Mustang Now Offered With Aux Fuel Tanks and Rotax 916is

The Scalewings SW-51 Mustang has been further improved with some new options on the order form, thanks to factory upgrades and further design refinements.

First off, the SW-51 can now be equipped with a Rotax 916iS, bringing 160 horsepower of turbocharged, fuel injected grunt to the front of the plane. It's a fine mill to combine with the Mustang, especially now that it's been given a new 2,000-hour time between overhaul. It's an all-around upgrade to the earlier 915iS, increasing TBO by 800 hours and adding 30% more torque while retaining the Rotax family's miserly fuel consumption.

The Mustang can now be had with a pair of added in-wing aluminum auxiliary fuel tanks, adding a total 18 gallons to its overall capacity. Given its standard capacity of about 23 gallons usable, a Mustang so equipped becomes a very long-legged aircraft. When equipped with a fuel-sipping Rotax, a stock aircraft sees about 3 hours of absolute endurance at cruise (using the hot rod 916iS engine at Scalewings' estimated 7.5 gph)... but with the 18-gallon aux tanks? That plane carries 43 gallons of fuel. Give it some wiggle room to account for unusable gas, and the aux tanks could add around 2 to 2 and a half hours of cruise time on top of the 3-hour standard. That's a good chunk of cross country flying for an 'LSA' when you're humming along at 180 knots true.

Currently, Scalewings says a basic kit runs around $230,000, but ready-to-fly, completed premium aircraft bring that up to about $450,000 overall. It's pricey, but how many competitors can pass so convincingly for a P-51 to the point of having the rivet marks? That top-tier price includes an awful lot, too, like a ballistic chute, lighting, a taxi camera, retractable gear w/ mechanical backup, and a glass cockpit that manages to remain spiritually faithful to the original P-51.

FMI: www.scalewings.com