Wed, Aug 03, 2005
Offers Fuel-Injection Option For Radial Engines
Weatherly Aircraft
Company, which has made agricultural spraying and fire fighting
applications since 1961, says it will soon offer a new electronic
fuel-injection option for its radial engine aircraft. The new
option, according to a company statement to ANN, significantly
increasing fuel efficiency and lowering the total cost of operation
over the life of the engine. The option is expected to be certified
and available before the end of 2005.
The electronic fuel injection engine has been developed by Tulsa
Aircraft Engines in conjunction with RSW Products. Tulsa Aircraft
Engines (TAE), in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is Weatherly's long-time
supplier of the Pratt & Whitney R-985 radial engine designed
into the Weatherly 620-B aircraft model. RSW Products (RSW) is an
R&D laboratory in Houston, Texas, headed by Robert Schweis, a
leading design engineer who specializes in aircraft power
technology "fire-wall forward."
Weatherly has been working with TAE and RSW on specifically
applying the fuel injection upgrade to the Pratt & Whitney
R-985 radial engine, which is the standard radial engine delivered
in the Weatherly Aircraft 620-B. The electronic fuel-injection
(EFI) option for the R-985 is designed to improve the radial engine
performance by increasing the engine power, reducing fuel
consumption and reducing maintenance costs. EFI reduces vibration,
cylinder-head temperature and other adverse conditions that
contribute to engine wear and breakdown -- lowering the frequency
and cost of maintenance for both the engine and the aircraft.
Weatherly has the exclusive right to offer the electronic fuel
injection engine option upgrade for the R-985 through at least
calendar 2006.
Tulsa Aircraft Engines
President Sam Thompson said, "We selected the Weatherly 620-B as
the first production radial-engine airplane to wear the electronic
fuel injection system. Weatherly builds aircraft for ag operators
whose operations run on narrow margins and are sensitive to
operating efficiencies. As a result, the benefits of the EFI engine
upgrade should be easily measurable and noticeable to the ag
operator."
"Based on design parameters and the relatively modest cost of
the EFI system, the operating savings plus additional revenue from
increasing the spray payload and reducing the spray time, should
provide a pay-back in less than one season for most ag aircraft
operators, and the investment should extend the life of the engine
by 25-percent," said Weatherly President and CEO Gary Beck. "After
pay-back, the annual financial benefit should be about 3-5% over a
comparable non-EFI radial engine. For ag aircraft operations, where
margins are narrow, that amounts to appreciable benefits in
performance and profits."
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