Dave Higdon/VERO BEACH
An interested observer might look at the evolution of New Piper Aircraft with some surprise. Since emerging from the depths of bankruptcy six years ago, New Piper has grown steadily back to a position of influence in the general aviation market.
From 12 units and less than $1 million in sales back in 1991, production and revenues have steadily grown, to 303 aircraft and more than $128 million in sales this year. Production of at least 325 units is expected in 1999. Last year, New Piper confounded critics by unveiling an already approved Seneca V, arguably the most capable, most advanced version yet of the company's venerable six-place piston twin.
But no product typifies New Piper's growth more than its latest development, the Malibu Meridian, a turboprop spin-off of the successful Malibu Mirage, currently the only pressurised piston single on the market. To make a turboprop out of the 350hp (260kW) piston single involves a great deal more than simply grafting a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-42A turboprop engine into the Malibu fuselage.
DEMANDING TASK
Developing a new business jet will demand even more from New Piper's marketing staff, managers, engineers, designers and production workers. But that - and beyond - is where New Piper is headed, says chairman Chuck Suma. "We want New Piper to grow and our product line to expand into a full family of aircraft," he told Flight International before the roll-out of the first Meridian prototype on 13 August. That full family not only includes a new jet or two, it also involves eventually changing New Piper's products at the lower end of the market, where the PA-28 Warrior and Archer continue to sell steadily, if not spectacularly. Suma has his caveats. He says developments up and down the product line will depend on:
New Piper's ability to identify, via customer surveys, niches for new products to fill;
the availability of new powerplants, reciprocating and turbine, that will provide advances in performance, reliability and costs;
the company's ability to tackle more new development programmes without "pulling a Boeing", as one company executive observes.
"We aren't going to bet the company on the success of one product, and we're not doing multiple projects at once. We're going to manage our resources, which means tackling new development one product at a time," Suma says.
Highest on the company's priorities is successful fielding of the Meridian, due for certification in July 2000, with deliveries to follow. "By then we may see something that interests us in powerplant development that we can mate with a new airframe - but not before," Suma says. "It has to be a proven, certificated engine, as well. The risks of tackling a new engine and a new airframe are simply too high."
That means, in Suma's words, no "paper engines", because New Piper will not engage in development of "a paper aeroplane". Development of a new aircraft is out of the question, he says, if the company does not have customers committed to firm contracts and non-refundable deposits. In-house financial resources to complete development, begin production and start deliveries without tapping customers or investors for more cash are also needed, he adds.
The Meridian may be the bridge between New Piper's old product line and the new. While there is no longer anything new or unique about a turboprop single - Cessna has delivered more than 2,500 PT6-powered, unpressurised Caravans and, in under three years, Pilatus has delivered more than 100 new pressurised PC-12s - but for slightly more than the cost of a Caravan, and well below that a PC-12, New Piper has developed a niche turboprop single that bridges the gap between pistons and the other models - with a transition customer base already out there flying Malibus.
"That's what we will look for in developing a jet," says Suma - something between what already exists and something that will attract buyers because of the niche it fills.
ON THE MERIDIAN
The Meridian, meanwhile, will cruise at 262kt (485km/h) at altitudes up to 30,000ft (9,150m) for as far as 3,250km (1,070nm), thanks to a 190 litre (50USgal) increase in fuel capacity over the Mirage, to 645 litres. By taking a larger turboprop and flat rating it back to 260kW continuous power, engine reliability should be high, with the time between overhauls starting at 3,500h, after a hot-section inspection (on the airframe) at 1,750h.
By adding a leading-edge cuff at the wing root and increasing the horizontal tail area by 37%, New Piper expects to keep the Meridian's stall speed below the 61kt limit imposed by US FAR Part 23 certification regulations.
"Clearly, the Meridian is a lot more than a Malibu with a turboprop bolted on," says Suma. "The Meridian is tailored to its mission and the people who will be flying it."
Similarly, New Piper also has an eye on revamping the Warrior/Archer/Arrow models which evolved from the Cherokee, the first aircraft produced at the then-new Vero Beach plant in 1960.
The old Piper long ago dropped the original "Hershey-bar wing" that helped make the Cherokee one of general aviation's lowest-cost products. But even with a longer, slightly tapered wing, the 120kW Warrior III, 135kW Archer III and 150kW, retractable gear Arrow III remain Cherokees at their cores.
New Piper believes it may be time for something new - but not something new for the sake of new alone. For Suma and his colleagues, that means something fresh in engine power to go into a new airframe.
Fortunately for New Piper and the rest of the industry, development of new powerplants seems to be in high gear. Textron Lycoming and Unison Industries, for example, plan to deploy a new digital, single-lever, piston engine control system in 2000, as the Meridian programme is shifting from development and certification to production and delivery. Although built around the traditional flat-four and flat-six air-cooled technology in use for six decades, these piston engine advances offer the promise of more power, better reliability and improved operating economies.
Similarly, improved economies, lower costs and higher reliability is the promise held by Williams International's FJX-2 small turbofan engine being developed under the auspices of NASA's General Aviation Propulsion (GAP) programme. Weighing under 45kg (100lb), the FJX-2 could deliver all the advantages of a turbofan for under $50,000 per unit - and with a specific fuel consumption better than the previous best pistons.
Also on the horizon are diesels and other kerosene-burning engines, including Renault/ Socata's new diesel; a GAP-funded two-stroke turbocharged diesel being developed by Teledyne Continental and a competitor being developed by Textron Lycoming; and a diesel-fuelled, spark-ignited rotary promised by Germany's Wankel.
"Right now, it's a matter of watching what develops and polling our customers to see what they want out of any new design we might create," Suma says. "Our customers will point the way, just as they did on the Meridian."
On the Meridian, pilot input shaped the new turboprop considerably compared to the Mirage on which it is based. For example, customers wanted a state-of-the-art instrument panel. New Piper picked Garmin International, Meggitt Avionics and S-TEC to fill the Meridian panel with all-new equipment.
"Piper found that these suppliers are truly on the leading edge when it comes to electronic component systems," says Larry Bardon, New Piper's director of sales and marketing. "They have a proven track record of bringing products to market on time," he says, adding: "They have leapfrogged over the competition to get where they are today."
READY FOR WAAS
A new Garmin unit, the GNS 530, will provide navigation and communications, including a 12-channel global positioning system (GPS) and full-colour, large-screen moving map. The GNS 530 includes a VHF transceiver with 8.33kHz channel spacing, while the navigation side integrates VOR, localiser and glideslope receivers into the same box with the GPS. The GPS and conventional navigation systems will be approved for instrument approaches, and the system will be capable of precision GPS approaches using the Wide Area Augmentation System when it comes on-line next century.
S-TEC is to supply its System 550 autopilot, with a flight guidance computer that couples with the Garmin GNS 530. Meggitt is supplying an engine instrument display system, consisting of two liquid-crystal displays. In addition, Piper will offer as optional equipment a Meggitt electronic flight display system. This includes flat-panel primary flight and navigation displays for both pilots, plus an air data attitude heading reference system.
While it is prepared to leapfrog the competition in avionics technology, New Piper is poised to advance airframe and engine technology more cautiously. But with each leap, William Piper's namesake company expects to take a bigger share of the market as it moves to jets some time after 2000 and looks at building on its piston roots with new products after that.
Source: Flight International