Gleaming white, and proudly sporting its Renault Sport compression ignition turbocharged diesel engine, Socata's new generation Trinidad TB 20 trainer hopes to capture a share of contracts for light aircraft of 180hp to 300hp class.
Flight tests begin in late summer or early autumn at Tarbes, south-west France, with certification expected for the 250hp version next spring, for the 300hp version in September, and in December 1998 for the 180hp version.
Marketing in North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe has yielded some positive reactions from many potential customers. First deliveries are due in the second half of 1998 for the 250hp and early 1999 for the other versions.
Joint venture
Aerospatiale, Socata's parent company, and Renault Sport's Formula 1 racing car engine builder have set up a joint venture company to produce the new 100% French light aircraft powered by its own engine.
And an F1 Williams FW19 - similar to the one driven by Jacques Villeneuve in Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix and powered by Renault's all-conquering V-10 engine - graces the stand alongside its aviation counterpart.
Aerospatiale chairman Yves Michot and Renault Sports general manager Christian Contzen are confident that the new engine will be widely sought for single-engine planes as it uses kerosene, not avgas which is hard to get in many parts of the world, to fuel corporate jets.
Dominated
Taking a tilt at the American Lycoming and Teledyne Continental engines which have dominated the world market for more than 40 years, the new company known as Societe de Motorisations Aeronautiques (SMA) claims its new engine comes out ahead in three key factors - cost, fuel consumption and maintenance.
Market surveys show there are 80,000 light aircraft in the world, many of which requiring retrofit.
First clients of SMA will be the French Air Force with the re-engining of its 250-strong fleet of Epsilon trainer aircraft.
Source: Flight Daily News
