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Mistral
Mistral was developing a rotary (Wankel) aircraft engine, but their funding dried up. It was to be a true multi fuel engine, quite comfortable on 90 Octane unleaded fuel. In fact, the performance charts are based on 90 Octane unleaded. The turbo, 230 HP engine weighs 328 pounds. Not a lot heavier than the IO-360.
The problem with Continental, and Lycoming, is that they don't have an engineering staff, or funding, to bring a lot of new engines to market. Add to that the variable configurations that they make. If they decided they would make a 550, and it would produce 350 HP, and then tell the airframe manufacturers, that is the product, deal with it, the airframe manufacturers would all be up in arms. The 550 is in a lot of different airframes, with power ratings from 280 to 350 HP. Makes no sense.
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08-09-10, 10:35 PM
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