Special ANN Feature by Tim Kern

The list of 'secret appearance at Oshkosh this year award' contenders has a few serious contenders -- the Adam A700 twinjet and Mooney's LSA entry come to mind -- and it certainly includes a very special Murphy SR3500 'Moose.'

That machine, Murphy's biggest, could become a great vehicle for the new 300-hp Bombardier Recreational Products V300T to haul around.

The big Murphy, already a popular 'heavy hauler' among kit builders, has proven itself a worthy outdoorsman's mount, hauling lots of people and freight, on wheels, skis, and floats. It also has some great uses as a test and demonstration ship for that V-6.

 Normally powered by a 540 Lycoming, and recently by the 360hp PZL M-14 radial, this broad-shouldered plane is no speed demon; but its mission profile is such that reliable power and low operating costs in an engine should garner a lot of attention.

Even though Bombardier has announced that its V-6 engines will first become available through Part 23 OEM manufacturers, the Experimental and STC markets aren't that far behind, and the SR3500 Murphy Moose will provide solid data and a great test sled. To that end, Murphy put this Bombardier showpiece together.

At Oshkosh, the machine, as well as a cutaway of the V-6 turbocharged engine, is on display, near the Theater in the Woods, at the south end of the commercial exhibits, near the flight line.

We talked with Murphy pilot, Dean Mueller, who has put about 20 hours on this plane, and who has "...flown every plane that Murphy makes, with every engine variant we use."

"That first takeoff," he said, reminded me of my first takeoff in a twin. The engine came to life so fast. It was just, 'power up, bang -- we're flying -- we're climbing." That first takeoff showed an initial climb rate of about 1700 fpm, which Dean thought was, "conservative." After all, it was the first flight.

Speaking of takeoffs, we wondered if the turbo had introduced some lag into the takeoff roll, as happens on some turbo'd applications. "I haven't noticed any turbo lag at all," he assured us. The rudder deflection -- was it more, less, or about the same, as the Lycoming and M-14? "Rudder was about the same as tne M-14," he said, "but in the opposite direction." [The Bombardier's rotation is the same as Lycoming's and Continental's -- and opposite the Polish engine's spin --ed.]

Did he have numbers he could share?

"I flew to the display," he said, "but on this test machine, it's instrumented in metric, so I really don't know too many of the numbers." We got a few numbers out of him, though.

This Moose uses the same Hartzell 94", 3-blade prop that the M-14 gets, with the proper re-orientation so that it turns the right way. In high cruise (2400rpm at 30") with the 360hp radial, Dean reports consumption of about 20 gph; throttle back to best cruise (2050 at 32") and the number drops to 16gph. That's at about 115kt. The new V300T cruises at 122~125kt (the test machine isn't wearing the usual strut fairings, hence the lower number), and sips just 11gph. And it can run on car gas. Faster, less fuel, and thus the possibility for longer range and/or greater payload.

As for unusual items, Dean is more used to being busier in the cockpit, managing engine systems. The Bombardier V300T (as the normally-aspirated V220) has a fully automatic electronic management system. "I'm not accustomed to having a computer make these decisions," he said, "but I could easily get used to it. It was unusual to not have to monitor the propeller, for instance." Good idea? "For a typical pilot," he said, "it will be an ideal situation. It [the EMS] runs the prop, the mixture -- there's nothing for the pilot to get 'rusty' on. It's like driving [a car with an] automatic [transmission] -- you light the fire, and go."

Another thing: "In a complex airplane," Mr. Mueller continued, "the 50-hour-a-year pilot gets rusty on the instrumentation, too. This instrumentation isn't just simple, it's easy to read." How easy? "It's color coded," he explained. "Green, yellow -- that stands out -- and then red. 'Red' means you need to take immediate action."

The airframers make the decision on how the instrumentation will be displayed. Some may opt for a 'black panel' as the parameters stay in the green, switching on as they go 'yellow,' and even transfering to the PFD when 'red' conditions are reached. "It's the airframers' decision," said Luc de Gaspe Beaubien, Bombardier's marketing whiz.

Luc reiterated the designed-in advantages to the pilot:

You can run auto gas, avgas, or a mixture of both. The engine's systems give best performance under all combinations of fuel, load, altitude, load, boost, temperature, etc.

It's quiet. Not only does this tend to deflate some anti-airport types; it's less-fatiguing for the pilot. (Dean added, "and it's better for instrument life, as well.")

The shape of the engine allows, in many cases, a more-streamlined cowl and front end. Lower drag results in greater speed at lower power. That translates into extended range, higher speed, lower fuel consumption, greater payload -- or a combination of these.

Compared to what?

Dean is a great guy to ask about comparisons among the Lycoming, M-14, and Bombardier engines. Each has its own personality. What is the Bombardier's? "Smooth, quiet, and economical," he said. "The M-14's a Harley Davidson; the Bombardier's a Lexus." He continued, "The 540 is known as a very smooth engine. This one, though, is smoother yet." The Moose featured an impromptu vibration sensor system: "We had to do PIOs to get our hula-girl bobblehead to dance," he said. [Note to Bombardier: you're saving a lot of money on gas. See if you can get a more-sophistaced way to measure that --ed.]

It's quiet, too. That Murphy's cavernous aluminum shell does a remarkable job of not damping noise, and Dean said, "It's the first Moose where I could take the headset off, and notice mostly just wind noise. We don't even use ANR headsets in this one." Compared to the 540, "The immediately-noticable difference is in the prop noise -- this is reduced tremendously. The prop tips, even at max power [with the V-6], are still subsonic; the Lycoming can break into the supersonic at some power levels."

Performance:

As to the impressions Mueller received in flight: "Wow. The combination of 300hp, a 94" prop -- you really get pushed back into your seat. Even a power application in cruise pushes you back, noticably." Then you have to come down. "To get down, you just pull the power. You don't worry about [shock] cooling (the V-6 is water-cooled), and you have this 94" speed brake up front. You get a real deceleration push."

That 360hp radial makes more power at sea level, but the turbocharger keeps the power coming at altitude -- even if your ground level is a mile up, or if you're on floats in a high-mountain crater lake. Initial climb, then, from sea level, is a bit better with the radial; at altitude or at speed (the V-6 allows a more-streamlined cowl, too), and the Bombardier climbs better. The Lycoming isn't rated as high on the horsepower scale, so comparisons between these two,on that count, aren't really relevant.

"It's great flying," Dean said. "That 'wow!' factor -- very few aircraft do that."

FMI: www.vaircraftengines.com