Revitalisation of the US general-aviation industry is well underway, but true recovery will depend on manufacturers developing competitive new aircraft which are faster, quieter and easier to fly than today's designs. NASA hopes to stimulate the development of new aircraft through its Advanced General Aviation Transportation Experiments (AGATE) and General Aviation Propulsion (GAP) programmes.
While the AGATE project is a wide-ranging effort to develop technologies to make future aircraft easier to fly, and therefore more attractive to potential pilots, the GAP programme is aimed specifically at one key aspect of acceptability - engines. With few exceptions, today's general-aviation (GA) aircraft are powered by piston engines, the origins of which stretch back several decades. The GAP programme aims to stimulate the development of two new types of GA powerplant - the small gas-turbine and diesel-fuelled reciprocating engine.
In late 1996, NASA's Lewis Research Center awarded cost-sharing GAP contracts to Teledyne Continental Motors, to develop a 3kN (700lb) thrust turbofan. Compared with current piston engines, Continental's diesel is intended to be more reliable and cleaner burning on Jet-A fuel. Ground testing is to begin in 1998.
According to NASA, the diesel is intended to power entry-level general aviation aircraft.
Source: Flight International
