Four Mk II Configurations Available

Soloy Aviation Solutions received FAA certification on October 28 for its Soloy 206 Turbine Mk II. A turbine version of the popular piston Cessna 206H, the Rolls Royce 250-B17F/2-powered Mk II provides an increase of 110 hp over the factory Cessna 206H, boosting the aircraft's ability to carry more weight, fly faster and operate in high and hot conditions.

Soloy notes the increased power, paired with the aircraft's Hartzell three-bladed prop with full beta reverse features, makes the Mk II the ideal STOL aircraft, especially in its amphibious configuration.

"The Mk II is the perfect platform for vast number of applications, from law enforcement to adventurous backcountry operations," said Dave Stauffer, president of Soloy Aviation Solutions. "The lighter turbine engine increases the power while reducing the basic empty weight by approximately 150 pounds. This allows an operator to add more equipment, such as in a law enforcement application, or allow a pilot who might have only been able to carry additional gear into a remote landing strip or lake to pack in the four people and gear to high altitudes on even hot days. No other aircraft in this class can offer that."

Soloy says the Mk II can climb at 2,460 fpm at sea level, cruise at FL200 feet at 213 KTAS, carry 775 lbs with full fuel, and has an approximately 550 nm-mile range. The aircraft is also quiet for a turboprop -- registering 72.4 db when operating at take-off power (417 hp/2030 rpm) as required by the latest regulations.

The Mk II also includes a number of upgrades to the standard 206 in response to customer requests. In refitting the aircraft for a turbine engine, Soloy engineers increased the aircraft's electrical capacity to 185 amps continuous, allowing the aircraft to handle the power load of air conditioning, law enforcement equipment and sensors, and increased pilot avionics. Additional options include the highly coveted recessed headliner and four point restraint harness that greatly increases pilot and co-pilot comfort.

The Mk II will be offered initially in four configurations: law enforcement, skydiving, amphibious and commercial/private operations.

The law enforcement configuration includes a floor to ceiling observer window and a tactical officer station complete with Soloy's swivel observer seat, which latches into a forward facing position for take off, then can be swiveled to look out the observer window once airborne. Custom installations of instrumentation, flat panel monitors and law enforcement equipment are available to meet customer's mission requirements and will interface with the Soloy multi-sensor, wing-mounted camera mount currently under development.

The skydive configuration includes a roll-up jump door, a spoiler to reduce the harmonizing effect of the open door, hand grips and steps... while the amphibious version offers Wipaire 3450 amphibious floats with retractable landing gear with the increased gross weight of 3,800 pounds.

The commercial/private configuration can be completed to the owner's specifications, including a list of cockpit avionics. A glass panel cockpit option is under development and will be available to retrofit the older Cessna 206H configurations with Cessna Nav II avionics.

Soloy has started accepting orders, and currently has a half a dozen Mk II aircraft in work and plans to deliver the first aircraft later this month. The aircraft will be displayed at the Rolls-Royce booth during next week's AOPA Expo 2008 in San Jose, CA.

FMI: www.soloy.com/