Pilots love airplanes (duh!). Pilots also love engines, especially when they are truly powerful. So, perhaps Brazilian manufacturer Montaer made a market-savvy move by moving quickly to incorporate Rotax’s most potent engine, their 915iS producing 141 horsepower in a turbocharged and intercooled package. The result of Bruno de Oliveira‘s design work is MC01 915 as seen in the nearby photos and in more detail in the video below.
Other powerful engines are available, for example, the even-higher-horsepower Titan from Continental Aerospace. These powerplant designs are sharply different because the Rotax uses a smaller displacement and is physically more compact. The 9-series is also significantly less noisy and it boasts the latest technology from an engine builder cranking out thousands of engines a year (when counting the many non-aircraft engines the Austrian company makes).
I wrote that Bruno moved quickly. That’s because this is a new model, first introduced to Americans only last year.
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First-Ever Montaer MC01 915iS to Debut at Season-Finale Aero Showcase This Weekend
When I asked “Mosaic LSA?” in the lead image of this article, was I simply being provocative? Or, is the soon-to-be-debuted Montaer MC01 with Rotax 915iS a forecast of what is to come with Mosaic?
Hopefully the title did get your attention but it asks a legitimate question for buyers of new potentially-Mosaic-compliant Light-Sport Aircraft.
The reason I feel this way is not merely the 141-horsepower engine Montaer designer Bruno Oliveira installed on the nose of his three-door LSA (see earlier review, before 915).
A more significant reason is that this airplane is one of several that may be able to re-declare compliance and get a substantial weight increase. It will already have a powerful-enough engine to lift a heavier load.
So, buyers of this airplane (and I repeat, MC01 will not be the only such choice) may be able to acquire a present-day 1,320-pound LSA and later get it bumped to perhaps 1,600-1,700 pounds, maybe more.
Montaer Scores Major Flight School Order; Announces 915 Model for USA plus Electric Project
We leave the grounds of Oshkosh ghosted with images of planes that attracted major interest. From Wisconsin we fly far south to Brazil, home to Montaer and its MC-01, number 154 on our Special Light-Sport Aircraft List.
Montaer will now be represented in the USA by a new group, Aero Affinity, whose ambitions are impressive and pilots may love all the services and choices they are proposing to deliver. Actually, they’re already delivering because the entities making up Aero Affinity are free-standing groups, each functioning in the industry today. Collaborating is a way to offer even more while spreading some of the cost among the group.
This same team made a splash at AirVenture with their matching Aero Showcase logowear. Here’s their website about the inaugural event scheduled for October 21-22, 2022.
For now, however, we’re going to blast part-way around the globe to Brazil where Montaer Aircraft scored big with a large order.
Oshkosh 2022 – Day 4… TAF’s Sling HW with Rotax 915 is a Big, Comfortable Lightplane
Somewhere, it seems like a group of light plane developers must have held a meeting and decided that low wing manufacturers needed to broaden their line to include high wings. A batch of new models has been unveiled or announced this year. (Article updated 2PM – 7/29 Fri — new image of the gorgeous taildragger; see below)
Did these builders not notice the industry already has a whole slew of popular high wing models? Some, like Flight Design’s CT series, has been a market leader since the beginning. Companies in the list below didn’t follow the leader then? Why now?
Of course, no such industry agreement happened. Each company examined their lines and chose individually to go forward with their designs. Honestly, they’ve all come out so recently they could not have coordinated such a broad launch in a single year even if they tried.
Nonetheless, here they are, one after another.
Rotax 915iS Proves a Winner — “Best Powertrain Concept in the Light-Sport Aviation Industry”
How does modern-day Rotax relate to the Wright Brothers? Here’s a trivia test for light aviation enthusiasts.
Answer: Both started out in the bicycle business.
A little over a year ago, the engine builder from Gunskirchen, Austria celebrated their 100th anniversary. Check this article that contains a link to a beautifully-presented history of the company. It also describes how the company got its name.
In production for more than 30 years, Rotax’s 9-series engine design was a significant departure from earlier aircraft engines.
The 9-series is physically smaller, uses liquid cooling, an electronic control unit, and a gearbox to change engine revolutions from 5,000 rpm to slower speeds that work for props. The 912 enjoys a much better power-to-weight ratio than familiar models such as Lycoming’s O-233. That veteran engine produces 100 horsepower (at 2300 rpm; higher power is available at increased revolutions) using 233 cubic inches of cylinder displacement.
American Ranger AR1 Gyroplane Embraces Rotax 915iS Power
You can call modern gyroplanes “wanna-be” helicopters if you want but that might miss a few important points.
First, a gyroplane can be flown by a Sport Pilot. Other than Part 103 ultralight version, a helicopter requires a higher certificate and that means a medical, at least BasicMed.
LAMA believes gyroplanes will be included in FAA’s revised LSA regulation from what is known at this time. That means they’ll be available ready-to-fly and prices are so much less than conventional helicopters that it’s not even comparable. Comparing the most deluxe fully-built gyroplane to even a used helicopter is a world apart. Finally, maintenance of a gyroplane is dramatically less than any helicopter.
Despite those differences, gyroplanes enjoy some of the same performance capabilities of a helicopter — other than vertical launch. Gyroplanes also work unusually well in wind conditions that might ground most other aircraft.
No wonder gyroplanes have enjoyed a huge run in space-tight European countries and have been growing steadily in the USA.
Go-Fast Mania Spreads to USA — BRM Aero’s Bristell “Speedster” with 915iS Fixed Pitch Prop
The need for speed is hard wired into humans, it seems. Even those of us who enjoy flying slow also love the idea of eating up the miles in some fast cruiser. A flight that turns a three-hour driving ordeal into a 25-minute aerial jaunt becomes a bragging right for any pilot.
Other than the pure thrill of logging a high groundspeed, going fast is only useful when you’re going somewhere. If perhaps your goal is aerial sightseeing then slow (and probably low) is the way to go. If you have to go fast, remember that old saying from auto racing: “Speed cost money; how fast do you want to go?” This equally applies to aviation.
FAA actually drew a speed line back in the early 2000s when the SP/LSA rule was being written (just as now with the LSA 2023 rule in the works). No, I don’t refer to the 120-knot speed limit we’ll discuss below.
Swedish “Speed Monster” — Blackwing Plus Rotax 915iS Claims New Speed Record
Five years back at my favorite airshow in Europe — Aero Friedrichshafen — I could not pass the supersleek blue and black low wing from Sweden, my father’s ancestral home. A stunner, it caught my eye and that of everyone else such that taking pictures of it without people surrounding it was difficult.
During this coronavirus mess, Sweden has been in the news because authorities did not fully lock down the country. Some closures were recommended and certain folks (older, immune-deficient… you’ve heard all this repeatedly) were encouraged to self-isolate. Yet pictures show restaurants, streets, and other public venues with plenty of people. Sweden has had deaths, of course, every one of them tragic. Yet it will provide a good baseline with which to judge the effectiveness of lockdown procedures from draconian to… well, Swedish.
However, the greater freedom enjoyed by Swedes allowed an impressive flight only a few days ago.
Tucano 915 Kit Aircraft: Serious Engine, Serious Airframe, …Seriously Fun!
Copperstate is proving to be as valuable for the collection of Video Pilot Reports as Midwest and DeLand. We are reporting from the new and improved show for the second year in a row, and it’s looking good for Copperstate to earn a new, regular slot on our show calendar. Some very positive developments were discussed though it’s far too soon to write about them.
This year, attendees could hit 30,000 for the city-sponsored event (see this article for more about Copperstate linking up with Buckeye Air Fair). Still, focused shows like those above allow more time and friendlier ground operations to permit us to capture a couple VPRs a day. Pilots who attend also realize they can more thoroughly investigate a new (or new-to-them) LSA or Sport Pilot kit because the vendor is not always swamped.
At the smaller shows it’s far easier to take a demo flight.
Vickers Wave Settles Engine Debate — Rotax’s 915iS is the Winner
The last airshow (DeLand) is over. Recreational aircraft across the snow belt are secured in their hangars. Santa Claus and his reindeer have an imaginary TFA imposed over the rooftops of all homes with young kids. Our festive Christmas season has center stage…
With that our warmest wishes for your holidays and wishing you a prosperous happy new year with all the flying you could want. We are pleased to have served you another year as we enter into our 17th of providing news, reviews, and videos for your entertainment and information.
THANKS to each and every one of you who visited in 2019. Please come back next decade! ?
Now, Back to Aircraft
I have been writing about seaplanes even as the snow flies in northern latitudes because… well, why not? Plus, this is a good time to enter an order for a new one so you get it as lakes thaw and the sun warms the Earth in spring and summer 2020.
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