Key US programme restarts for French engine designed to power Cessna 182 Skylane
French engine maker SMA is to begin crucial electromagnetic interference tests in a bid to gain US certification for the Cessna 182 Skylane re-engined with its SR305-230 diesel-cycle engine by year-end.
SMA received a supplementary type certificate (STC) for the SR305-powered Q variant of the 182 in September 2003 from France’s airworthiness body DGAC, and last month gained STCs for the older M, N and P variants from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). However, a parallel certification programme for the 182Q in the USA was stalled last year when the company went into bankruptcy protection.
The US Federal Aviation Administration did not accept the original certification data and decided to subject the entire re-engined aircraft to full certification, says Sandrine Vacher, SMA sales and marketing manager. The FAA was set to complete electromagnetic interference/high-intensity radiated fields (EMI/HIRF) tests around the engine control unit towards the end of last year, but the company pulled out of the programme due to its financial difficulties.
Resumption of the FAA tests has become a priority since Safran’s acquisition of the shares of former SMA joint-venture partners Renault and EADS in July (Flight International, 5-11 July). The company’s US subsidiary, Frederick, Maryland-based SMA Engines, has agreed a provisional test schedule that will start next week and comprise two phases, with the second starting at the end of October, SMA says. “The EMI/HIRF tests are the last hurdle to certification and the target is the end of the year,” says Vacher.
FAA EMI/HIRF tests are designed to ensure there is no interference between the engine and systems such as the full-authority digital engine control. The test itself takes “less than one day”, says SMA, but scheduling such a detailed test is difficult due to the limited number of specialised laboratories.
The 182Q fitted with the SR305 made its debut at the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin last week, completing a nine-stage flight from Paris. SMA is relaunching its US sales drive in anticipation of receiving the STC for retrofit kits.
JUSTIN WASTNAGE/LONDON
Source: Flight International
