Paul:

Let's forget the FAA for a few minutes.

PMA and all that aside, is there a business case, enough market now,
that you could manufacture x engines a year and make a profit?

Could you build a "standard" engine for Experimental purposes, with
"dial a yield"? Say a 2 rotor engine that would produce 100-300 HP by
changing one part, or limiting the turbo-boost?

If you can do that, then there is the possibility of getting an
investor or three that would cover the cost of the one part that is
difficult to build (removing Mazda from the picture) and allow the
FAA cert (under new part 23 stuff).

The idea is to boot strap into a market that would love to stop using
TEL and still have the power to climb into the flight levels.

Just thinking about this, and the ramifications. So I just had to
ask.

Regards, Steve Thompson


The middle class disposable income situation is very bad in the US
and probably the world. Bad news for GA.

If we are lucky Trump can turn it around but that could take two to
three years.

The wealthy class always have money but they are unlikely to be
impressed on a rotary powered airplane unless it had extraordinary
performance.

It should  cruise over 35,000 feet and 300 to 400 MPH with 2500 mile
range. Definitely possible with one or two  turbo 3 or 4 rotors. The
price should be under 5 million. The big advantage would be the lower
cost and lighter weight of the rotary engines. Lighter engines
translate to a lighter airframe and a higher percentage of fuel
weight. The lower fuel burn will also help the range

Turbo props are limited to 25,000 to 30,000  feet and and about 350
MPH . Typical. is a Beechcraft King Air 250 cost 6 million.

Private turbo props and jets sell in roughly equal numbers

Paul Lamar


I think Steve is on the right track, and there are two additional
market spaces for these engines, which can be expensive and need not
be certified. They do have to be reliable, and light. They do have
to offer system engineering, like Paul suggests good/better
gearboxes (at least at Tracy's level.) The two additional markets
are powerplants for electric hybrid aircraft, and high altitude
drones. I know Paul is not excited with the hybrid VTOL concept such
as uber.com/elevate but a lot of people are. Many of the visionaries
in the VTOL market are stuck on those planes being all-electric, but
they don't need the kind of range that most people do, and there is
still a phenomenal range of possibilities for hybrid electric using
technology we have today. VTOL. No airports. See Joby, Lilium,
Airbus A^3, Zee, etc.

Happy to discuss this offline with anyone who wants more info.

David Josephson


Helicopters are not allowed to land just anywhere. Way back when I
was a boy everybody was excited about a helicopter in the back yard.
It never came to pass. One of the problems is the wind it kicks up.
Another problem is noise. People don't want that in their
neighborhood.

Paul Lamar

You solve the wind problem by making them small, with distributed
lift rather than one big rotor. You solve the noise problem by not
making helicopters. The Volocopter is 17 dB quieter (by my
measurement) than the smallest/quietest 2-place piston engine
helicopter. We have to convince people that they are quiet enough and
safe enough or you’re right, they won’t want them. We’ll do that by
demonstrating them, not just assertions.

David Josephson

What do you hope to achiever with this things? I am not sure what
they are trying to do.

Paul Lamar

They would like to run an air taxi service that's quiet enough so it
will be permitted in cities; helicopters aren't.

David Josephson

Unless they discover anti gravity it won't happen. Propellers and rotors
are imperfect generators of thrust. The flow is very complex and intrinsically
noisy. That is the major source of noise from air craft. Not the exhaust.
All the electric  motors in the world are not going to change that.

Paul Lamar

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