Gippsland Aero Reveals Airvan Upgrade Plans
Paul Phelan, 8th Jan 2009.
Gippsland Aeronautics (GA), currently Australia’s most successful aircraft manufacturer, expects to certify a turbocharged version of its eight-seat GA8 Airvan utility aircraft in February. You should be able to see a turbo GA8 at Avalon. It won’t look much different but it’s a helluva a lot more aeroplane and performance.
GA director George Morgan has told Aviation Advertiser that the Aussie manufacturer’s 130th GA8 will be its first turbocharged model. The aircraft is destined for the Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF) which operates light aircraft in support of its operations in hard-to-reach locations like the PNG highlands. MAF has already flown about 15 GA8s but the turbocharger breakthrough will boost Airvan’s acceptance by operators who need the extra high altitude performance. Turbocharging improves engine performance where the air’s too thin, by pumping more fuel/air mixture into the cylinders with a ‘blower’ driven by exhaust gases. This means better takeoff and climb performance at higher altitudes, which is where some of PNG’s highest and dodgiest airstrips are found.
Tourism, law enforcement, paramilitary and other specialised GA operators are now flying the GA8 in almost 30 countries, and the turbocharged version will boost its popularity anywhere there are high-altitude airfields.
GA8 production is currently around two aircraft a month, but George believes lots of serious potential customers have never heard of the GA8 and marketing the product is his next problem: “You can have the best product in the world, but unless it’s marketed and they know about it, you obviously miss some sales.”
George also revealed to our team that as soon as GA has got the turbocharged version over the line, the next job is to launch a turboprop version. A lot of work has already been done – in fact everything up to the firewall. The turbo GA8 will be powered by a Rolls-Royce RR250 B17F/2 engine. It’s basically the Allison (now Rolls-Royce) engine originally developed for the Bell Jet Ranger helicopter, but now with a revised and more efficient compressor and hot section. Max ‘thermal limit’ is about 500 hp says George but: “We’ll be flat rating it somewhere in the 400-410 shaft hp range.”
George’s organisation has also breathed new life into what had been the almost-dead Nomad twin turboprop utility aircraft, originally designed by our former Government Aircraft Factory, Although it was largely designed to keep civil servants employed, the Nomad had has been improved to command a notable niche market for a light twin turboprop, and GA is expected to continue refining the basic design.
Boeing had acquired the former Government Aircraft Factory facilities, inheriting responsibility for Nomad’s airworthiness and product support obligations. The Nomad then came close to becoming an orphan when the government decided to withdraw Boeing’s funding for product support. But Gippsland Aeronautics came to the rescue, acquiring the Nomad’s type certificate, certification authority and manufacturing rights, and already has new Nomad orders.
George’s crew have worked through the design and we can expect to see more Nomads, considerably upgraded, in our skies.
PIC CAPTION: NZ’s Air Safaris flies three Nomads from Tekapo and proprietor Richard Rayward says they’d have been impossible to replace
