FAA Authorizes Dual Electronic Ignitions for Select Piston Aero Engines

Founded in 2015 for purpose of improving the reliability and efficiency of aero-engine combustion, SureFly Partners, LTD is a Granbury, Texas-based designer and manufacturer of electronic-ignition modules for piston aircraft engines.

On 24 July 2023, SureFly Partners announced at EAA’s AirVenture 2023 that the FAA had approved use of the company’s electronic-ignition solution on select four and six-cylinder Lycoming and Continental aircraft engines.

The STC approval authorizes installation of two SureFly Ignition Modules (“SIMs”) per-engine on a broad cross-section of aircraft piston engines.

SureFly Partners LTD general manager Jason Hutchison stated: “Today is a historic day and the culmination of years of working with the FAA to enable the replacement of both magnetos on certified aircraft.”

Mr. Hutchison added: “Aircraft owners, operators, manufacturers, and engine-builders have been asking for an easy-to-install certified electronic magneto replacement for both magnetos; today SureFly is the first to deliver a solution that is as simple as replacing both magnetos.”

To date, upwards of eight-thousand customers have retrofitted their piston-engine aircraft with SureFly’s electronic-ignition solution. The newest FAA STC permits aircraft owners to replace the OEM dual-magneto systems characteristic of legacy Lycoming and Continental piston-powerplants with modern, efficient, safe, and reliable electronic-ignition systems, thereby effectively eliminating ignition maintenance, five-hundred-hour magneto inspections, and vastly improving starting performance. Moreover, the variable-timing feature of SureFly’s electronic-ignition architecture facilitates fuel-savings of up to one-gallon-per-hour.

Installation of SureFly’s electronic-ignition system is a simple matter of replacing extant magnetos with a simple power-wire. Owners of dual electrical bus aircraft may install two SIMs with no further modifications or additions. Owners of single electrical bus aircraft, however, must provide a secondary source of power independent of the primary aircraft battery for the second SIM.

FMI: www.surefly.aero