Paul,

Do you have any current information on Mistral's certification
program? The latest date on their website says they expected
certification of the G300 in 2009....


Josh


They appear to be out of biz.

Paul Lamar --

No, they are not out of bizz.

They presented their engines ar Aerofrederichhafen

They have two 300hp engines, in airplane version and in helicopter
version and they have two 200hp engines, airplane and helico

They are on the experimental market. Certified version are on the
back burner for the time. Also frozen is the JETA engines, waiting
for funding.

With the limited funds they have, they struggle to survive and get
additional funding. It is their priority.

This info comes from a reliable source in Switzerland, who is one of
the founders of Mistral. Philippe CHENEVIER

Did you go to Aero this year?

Are they selling parts? Gear boxes? Exhaust parts? Intake manifolds?
Seems that is an excellent way of making money. Also the customers
are willing to test the parts for free.

Do you have an email address for them?

If there is no way to contact them... in effect... they are out of
biz.

Paul Lamar


There is a market in the US for the Mistral gear box constant speed
prop version in particular.

Philippe , do you know if they are still getting subsidies from the
Swiss government? Having received that money are they not allowed to
move the manufacturing out of Switzerland?

It would make economic sense to move the company to the US and the
manufacturing to China like everybody else.

Who is in charge of the company now?

Paul Lamar


Guys,

Chatted with someone at mistral last week.... They told me they
won't sell just the parts.

It appears the want the whole package or nothing.

Not the greatest policy if you ask me. They have developed a great
product and the PSRU is a work of art. But not trying to make some
money with the work they have done makes no sense.

Plan to go to Geneva in June to check out their operation

Will Failing

That is insane! Why pay them $30,000 for a engine that is not as
good as a brand new $8,000 (retail) Mazda RX8 engine.

Let me know when they get a real businessman in charge :)

In the meantime forget Mistral.

Paul Lamar


Actually, if memory serves Mistral's retail pricing was pushing $60k
before they went belly up......okay, maybe belly side ways.....edging
to up.

I have the Mistral intake and super pleased to have licked onto
having proper timing to get it. (Even though the fuel rail design
seems to have been part of the reason for my engine shut down last
month at about 800 feet over the airport)

It seems Mistral has some talented engineers without solid business
sense (or maybe just socialist business sense....perhaps one in the
same). To have a seemingly known market niche in am already limited
market and dismiss such does not seem to be a good business route.

Chris Barber Houston Velocity N17010


The experiment aviation market is very fortunate and lucky to have a
low cost mass produced engine that is more durable than a $30,000
aircraft piston engine. They just don't know it yet.

The biz model that makes sense is buy the low cost engine from Mazda
and buy the parts to turn it into an aircraft engine from some one
else.

Paul Lamar

Chris,

I sent you photos of my Mistral intake & fuel rail a while back.I
recall your engine loss report but can't remember reading about the
Mistral fuel rail as a factor in the episode. How did it contribute
to the stoppage and what remedial steps did you take to resolve the
problem with it?

Thanks,

Jack Hilditch



Jack, I don't think I posted about my engine out here. It happened only last month. I think I posted on FlyRotary to let the word out.

Basically, on the first trip out of my home airport's pattern the engine quite at around 800 feet over Pearland Regional Airport (LVJ) a few miles away from my base airport, Ellington (EFD). The engine had been running well and strong and cool so I felt it was time to expand my test envelope.

I got to LVJ much faster than I expected as I was use to Cessna/Piper training types. My Data log shows I was at around 140 knt's (not sure if indicated or true....just don't remember) on the short hop. I got there so much faster than expected I had to get my bearings and started entering the pattern a bit off of standard. As I was reorientated, but still a little low of pattern altitude, I throttled back slightly as I was turning onto downwind long when the engine quite.

My mind briefly thought to start hitting switches as practiced but, uh, I was only about 800' agl, time was at a premium. So I called on the radio I lost the engine and I needed 32 (with the wind. 14 was active). Heard a couple of verifications acknowledging my traffic as I flew the airplane down, fast. I past the numbers pretty close to the deck and fast, I put down the speed brake for good measure and luckily slowed as I flew down the 4300' of concrete. As soon as I noted 80knts (landing speed) I put the bird down, using my legs as anti lock brakes and coasted to the end to the taxiway without incident.

A friend in his RV recognized me in the pattern and landed just after me (United pilot) and pulled up as I popped the door. Then a greeting party of airport types who were monitoring the radio come pouring out to make sure all was well.

After a few minutes of speaking to the airport folks, the engine started back up, but was a little rough. I taxied to the ramp.

Upon inspection we (my mechanical engineer friend who owns an aviation related business and is building an RV-7) found some gunk in the fuel rail. It looked to me that it was perhaps a bit of the residue powder you get when you make a hose. Yes, I thought I had cleaned this but as is obvious, must have missed it.

What seems to have happened is that the Mistral fuel rail uses a very small orifice on the return end of the fuel rail to regulate pressure.   The gunk clogged this return orifice thus not allowing any fuel to return after the injectors, this backed up the fuel, causing a spike in fuel pressure (verified via the datalog) and flooding the engine and causing the engine to quite.

I have since enlarged the orifice in the Mistral fuel rail and it returns to the fuel pressure regulator to control pressure. There is a bypass hose that goes around fuel pressure regulator that has a plug in it with a similar orifice to give the fuel a way to flow regardless.

Sorry if I went a bit long on the war story part.

Perhaps y'all can enlighten me why Mistral would use this orifice as the way to control fuel pressure as it is the proverbial single point of failure whereas the pressure regulator with bypass seems to provide two viable routes. Yes, my hose should have been cleaner. I think I had to remake the hose that goes into the fuel rail and only vaguely remember the actual process.

I have a hangar temporarily at LVJ where I was able to rework the fuel return. I hope to get out there after work to continue the efforts.

Chris Barber
Houston





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