Turbines for the Year 2000

ŠCUSTOM PLANES magazine January 2000 issue, page 37 Reprinted with permission. MY PERSONAL ASSOCIATION with turbine-powered aircraft has not been extensive. I’ve handled the controls of a few turbine-powered military aircraft, Learjets and Convair 580's. There were also the hundreds of hours I spent as a passenger in commercial airliners. At no time during those flights was I ever worried about engine failure. Turbines have earned a reputation for reliability. Whenever somebody plans an aircraft project of the right size and type, if the funds are available for it, a turbine engine is usually the powerplant of choice. This is true for today's aircraft and undoubtedly for the majority of aircraft in the future.	For the past several years, there has been an increasing number of surplus and imported turbines installed in a wide variety of aircraft, including homebuilts, acrobatic planes and even homebuilt helicopters. That’s because turbines are becoming available at prices that are more affordable. Last year at Sun ‘n Fun, I spotted three composite aircraft of unique design, all of which were powered by turbines. These unusual planes from a company called Aerocomp, based in Merritt Island, Florida, were capable of carrying seven, eight and 10 people. The eight-seat Aerocomp was especially intriguing, not only because of its unusual design, but also because it was on floats, and I had never flown a turboprop seaplane before. Aerocomp has a great deal of experience in composite construction. The company	began by building seaplane floats for aircraft of every weight and configuration, offering both regular floats and amphibious floats. Aerocomp designed all its floats using the latest available aerodynamic and hydrodynamic technologies. Not only are the floats attractive, Aerocomp designed them so that all the seams are above the waterline, and this feature greatly minimizes the need for the seaplane pilot to pump out water that inevitably accumulates in floats. Another great feature of Aerocomp floats is their ease and speed of assembly. The straight floats can be assembled in about 20 hours; the amphibious versions go together in about 50 hours. What’s more, the composite construction of Aerocomp floats allows the owner to make repairs quite simply, using commonly available materials.

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