I was intrested in what the market place would be for a Turbo Charged Cirrus. Has the factory considered building one of these? Just a show of hands but who would be intrested in going a little faster? Maybe we can give them a nudge!
This was discussed a few weeks ago. After many posts, I believe the answer was yes it was considered by Cirrus and no is is not going to be produced for a combination of technical and market reasons. Try doing a search. I believe the thread was on the member’s forum, so you will need to be a member first.
Alan K. himself spoke to us at the AOPA COPA meeting about a turbo Cirrus. He is a guy who is alwys looking for abetter way to make an airplane and his comments were very informative. He made it quite clear that, after inviting a number of folks to preview their turbocharge and turbonormalize options to him in Duluth, he was very dissatisfied with all of them. None really delivered what they promised. By the time the extra weight, heat, size, fuel burn, cost and other facrors were considered, his final conclusion was that Cirrus would not benefit from a turbo option, in any form.
strange…
in a car gains of 30-50% in performance are routinely recorded…
I guess in a plane where weight is so important that would neutralize the gains to an extent…
reliability and compression concerns could be a problem also…
just surprised this was dismissed immediately.
In reply to:
… just surprised this was dismissed immediately.
I know they flew a turbocharged testbed airplane around for at least several months… I’ve discussed this with Cirrus myself, on and off, for over a year… so I know that it got a lot of consideration. And, like everything else, just because they’re not doing it for now, doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t reconsider as/when technology or other parameters change.
- Mike.
In reply to:
in a car gains of 30-50% in performance are routinely recorded…
Volkswagen (Audi?) obviously found it worthwhile for the Rabbit (seen below in Athens)
I’m not sure we got this exact model stateside
It is my understanding that most turbo systems and all turbo normallizing systems are more designed to enhance the aircraft’s ability to fly at higher altitudes with turbo boosted air intake pressures so that the engines continue to be able to produce near ground level power.
Cirrus has been working on this for a while. They know the C400 (probably) will hit the market next year. When I was in Duluth in Feb, someone had left a PDF of their annual newletter (internal) in one of the testing rooms. It stated as a goal coming out with a turbonormalized 22 in 2003.
That said, it doesn’t seem like it is going to happen…and a central issue, it seems, is that there just isn’t that much extra weight envelope.
I know there are other issues involved in it, and this has been discussed on the boards (members area?) and people who have spoken directly with Alan have filled in the blanks.
Bottom-line, it looks like a dead issue…if we are looking for this from Cirrus.
Last month someone tried to garner enough interest in seeing if a shop that has done TN conversions for several other planes with the same engine. He figured he would need (10? 20?) people interested to get it moving. There wasn’t enough initial interest.
Maybe this will change in the future, but the same physics apply whether done by Cirrus or another shop.
Marty
As Marty has said, the main reason for a turbo is more power at altitude. I just got an oxygen system so have not been flying above 12000 feet. But I have heard that those who do fly at 12000-17000 feet get excellent performance AS IS NOW. Seems that the turbo, with all its extra “baggage” is just not worth it for marginal performance gains at a significant price. This is what Alan K was suggesting at the meeting. They have researched and tried various platforms all with limited results.
They ARE looking for a “modern” engine for, what they feel, is now a modern airplane. They have been not satisfied with the choices out there. Quite frankly, what I have seen from TCM is very old technology and terrible reliability.