On 19 December engine manufacturer BRP received the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Type Certificate for its new Rotax 915 iSc3 A aircraft engine
“The Type Certificate allows BRP-Rotax to now produce the 915 iSc3 A engine for the European market, thus enabling us to fulfil the demand from our customers for a more powerful aircraft engine with proven reliability,” said Thomas Uhr, general manager BRPRotax, vice president Powertrain BRP and R&D/Operations Lynx. “Not only has the certification been achieved within the promised time schedule but the engine has been certified to even higher power than originally announced.”
Designed to produce a nice, round metric maximum power of 100kW (136hp), the 915 will actually offer 104kW (141hp). At 99kW (135hp), maximum continuous is now a hair under the originally projected maximum power.
Now EASA Type Certification has been granted, BRP’s Rotax aircraft engines team will concentrate on getting US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification. Other countries will follow, as each has its own validation process.
The 915 will sustain 141hp up to at least 15,000 ft, making it ‘the perfect package for all fixed-wing, autogyro and wider applications’; claims Rotax. It will also offer the possibility to carry up to four persons in single engined aircraft. Building on 912/914 engine architecture, Rotax is ‘again offering the best power to weight ratio of [this] class [of engine] combined with the best economy while allowing for a high flexibility of [fuel choice]’, low operating cost and ease of use’.
To date twelve aircraft manufacturers, including Tecnam, BRM Aero, NIKI Rotor Aviation, BlackWing and Zlin Aviation have installed the new engine and will make their aircraft available ‘very soon’. 47 further OEMs are said to be in the final stages of 915 engine installation.
