IO-390 News for 112/B

[benelong]

Re: IO-390 News for 112/B

Keep dreamin Scott, hope Melbourne comes good for you.

 

[wel@wilroff.nl]

Re: IO-390 News for 112/B

Now I love my aircraft, I seriously do and it is a very good example of a stock 112B. It cost me £45,000 ($71,000) at the peak of the market. It has been resprayed, there have been some minor upgrades in the panel and it already has the 3 blade prop (just overhauled).

However, I can't, for the life of me, understand how I could justify spending $100,000 on it. Not just from the fuel availability perspective but for that sort of money I could have a significantly better aircraft with a low compression engine, probably no more than 15 years old.

For what it is, my 112B is an excellent aircraft, better than a 200hp Arrow of the same age by far but it isn't a modern aircraft and no amount of money spent on it will make it one.

From a European perspective, right now the only conversion running AVGAS which makes any sense is one which burns UL91. As things stand, the last thing I need is to go faster, if I wanted to do that I'd buy a 114, they are going for not much more than I paid for mine. Just keeping a 112 of any variety in the air at all is the only priority in Europe and putting another high compression engine into it doesn't add up.

i agree with lawrence allthough not about ul91.

any conversion should be flexifuel including mogas or jet a1. lycoming has the teo-540-ie2 that can do it.. but there is nonews since 2008 .. allthough the engineis flying.

even if availability was not a problem .. price is ..we just hit the 16 usd oer gallons mark.

the future of ga is clearly in plastic fantastic aircraft .. cirrus and diamond.
diamond has just test flown the da52 with twin 180 hp .. doing 190 tas at 12000 burning 12 gallons.. and theyclaim you can be seven in there (5 kids).

diamond also says that they are in the proces of certifying their entire fleet for mogas ..(they do use io360 as well)

there is one other very interesting project on the way

http://www.pipistrel.si/plane/panthera/overview

io-390 200 tas ..low ful burn? now if that was flexifuel? wow

 

[jrichards]

Re: IO-390 News for 112/B

Hi Paul,

Actually, there is a gain of useful load of approx 40 lbs if also installing the MT prop, or a gain of 20 lbs useful load if changing only engine.

Jim

 

[jrichards]

Re: IO-390 News for 112/B

Hi Willem,

I'll have to disagree... in my mind, there has been no fantastic plastic airplane yet... as a point of comparison: the SR22 is nearly as heavy as our aluminum Commanders, so no weight saved at least in that design ($100M+ spent).. the SR22 streamlining is nice but we can copy most of that with fairings.. the main tradeoff was lift for speed, which is NOT a tradeoff I would personally make... also let me point out that even Airbus does not have the "plastic" part perfected yet, with 3 Airbus fins in the drink thus far (that we know about)... no, I'll stick with our strong high-lift AC11, and am reminded of why whenever I deal with the weather gods (most recently last weekend).

With that said, and even though fuel is still the cheapest part of safe flying for most of us, I know we do need to find an engine/fuel alternative for you guys already facing unreasonable AVGAS prices.

Jim

 

[Airotto370]

Re: IO-390 News for 112/B

Actually, there is a gain of useful load of approx 40 lbs if also installing the MT prop...

FYI...I gained 37lbs swapping the I0-360/2 blade Hartzell for the IO-390 with 3 blade MT.

Best part is that it didn't turn my plane orange like the 580 conversion did to Lonnie's...

 

[jrichards]

Re: IO-390 News for 112/B

Just to clarify, Bill means 37 lbs of useful load gained.

Jim

 

[wel@wilroff.nl]

Re: IO-390 News for 112/B

Hi Willem,

I'll have to disagree... in my mind, there has been no fantastic plastic airplane yet... as a point of comparison: the SR22 is nearly as heavy as our aluminum Commanders, so no weight saved at least in that design ($100M+ spent).. the SR22 streamlining is nice but we can copy most of that with fairings.. the main tradeoff was lift for speed, which is NOT a tradeoff I would personally make... also let me point out that even Airbus does not have the "plastic" part perfected yet, with 3 Airbus fins in the drink thus far (that we know about)... no, I'll stick with our strong high-lift AC11, and am reminded of why whenever I deal with the weather gods (most recently last weekend).

With that said, and even though fuel is still the cheapest part of safe flying for most of us, I know we do need to find an engine/fuel alternative for you guys already facing unreasonable AVGAS prices.

Jim

jim, i do not fancy plastic fantastic eather.. allthough i must say that diamond seems to have a good trackrecord.

as for airbus in de the drink .. you mean ocean? .. airfrance was a pitot error and pilots who were not trained for the situation and who forgot the basics... pitch and power...

i do like the design and specs of the pantera and really am curious why diamond suddenly can manage to go to 200kts with a bigger heavier da52 plane than the da42. the power difference is only 2x 10hp.

and I do find that it is ridiculous how slow the development is for more modern engines. we do definitely need a new solution .. jet a1 or flexifuel including mogas .. with reasonable consumption.

 

[CenAir]

Re: IO-390 News for 112/B

Hi Paul,

Actually, there is a gain of useful load of approx 40 lbs if also installing the MT prop, or a gain of 20 lbs useful load if changing only engine.

Jim

Thanks for the reply and nice the plane gained some useful load and wasn't expecting it, and was concerned it would lose some. That was a good post too on the Carbon Fiber Planes like Cirrus SR-22 Weight versus a Commander with aluminum construction, Cirrus traded off everything like wing area and control surfaces to reduce drag and increase air speed and too many tradeoffs that affect safety I think.

As much as I would prefer a all aluminum plane its production and labor costs are a killer and we will see more Carbon Fiber construction in new planes in the years to come, Diamond did it better with carbon and I never looked at there weight compared to other comparable planes, but has some very good performance numbers for speed and weight, not to forget one of the best safety records in GA planes.

Take a look at the new Diamond Turbo Diesel DA-52 which is very impressive. I wouldn't mind a new Commander Carbon Fiber would be the best GA plane in the world, or course with all your mods would make it perfect too.

http://www.diamond-air.at/2614+M52087573ab0.html

 

[jrichards]

Re: IO-390 News for 112/B

Hi All,

IO-360-C1D6 (112/A/B engine) needed!

For anyone considering the IO-390, we have fellow owner who is seeking a serviceable engine for his 112B. He is under EASA's rule and can only fly an engine till 12 yrs SNEW or SMOH, so he would like an engine with maybe 6 or fewer years since overhaul.

For one of you wanting to step up to the higher performance of the Aerodyme 390 Super Commander, this is your moment to grab a MAJOR savings!

Jim

 

[pjdavis67]

Diamond Aircraft Engine

Diamond Aircraft Engine

Hi Willem,

I'll have to disagree... in my mind, there has been no fantastic plastic airplane yet... as a point of comparison: the SR22 is nearly as heavy as our aluminum Commanders, so no weight saved at least in that design ($100M+ spent).. the SR22 streamlining is nice but we can copy most of that with fairings.. the main tradeoff was lift for speed, which is NOT a tradeoff I would personally make... also let me point out that even Airbus does not have the "plastic" part perfected yet, with 3 Airbus fins in the drink thus far (that we know about)... no, I'll stick with our strong high-lift AC11, and am reminded of why whenever I deal with the weather gods (most recently last weekend).

With that said, and even though fuel is still the cheapest part of safe flying for most of us, I know we do need to find an engine/fuel alternative for you guys already facing unreasonable AVGAS prices.

Jim

I just saw this:
The AE500 is a six-cylinder, 280-hp multifuel engine being considered for use in Diamond’s suspended DA50 SuperStar. The AE500 has a monoblock construction and is capable of using avgas, Jet A, or biofuels.