Current general aviation light aircraft are powered by engines that were originally designed in the 1940's. This paper gives a brief history of light aircraft engine development, explaining why the air-cooled, horizontally opposed piston engine became the dominant engine for this class of aircraft. Current engines are fairly efficient, and their designs have been updated through the years, but their basic design and operational characteristics are archaic in comparison to modem engine designs, such as those used in the automotive industry. There have been some innovative engine developments, but in general they have not been commercially successful. This paper gives some insight into the reasons for this lack of success. There is now renewed interest in developing modem propulsion systems for light aircraft, in the fore-front of which is NASA's General Aviation Propulsion (GAP) program. This paper gives an overview of the engines being developed in the GAP program, what they will mean to the general aviation community, and why NASA and its industry partners believe that these new engine developments will bring about a new era in general aviation light aircraft.


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    Titel :

    General Aviation Light Aircraft Propulsion: From the 1940's to the Next Century


    Beteiligte:
    L. A. Burkardt (Autor:in)

    Erscheinungsdatum :

    1998


    Format / Umfang :

    16 pages


    Medientyp :

    Report


    Format :

    Keine Angabe


    Sprache :

    Englisch





    General Aviation Light Aircraft Propulsion: From the 1940's to the Next Century

    Burkardt, L. A. / American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics / Society of Automotive Engineers et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1998



    Propulsion Education for General Aviation Aircraft

    Taghavi, R. / Society of Automotive Engineers of New York | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2002


    Propulsion Education for General Aviation Aircraft

    Taghavi, Ray | SAE Technical Papers | 2002