Seen this months edition ?
A flight review of the DA-40 (again). *Sigh*
That was last month's edition!
The point of said review was to conduct a
READER flight test. For what I can gather, this was quite a well-received feature and will be done again soon.
(Pssst! IanS - a dual seat Spit or Boeing/Airbus Sim ride would be great
)
Have to agree with our Mr Cross. Our old Warrior needs a new engine. Does the owner of BlueRobins fork out 12-15k for a new O-320 or at least double that for a Centurion 1.7?
Now consider the demand for the aircraft. It flies 50 hours a month. If people are still queuing up for the £98/hr, why go for something cheaper? Bit barrow minded in the long-term granted because the market is bound to change with diesel offering lower flying rates, but still the need for a new engine is now.
Speaking of lower flying rates offered by diesels, I did some calculations on this. Based on the retrofit converison for a Centurion 1.7, I figured the cost per hour saving would only be £10 to £15 per hour. Why? Capital outlay is so high, the operator would need to recoup this and do so soon-ish.
Let's also not forget Bombardier have the hush-hush range of higher powered Rotax engines coming out. I daresay these won't need to run on AVGAS 100LL.
Quick thought about the current Rotax range and 100LL. They have to be
serviced twice as much compared to running on UL mogas.