Turbo time?

[Bryan Cotton]

That is the benefit of a glider when going for altitude, no engine to slow you down. The Cessna 120/140 gang had a thread about how high they have gone. A bunch into the teens, pretty impressive for a C85 or even an O200 if they had that conversion.
http://www.cessna120-140.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2816

[fastj22]

On a cold winter morning, solo with half tanks, I nursed my C150 to 12,500. A friend said he ridge soared his 150 up over the summit of Longs Peak @ 14,500. I think Gary Motley has done the same with his Aerovee a sonex.

[NWade]

OK, so the info is out! (http://www.aeroconversions.com if you haven't yet seen the specs)

I've got a couple of questions that I hope we'll hear the answers to - either direct from Sonex or from people who were at AirVenture/Sonex-Homecoming for the announcement...

1) The normal AeroVee is "160 lbs less oil and exhaust". The AeroVee Turbo is "185 lbs less oil". I'm assuming this is because the exhaust is part of the turbo assembly - but it makes it hard to understand what the actual weight gain is between the two - it isn't the full 25 lbs, right?

2) With the Turbo, can the Sonex handle the same gross weight as the Jabiru?
(Both this question and the one above it go to the issue of losing useful payload by adding the Turbo)

3) Will the operations manual for the engine be released online, so that interested buyers can see if there are any caveats to operating the engine? I can see the potential for the Turbo to require careful MAP management under certain conditions or for longer than X minutes continuously; and am curious how many of these special cases and conditions exist.

4) Can Sonex Aircraft share any info about the toughest part of the product development? (Just curious...)

--Noel
(hopefully less than a year away from ordering his Turbo!)

[Bryan Cotton]

Noel,
At the workshop I asked the question about weight delta and was told 16 lbs. Here was my post:
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=729&start=10

[sonex1649]

I was wondering what happen to 120 hp with turbo that was brought up at the June workshop

[Bryan Cotton]

I only heard 100 HP at the March workshop. If I remember correctly, it will make more HP at altitude than the Jabiru 120 hp.

[timhaygood]

I have some questions as well. Certainly an exciting announcement we have all been waiting for! What will the turbo do to the range of the sonex? I assume it will use more fuel and of course increase cruise speed. Also what kind of cruise numbers will a Onex with turbo post? Again I assume it would be pretty outstanding. Any help with these questions is highly appreciated...

[Direct C51]

I am also very interested in fuel burn numbers with the TurboVee. They happened to leave that part out of the press release.

[chris]

Jeremy briefly discusses fuel burn at the14 min mark in the video.

[Direct C51]

BRIEFLY is right. He says 8GPH at 40 MAP. Sounds like a lot. I'm not sure a NA Aerovee can be made to burn over 5.5 GPH. I'd like to see some more detailed Turbo vs NA fuel burn comparisons.