Aero-TV: Trace Engines - Re-Engineered Turbocharged Power

C.E.O. David Czarnecki Profiles the 600 Horsepower Trace Engine

Until recently, general aviation manufacturers had only one option, the turboprop, for powering market aircraft. Trace Engines LP spent years developing and designing an alternative solution to meet the aviation industries need for a modern, cost effective reciprocating engine. Fully certified and ready for production, the Trace V-8 engine represents an evolution in engine selection.

The turbocharged, liquid-cooled engine improves operational performance by increasing speed, range, and gross weight without increasing operational cost; TRACE Engines estimates that with the combined lower cost to purchase, repair, and overhaul, operators can save 35% to 50%. As Czarnecki explains, while a turbine engine displays constant power degradation as altitude increases, the turbocharged TRACE V-8 maintains cruise power all the way up with an estimated 600hp maximum takeoff and 500hp maximum continuous; an equivalent turbo prop engine would need to be rated as much as 1,000 horsepower at sea level to match the TRACE engines output at altitude. The result is an average 27 gallons per hour fuel rate, less than 30% than the fuel rate of an equivalent powered turbine engine.

Currently, typical installations can be found in singles with gross weights up to 6,000 lbs and twins up to 12,500 lbs. The starting price remains at 200,000 for an engine package, with total installation costs varying due to time and labor. TRACE Engines LP is located in Midland, Texas where its production facilities are able to produce around 100 engines a year for over 40,000 potential aircraft retrofit opportunities.

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[mrmouse8899]

@davetileguy i know exactly when the 172 was certified. again litigation is a US issue few other places in the world do the courts allow litigation to run out of control like the US. Again an engine like the Trace a big chunk of the cost to start manufacturing them is the certification, I have actually spoken at great length to one of the original designers of this engine back when it was known as the thunder predating Orenda owning it and the bulk of the cost was meeting certification

[davetileguy]

@mrmouse8899 Cessna 172 was certified a loooong time ago,it's current cost and temporary shutdown was due to litigation period. look it up,it's not my opinion it's a fact. It's engine is used in many aircraft which is why they continued manufacturing them. Lack of production is due to demand which is due to cost which is due to litigation. A circular problem.

[mrmouse8899]

@davetileguy yes but remember the US is not the only country that builds aircraft, there are aircraft built all around the world lots of which are better built better designed and better equipped then what is made by Cessna or other such manufacturers. Also remember that during the time that Cessna (textron) and others ceased production the engine manufactures continued to produce engines. basic issues still boil down to certification costs and lack of production....

[davetileguy]

@mrmouse8899 It is often said that the product liability situation has caused the large aircraft companies to minimize the production of piston aircraft. Cessna quit building single-engine aircraft ten years ago. They are now building a few models again due to a highly publicized promise made by Russ Meyer (Cessna CEO) to Senator Kassenbaum who pushed through the liability Statute of Repose legislation.

[mrmouse8899]

@davetileguy litigation is a problem yes, especially in the US for the rest of the world not so much as for Cessna 172 $250 000 yeah thats roughly the price of one whats the point? labour isn't cheap and driving rivets is labour intensive. as for honda teledyne no you said honda plane of which there is only the honda jet on supposed production. for the engine yeah so much development that all the news on it is from 2003/2004 and nothing sense.

[davetileguy]

@mrmouse8899 I'm not talking about the jet did you not read my post? did I say jet? it's a Honda -Teledyne project ,you'd think an aviation expert like yourself would be aware of that. Google is your friend.

P.S. Certification is not the big cost it's Litigation. Cesna 172 $250,000? crazy!

[mrmouse8899]

@davetileguy also for the honda jet, given it was supposed to be in production years ago and still is not i wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it may a company has tried to produce an aircraft and failed not saying they will just saying the odds are against them and why are the odds against them? the very reason I said before for the cost CERTIFICATION the cost of certifying an aircraft like this will be 50 to 100 million today and thats not counting development costs or production costs.

[mrmouse8899]

@davetileguy yes you run fuel injection and its been done the snag is to do so requires redundancy which = weight airplanes are all about putting the lightest parts onto the plane to provide the maximum payload and at the end of the day a magneto, starter/generator and carb are lighter then dual alternators + a starter plus dual fuel injections etc etc. and the honda plane will prove nothing, its a jet not a piston pounder or a prop driven aircraft even

[mrmouse8899]

@davetileguy first off your idea behind honda is flawed, honda is using a jet turbo fan not a piston engine and to my knowledge they have no interest of producing anything other then jets. a jet engine is not well suited for lots of rolls hence why things like the C-130 Hercules are prop driven and notice how they are turbo prop? and notice how one of the most mass produced aircraft engines is a PT6 turbine not a piston engine?

[davetileguy]

@mrmouse8899 When Honda does come out with a modern engine based on car tech. once again the U.S. will be left behind,mostly to attitudes like yours that defend 100 + yr old tech. No airliner or fighter jet flies without a computer ,my chevy vortech has 240,000 miles with only an alternator and fuel pump fail,both easily predictable and preventable.

P.S. I'm fully aware of what happens to a plane when the engine stops turning.