Aircraft engine giant, Rotax BRP has reached an anniversary: forty years of making powerplants used around the world by airframe makers of ultralights to Very Light Aircraft. Thus, it was hardly a surprise when Light-Sport Aircraft came along eleven years ago that the Austrian company immediately became the largest supplier of engines … capturing an estimated 80% of the market, even while other ASTM-approved engines are in use from Continental, Jabiru, Lycoming, and HKS. New candidates include Superior’s Gemini Diesel and, of course, the ECi Titan 180-horsepower engine has seen good acceptance. Then we have another batch of engines for kit-built aircraft including Viking (based on Honda), UL-Power, AeroVee (VW), AeroMomentum (Subaru), Corvair, and more.
Despite the many other choices, Rotax has retained a dominant position. I’ve long felt that while it can be challenging to bring a new airframe to market and win some customers, it is even harder to introduce a new engine.Forty Years of Rotax Aircraft Engines
The Rotax 642 (upper right) was certified in 1975 and provided the basis for the successful story of Rotax aircraft engines. Rotax’s 642 was a two-cylinder, air-cooled engine with electric start and TBO of 300 hours. The very popular 503 (upper left) is a two-cylinder, two-stroke fan-cooled engine with 50 horsepower. More than 33,000 503s were sold.
The first-ever Rotax 912 was installed in this motorglider seen at the airfield Rotax uses for testing and events.
Aviation engines are only part of the Rotax product line. Here AVweb’s Paul Bertorelli, a motorcycle enthusiast, samples the Can-Am Spyder as did many of us attending the Rotax Fly-in in 2014.
Aircraft engine giant, Rotax BRP has reached an anniversary: forty years of making powerplants used around the world by airframe makers of ultralights to Very Light Aircraft. Thus, it was hardly a surprise when Light-Sport Aircraft came along eleven years ago that the Austrian company immediately became the largest supplier of engines … capturing an estimated 80% of the market, even while other ASTM-approved engines are in use from Continental, Jabiru, Lycoming, and HKS. New candidates include Superior’s Gemini Diesel and, of course, the ECi Titan 180-horsepower engine has seen good acceptance. Then we have another batch of engines for kit-built aircraft including Viking (based on Honda), UL-Power, AeroVee (VW), AeroMomentum (Subaru), Corvair, and more.
Despite the many other choices, Rotax has retained a dominant position. I’ve long felt that while it can be challenging to bring a new airframe to market and win some customers, it is even harder to introduce a new engine. Rotax got in the light aircraft segment early and runs a very tight ship, carefully managing quality and production eficiency. This has surely had much to do with their leading share even while prices of the kit engines are often less.
After 40 years of solid history, some background would be useful.
The company wrote, “In the early 1970s, a number of passionate aviation enthusiasts, all members of the local flying club and working at Bombardier-Rotax (BRP-Rotax today), wanted to develop aircraft engines. At the same time, there was a noticeable sales increase of Rotax spare snowmobile engines in North America. BRP-Rotax learned that a number of these engines were sold to the aviation market where snowmobile engines were adapted for aircraft applications.”
They continued, “Engines for recreational aircraft were usually spinoffs of automotive and industrial engines, which were extremely heavy. Rotax engineers noticed that the compact and lightweight design of Rotax engines perfectly fit the needs of the aviation market. The outcome was a decision to enter the aircraft engine market.”
In the early ’80s, the peak of the ultralight flying era, some well-known Rotax two-stroke ultralight aircraft engines were launched. The most popular was the Rotax 503 UL engine, a two-cylinder, two-stroke fan-cooled engine with 50 horsepower. More than 33,000 engines of this model were sold.
The popular single cylinder, 28-horsepower engine called Rotax 277 UL was mainly sold to North America in the first few years of production. This success followed the arrival of FAA’s Part 103 ultralight vehicle category that needed a smaller but adequately powerful engine that the R-277 served. Later developments for that market were the 377 UL and the 447 UL engine, both two-cylinder, air-cooled engines, offering 36 to 46 horsepower.
In 1989, production began of the Rotax 582 UL, a liquid-cooled engine based on the Rotax 532 aircraft engine. “With better performance than the previous model,” Rotax said, “the 582 engine became one of the biggest selling aircraft engine models of the aircraft engine product line and is still in production today.”
“We will always remember that the Rotax two-stroke customers were the basis for our success. Without that market, Rotax never would have entered the aviation business,” observed Thomas Uhr, Vice President of BRP-Powertrain and General Manager BRP-Powertrain GmbH & Co KG.
In 1985, Rotax began developing the Rotax 912, a project dedicated to the aircraft market. “For the very first time, all conditions needed for an aircraft engine were considered, like high security, high-quality standards for airplanes, etc.,” said Rotax. For experimental airplanes and gliders, power-to-weight ratio was one of the main targets.
A major advantage in the development of the Rotax 912 engine was the opportunity to influence the whole engineering design. The R & D effort was impressive but the company said the big advantage was the ability to supervise the project from concept to production. “With the development of a flat four-cylinder engine, we wanted to reach the next level — the 80-horsepower engine category. The engineers of the 912 engine concept were pilots. They fully understood the market requirements. To put it in a nutshell, the engine was developed by pilots for pilots,” said Uhr. In 1989, Rotax 912 UL engine serial production began. A 100-horsepower model followed and has become the biggest selling in LSA.
In 1993, the Rotax 912 engine was modified and equipped with a turbocharger for an altitude flight test. Using the new powerplant an HK36 Super Dimona reached an altitude of 33,000 feet, proving the concept. The company started the development of the turbocharged Rotax 914 engine with 115 horsepower, and serial production began in 1996.
More than 50,000 engines of the Rotax 912 / 914 series have been sold since 1989, resulting in more than 45 million flight hours of the fleet, reported Rotax. With more than 175,000 engines sold in 40 years, Rotax aircraft engines dominate the Light-Sport and ultralight aircraft industry. “With 19 authorized distributors and a network of more than 220 points of sale,” Rotax noted, “BRP supports customers worldwide and supplies Rotax aircraft engines to more than 80% of all aircraft manufacturers in its segment.”
Happy 40th anniversary to Rotax Aircraft Engines!
In the following video, hear two Rotax leaders describe an award they received and talk about the Rotax 912 iS Sport engine (or you can watch the video right here on ByDanJohnson.com where you never have to sit through YouTube’s opening video ad) —
Aircraft engine giant, Rotax BRP has reached an anniversary: forty years of making powerplants used around the world by airframe makers of ultralights to Very Light Aircraft. Thus, it was hardly a surprise when Light-Sport Aircraft came along eleven years ago that the Austrian company immediately became the largest supplier of engines … capturing an estimated 80% of the market, even while other ASTM-approved engines are in use from Continental, Jabiru, Lycoming, and HKS. New candidates include Superior’s Gemini Diesel and, of course, the ECi Titan 180-horsepower engine has seen good acceptance. Then we have another batch of engines for kit-built aircraft including Viking (based on Honda), UL-Power, AeroVee (VW), AeroMomentum (Subaru), Corvair, and more.
Despite the many other choices, Rotax has retained a dominant position. I’ve long felt that while it can be challenging to bring a new airframe to market and win some customers, it is even harder to introduce a new engine.
With our friends at the prestigious Flying magazine putting 
Israel’s Ashot Ashkelon, Italian hybrid propulsion specialist Efesto joined with Italian light airplane manufacturer 
CFM Air develops and manufactures light planes such as the 
However, developers seem primarily focused on emergency use of HPS saying it adds, “a significant safety element in case of [primary engine] failure by providing extra flight time using the electric motor, also as a replacement for the Safety Parachute.” Based on many years working with BRS Parachutes, I am certain HPS will not always “replace” the airframe parachute, for example, after a mid-air collision. Nonetheless, using HPS to solve engine failure or fuel starvation would be much less exciting than firing a ballistic parachute.
Some people, myself included, love soaring flight. As the following article from Dave Unwin explains, to use his words, “Soaring flight exercises a fascination that is both difficult to explain and hard to resist, sometimes called ‘three-dimensional sailing.’ Flying a heavier-than-air machine for several hours and hundreds of miles by using the atmosphere as the fuel possesses an undeniable attraction.” As he further explained in a longer article, the downside is getting airborne for soaring flight. Various alternatives have been explored. Some were reasonable; others were too marginal to be enjoyed. In the following piece Dave tells about a new aircraft that might solve this problem, one that can fit England’s innovative SSDR 300 (kilogram) category. 
When I heard that 
The Titan jet engine is fixed internally behind the cockpit and features an automatic open/close intake scoop. This very neat little turbojet is less 40 centimeters (16 inches) long and weighs an astonishing 3.7 kilograms (8 pounds), yet produces a creditable 88 pounds of thrust. This should be enough to produce reasonable climb rates at around 50 knots, while the 9-gallon fuel tank should last for several further climbs.
Trade-offs exist, of course. By definition GloW is very light so although the projected best L/D is expected to be mid-30s, this will be achieved at relatively low speed. However, the same is true for the minimum sink, so GloW should climb very well indeed.
A few years back at Aero 2009, 
Researchers at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and the 
The idea is to equip the plane with an electric engine mounted aft of the propeller but outside the engine compartment (at least in the test article). Such an installation suggests this could be an add-on to existing aircraft once the company decides to commercialize their work.
“We maximize the capacity of the battery in generating movement with the electric engine, and we have found that we can also use the system as a hybrid for light aircraft; the pilot can activate it when she wants, adding up to 40 horsepower for takeoff or whatever is needed,” said Daniel Cristobal, now also with Axter Aerospace and an alumnus of the UC3M. “This way, it could be used as if it were an electric turbo to increase the power of the aircraft in certain maneuvers.”
Let’s move right to an important point. BushCat is most interesting aircraft with unique features of interest to many and you are much more likely to afford the South African airplane with its 2015 U.S. price of $65,000. That figure covers the 
Quite significantly, BushCat’s useful load now elevates to 617 pounds with 25 gallons of fuel. That means payload with full fuel is 465 pounds, which allows two 200-hundred pound occupants plus 65 pounds of cargo or other airborne gear. So, a very modest price — about what many expected eleven years ago when the SP/LSA rule was announced, all the more impressive as the time value of money has changed considerable in that period — and you get more utility for the dollars you spend. I’d call that win-win.
A couple years ago, one of the bigger changes SkyReach engineers made to BushCat was a move from a more complicated braced undercarriage to a sprung undercarriage. The new design uses a slab-style aluminum spring gear that SkyReach says provides a more accommodating load dampening resulting in softer off-airport landings. This airplane does duty in South Africa fighting animal poaching and can handle rough-field operation. It also features removable doors, which may work well for the anti-poaching task but also appeals to those of use that like open cockpit on warm summer days.
In closing this piece, I want to pay tribute to two light aviation kit builders. In the USA, the loss of Jeremy Monnett stunned many as he and assembly mechanic Mike Clark were killed June 2nd in an aircraft accident near the company’s headquarters in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Jeremy successfully lead the Sonex company in recent years and used a degree in mechanical engineering to create a design of his own, the single-seat, folding-wing Onex (“One-Ex”) introduced in 2011.
Date #1 was the time when FAA announced 
FAA recently came out with 
“I was personally astounded. The consultation was very interesting. The LAA who had supported the old 115 kilogram rule (253 pounds, so almost identical to the U.S. Part 103 weight) suddenly came out against the rule asking for a wing loading restriction to be added. I guess they realized that it was a big threat to their monopoly. Even at the consultation stage &mdash after the proposals had been published &mdash the consensus was that eventually the wing loading restriction would be added. The CAA stood firm and the rule was passed without modification. It required an Act of Parliament to become law but eventually it was done.”
So, what does the CAA SSDR 300 look like?
One of my favorite tales was taken from an old Delta Air Lines house magazine, the sort sent to employees of the company before email invaded our lives. Airlines have their own meteorology departments and the Delta guys once wrote, “Every time you forecast the weather, you know you’re wrong; you just don’t know by how much or when. If you are ever right, never let ’em forget it.” Ah, yes, remember when we correctly forecast that big storm, back in 1967? I got a lot of chuckles from telling that story.
In this update article, I wish to correct that shortcoming and add a couple more pieces of information. The result of my deeper examination pushes sport and recreational aircraft closer to 50,000 worldwide.
The Italian engineer continued with his amplification, “Although the number (13,000) includes ‘ancient’ aircraft from the ’80s that might be out of commission now, I can confirm that well over 6,000 aircraft are flying from hundreds of grass strips and aerodromes across the country.” As such, this places Italy — correctly so, based on corroborating information — in the top tier of countries with a large base of light and sport aircraft.
Looking at the pilot side of the equation, he noted, “On a forum I read the impressive number of 17,500 active ultralight pilots.”
Thanks to a solid effort by 
To provide some perspective, let’s look at certified GA aircraft first. From its peak in 1978, U.S.-manufactured GA deliveries have fallen dramatically, by 93% from 14,398 single engine piston aircraft in 1978 to 986 in 2014. Fortunately, since 2000 the continuing drop is less severe, for example in 2006, worldwide GAMA members reported delivering a new millennia peak of 2,513 aircraft; the decline to 986 is a drop of 61%. The ’60s and ’70s were clearly the “golden era” for GA piston airplane production. Accounting for this drop, beside pilot population decreases (see below) and airplanes lasting so long — the average age of four seater is 38.2 years old — most competition likely came from non-flying activities. Among aircraft choices, Experimentals in the last two decades have grown 143% to nearly 25,000 aircraft. LSA in fully built or kit form add to GA’s competition although much less so partly as Experimentals have been around much longer.
The number of airmen — pilots with certificates — explains some of the aircraft delivery decreases. From a peak in GAMA’s numbers of 827,071 licensed pilots in 1980 to the current number of 593,499, I calculate a drop of 28% over 34 years. Keep in mind that nearly 47,000 of those airmen are not Americans but foreign nationals holding a U.S. certificate. Private Pilots have dropped by 51%, but many of those probably went on to higher ratings as ATPs grew by 120% in the same period to account for 26% of all certificate holders. No doubt related to that, CFIs grew by 67% to become 17% of all certificate holders and pilots with Instrument ratings also increased by 18%. Those holding a Spot Pilot certificate now totals 5,157, reported GAMA, while Recreational Pilot peaked at 343 in 1999 and has since shrunk to only 220 certificates. Neither of the last two amount to even 1% of all license holders though the other certificate categories have several decades of history the newer ones lack.
Where I could identify microlights, ultralights, or LSA types, I calculated 19,613 aircraft in what might be called “greater Europe” (mostly EU countries). Making an informed guess of at least 4,000 “microlight/ultralight” for Germany — which country, as noted above, did not supply a detailed value for this category — and adding non-European countries such as South Africa (6,072 including “Sport, Recreational, and Experimental”), Canada (7,125 “ultralights”), and Brazil plus Asian countries (small counts for several nations), I make a best estimate of about 40,000 LSA-type aircraft outside the USA. This figure includes estimates for Sweden and Switzerland that did not break out their reporting. Also included in the 40,000 count is England with strong numbers of 4,029 “microlights” and 3,269 “Fixed Wing Aeroplanes of less than 750 kilograms” (1,650 pounds). See updated figures in 
WEEKEND UPDATE — Next week I leave for my first visit to China, specifically to Anyang City, by train a couple hours south of Beijing where the seventh running of an annual airshow is planned. I have only a sketchy idea what to expect even though Shu Dong Li of the 
In an interesting coincidence, I discovered a story about a Chinese fellow who built his own ultralight from available materials and took to the air in it. He’s not alone in this, of course, but I found his work an intriguing example of ordinary Chinese citizens showing an interest in flying for fun.
The two news organizations reported that on a recent Sunday Yang successfully took off and landed 10 times in Jilin province, located in northeast China. According to writer Emily Chan he took the airplane up to 650 feet and has since logged 2.5 hours of flying time.
As I looked at the photos for this airplane I knew it looked familiar, in particular a 
