A Chinese company has developed a relatively inexpensive small turboprop engine designed to replace existing high-performance piston engines used in light aircraft and drones. The Aero Engine Corporation says it AEP20 makes about 320 horsepower, is one-third the weight of a comparable gasoline mill and lasts twice as long. “We have seen great potential in the new type in the market. Many aircraft makers have reached out to us to discuss their intent to buy it,” said Xie Li, a spokesman for Hunan Aviation Powerplant Research Institute. “The AEP20 is badly needed.”
The engine will first fly on a drone next year, but there is a huge untapped market for GA aircraft, he said. “Its potential users want to use it to replace piston engines that are now used to propel their manned planes or drones,” he said. The little turbine will sell for about $170,000 U.S., roughly double the cost of the most popular high-performance piston engines, but the cost per hour could be in the same ballpark. The company says a drone manufacturer has ordered “hundreds” of engines for a total value of about $99 million.
Yeah, no.
-What are the fuel consumption numbers?
-Technical, Parts, Service Support Network?
-To what standards is this thing designed & qualified against?
-Designed, likely, for a tactical UAS, so reliability & longevity not really a top design priority.
Don’t get me wrong; I do not mind the occasional crap tool from Harbor Freight to get a job done, but an aircraft engine that is likely a blatant knockoff copy of a mainstream plant?
Sorry, but hard pass.
Valid questions, I have hope that we’ll get some encouraging answers soon. To your points, the quality of Harbor Freight tools has improved significantly, remember when “Made in Japan” was synonymous with junk? I also recall that Williams International engines started flying exclusively on drones. GA sorely needs an affordable and efficient turbine engine, I hope this wakes up existing manufacturers. PBS, you guys listening?
It will be interesting to see how it compares to the Rolls-Royce 250 series turboshaft engines. Soloy has STCs for the Cessna 206, 207 and Beech Bonanza. Although, the price of a used Cessna 208 Caravan maybe a better bang for the buck?
It’s about time, and hopefully not too late. This is the best shot in the arm for GA aircraft, particularly in the light and medium twin market. this market is literally dying off. rebuilt big bore engines with overhaul costs north of $50k are killing the market. We’ve been flying 1960’s era piston engines for too long, but turbine conversions were impractical. Honeywell and P+W have turned away from this market and even smaller PT-6’s are $150,000-$250,000 to overhaul.
If the cost of this turboprop is in the $175k range it’s totally competitive with a NEW TIO-540. It will have twice the TBO time and burn cheaper Jet A fuel.
Once it gets certified I’ll take a very hard look at retrofitting these engines.
The lycosaurus engines are known products. People have the blueprints to these engines. There are plenty of reasons for other companies to build Lycosaurus clones but they don’t. There is zero market for them. Even the Chinese don’t even want to touch the Lycosaurus design.
You do realize that turbine engines have a significantly higher BSFC at the low altitudes light GA aircraft operate at, yes? If you’re thing is to cruise around at/under 15000 MSL, then a piston engine is the far more fuel efficient solution. Then, you’re still going to have an insanely high overhaul cost. Why? Because it’s a turbine that turns at super high RPMs and requires extremely precise balancing and highly skilled maintainers doing it. Pratt PT-6s are that expensive to overhaul, and that is with lots of them in circulation, a massive parts supply & technical support network.
You really ready to trust your life with this plant, because costs? Not meant to be a swipe, just something to think about.
During my career (which FWIW was federal law enforcement), I assumed the bad guys knew what I knew, so in order to prevail, I had to be able to use my knowledge and skills more efficiently and effectively than they could. The Peoples Republic of China is building EVs with 600 mile range that recharge in under and hr. Us? Not so much. Are they tech pirates? Certainly. So were the Japanese, once. But if their engineers have invested the sweat equity, imagined new ways to solve old challenges, and brought their manufacturing efficiency to the game, I hope this engine is a huge success. To wish otherwise feels a little small-minded and petty.
This engine was designed and intended for the Chinese military for drones, cruse missiles etc. There is no huge GA market, never has been. If they sold for $50K or $60K maybe but not likely. Probably find some crashed in Ukraine soon.
Cirrus Aircraft is a subsidiary of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), which is the parent company of AECC.
The AEP20 looks like a drone engine more than anything else. The fuel burn hurts it for GA, certification stops it cold in the United States and Europe, and the U.S. military will not touch it. Even so, it will find buyers in countries that do not follow FAA or EASA rules, and there is plenty of commerce for it in those markets. An SR22 in China might work there, but not here.
Well, it would help to answer the question about what fuel should replace 100LL. Seriously though, the article says that the engine would last twice as long as a big piston engine. So, say 4,000 hours? But is that 4k hours to overhaul or to replacement? They don’t say. How many hot section inspections will be required during that 4,000 hours? Try finding a local mechanic that knows how to do them, and has the equipment.
For those of us who wish someone would come out with a modern, efficient engine that can run on Mogas, I suggest you go back and watch Paul Bertorelli’s excellent Avweb video about new engine development (available on YouTube).