Sat, Aug 02, 2008
New Powerplant Offers Fuel Alternative For GA
Mooney
Airplane Company announced Friday at AirVenture that the company
has entered into a joint engineering project with Rolls-Royce, to
explore the use of the newly-announced RR500 turbine "to complement
the current Mooney product line."
Mooney's participation in the General Aviation Manufacturers
Association's Future Avgas Strategy and Transition (FAST) Plan and
Mooney's experience in building high-performance airframes make the
two companies logical partners for the new project.
The benefits of developing the RR500 to power a four-place
aircraft include improved global fuel availability in emerging
markets where 100LL is scarce to non-existent.
"The RR500 turbine introduced this week by Rolls-Royce
represents the next step in our exploration of alternative fuel
power for personal aircraft," said Mooney President and CEO Dennis
Ferguson. "The rugged Mooney airframe is uniquely suited to accept
the power of the Rolls-Royce engine and we're very excited about
working with Rolls-Royce to examine to the possibility of bringing
a Jet-A powered Mooney turboprop to the market in the future."
Mooney believes that an affordable turbine-powered four-place
aircraft is an important segment of the market that is being
overlooked. Such an aircraft configuration fills two growing voids
in the market. First, a four-place turboprop represents a logical
step for the tens of thousands of pilots now flying
high-performance piston aircraft because the transition to flying a
small turboprop will require no special type rating or unusual
insurance requirements. Second, a Jet-A powered turbine provides
the basis of a product that has global appeal.
More details will follow in the coming months as Mooney and
Rolls-Royce work together to expand the scope of the engineering
project and refine what the configuration of such an aircraft will
be.
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