Aerial contractor Super Air and Aeromotive says it has successfully installed a relatively cheap 550hp V8 car engine in one of the industry's workhorses, a Fletcher topdresser.
Most Fletchers are either 300hp or 400hp machines, although there have been gas-turbine versions of up to 750hp for more than six years.
Hamilton-based Super
Air and Palmerston North-based Fieldair began research in 1995 to boost the performance available from piston-engined machines.
While they liked the performance of turbine engines, the price tag of $US230,000 ($528,000) for each one made it difficult to get an economic payback.
The companies instead sought the compromise of a huge boost in power from a conventional V8 engine at a cost of just $US60,000 an engine.
The power gain has potential benefits beyond just better performance: a dozen agricultural pilots have been killed in the past six years when their aircraft did not have enough power to get off the ground or to clear obstacles during flight.
Fieldair Holdings poured $1.25 million into development of a small-block V8 engine for Fletchers, before abandoning the project.
But now the Super Air research programme has delivered a long-block Ford V8 10.5-litre car engine with a specially designed gear box.
Key benefits include the plane's environmental performance - it is significantly quieter than the 400hp piston models at present in use - productivity and cost-effectiveness.
Eventually, the engine will run on normal, unleaded 91-octane road fuel rather than costly and highly leaded Avgas.
Parts are cheaper and the engine runs on standard spark plugs. It will also use water and oil like any old car with a V8 engine under the bonnet.
A big feature is the plane's ability to go into reverse thrust for better stopping ability on farm air strips - just like the planes with turbine engines that cost nearly nine times as much.
Super Air general manager Mike Keen said that when the company set out on the project, he wondered why no one else had done it.
"If we had known how difficult it would be we probably wouldn't have started," he said. The development has cost more than $1.25 million, and the prototype aircraft's call sign is BHG - commonly read by Super Air staff as "Bloody Hard Grind."
Mr Keen and aircraft engineer Gary Blithe said the Super Air team were determined to get it right, and in recent weeks saw the V8 certified as airworthy.
Chief pilot Peter Whetton, who has been involved in testing, said it was another vital step in the evolution of the top-dressing industry.
Super Air - a subsidiary of the BOP Fertiliser cooperative - will do further flight trials over the next six months to test productivity and compare performances before seeking full certification from New Zealand aviation officials.
Mr Keen said he was confident there would be a worldwide market for the engine once it was fully proven.
- NZPA
Aerial contractor Super Air and Aeromotive says it has successfully installed a relatively cheap 550hp V8 car engine in one of the industry's workhorses, a Fletcher topdresser.
Most Fletchers are either 300hp or 400hp machines, although there have been gas-turbine versions of up to 750hp for more than six years.
Hamilton-based Super
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