Subject: Wankel Concept Airplane
From: paul lamar
Date: 3/8/2017, 4:50 PM
To: A10-Me-Earthlink



Dear Mr. Lamar

Thank you for your rotaryeng.net  web page. You put such an incredible insight into the world of Wankel rotary engines, it's almost unbelievable that such website exist online.

Since we share same belief in Wankel rotary engine as a light aircraft engine of the future, I wanted to show you my concept aircraft.

Two years ago I started conceptual design of a six seat light twin engine aircraft that is designed around G-300 Mistral engines.

After many months spent on design and calculations I ended up with aircraft that has cabin size of a light jet, turboprop aircraft performance at a price point of a twin engine piston aircraft.

For example, cruise performance would be around 270 ktas at 25000 ft with 35 gph of avgas or mogas on typical 500 nm trip (including climb, cruise and descent fuel).

As you know, major benefit of Wankel engines would be reduced operating cost resulting from: longer engine TBO, cheaper overhaul prices and ability to use mogas.

I believe in Wankel rotary engines and I noticed that the biggest problem with them is that there is no airframe that is optimized for them.
So I designed this one that can be used for air taxi, medical services, cargo, etc.
In this missions, it would stand out from turboprop and piston aircraft with its low operating cost and increased cabin comfort, this way it would really show the true advantages of Wankel engines.

Here is the link for a web page where you can see how it looks like, http://dragannristic.wixsite.com/art660 <http://dragannristic.wixsite.com/art660>

I would like to hear your opinion about this aircraft.

Looking forward to hearing from you.


Best regards,

Dragan Ristic

Looks great. I think you will need a gear box and a larger prop diameter.
The rotaries  make power at 6000 RPM and  up. We are running the 650HP  200 pound turbo
2 rotor Mazda engine at 8000 RPM We have a 3:1 gear box but a 4:1 single planetary gear box
would work better if we could find one at reasonably cost. The prop is 84 inches in diameter.

It surprised even me when it did not blow with a 100 inches of Hg manifold pressure.

Paul Lamar


A twin Wankel-powered, 6-seat plane would be amazing. Something you wouldn't be afraid to cross oceans with. Here's another link to an interesting twin pusher under development; http://www.hensleyaircraft.com/ <http://www.hensleyaircraft.com/> . No mention of engines planned, but one can imagine.Don't know how real it is; tried contacting them and so far no response. The only other twin experimental project I've heard of is the Gemini from Zenith, but it seems to have been abandoned. You'd think there would be a market when you consider the expense and bother of certified twins.

Oh yeah, is there a PSRU/Gearbox available to counterrotate one of the engines?


Bob Ripley

Lower fuel burn than PT6's and one third the cost.

It would have to be experimental but probably one third of the airplanes
sold are experimental kits now a days.

Certification for the engine  would be very expensive even if a certified fuel injection
and mags were used. It should be an exact copy of the Mazda to minimize
technical risk. The big cost is casting the steel lined rotor housing. I think
the thing to do is sand cast a steel liner in an aluminum rotor housing.

I know that can be done as I have seen that done in an aluminum foundry
here is So Cal. Not rotor housings but other parts.

I don't think so on the off the shelf auto tx gear box parts.
That would have to be custom made.

Paul Lamar

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