any engine I could have bought out of a box."

FMI: www.superiorairparts.com/xp360.asp