Experimenter is a magazine created by EAA for people who build airplanes. We will report on amateur-built aircraft as well as ultralights and other light aircraft.
Issue link: http://experimenter.epubxp.com/i/271000
EAA Experimenter 33 UNDER THE COWL IN THE LAST DECADE, we have witnessed little new engine devel- opment in the ultralight/light-sport/experimental aircraft fi eld for engines up to 110 hp that could possibly challenge the Rotax 912/914 engines. In the range from 100 to 150 hp, the situation was even worse. But that situation substantially changed in 2010 with the introduction of several new and interesting power- plants. The experimental aircraft builder now has a wide variety of options available, including ULPower, the D-Motor, and the Viking engine, just to mention a few. Now a new Italian engine manufacturer is dramatically widening the engine choices. In 2013, MW Fly introduced four Aeropower engines to the U.S. market in power ranges from 95 to 150 hp, and it is promising more engines soon. This northern Italian company from Milan had been working secretly on a clean-sheet engine project for experi- mental and light aircraft since 2003. Fourteen years ago, two engineers from the Politecnico di Milano—Stefano Marella and Guido Fantini—started designing a new family of avia- tion engines. Marella and Fantini already owned an engineer- ing company specializing in racing engine development and tuning. In 2004, the fi rst two prototypes of the B22 engines were built, fi red up, and dyno tested. A year later, three more engines swinging propellers were tested on an engine stand. In 2006, the B22 engine was airborne on board a trike and flown in a pusher configuration. Two years later, the engine was installed and flown in an Italian ICP Amigo low- wing aircraft. By mid-2008, the project was still secret; but testing was getting difficult to hide and the first reports of the engine development were leaked. In May 2011, the engine was finally introduced in Italy and then internationally during AERO Friedrichshafen 2012 in Germany. At the end of 2011, the serial assembly of the engines began within the structure of Officine Aeronautiche David (OAD) in Brescia, Italy. Since 1989, OAD has been a certified aviation engines overhaul and servicing company and is well known in Europe. OAD is handling engine main- tenance for European engines and is a training center for MW Fly maintenance personnel. The MW Fly Engine A new Italian manufacturer comes to the U.S. market BY MARINO BORIC Photography courtesy Marino Boric The newest engine in the MW Fly portfolio—the 150-hp fl at four, the B25R. The whole MW Fly engine lineup is adopting the second generation PSRU, which is suitable for fi xed- and variable-pitch propellers. On the table is the new crank position/ speed sensor; the old sensor is still installed on the engine. E A A E X P _ M a r 1 4 . i n d d 3 3 EAAEXP_Mar14.indd 33 3 / 3 / 1 4 1 0 : 3 3 A M 3/3/14 10:33 AM