Report on Sun N’ Fun 2008

From April 7 to April 13th, 2008 Revolution Rotary Engines Inc.’s , CEO and Chairman, George Payne and marketing managers Ray Anderson and Cameron Pach attended the Sun N’ Fun aviation show in Lakeland, Florida. The company shared a booth with M-Squared Aircraft, Inc., showcasing the new as yet un-named ultra-light aircraft powered by the R301A single rotor engine.

The aircraft met the weight requirements of the ultra-light category by being 4 lbs. under the 254 lb. maximum weight allowance and is one of the very few legal aircraft in this category that is new. As such it generated a great deal of excitement around the field, even though we couldn’t fly it at the show. The reason for this is a rule that any aircraft being flown at the show must first have accumulated a minimum of 25 hrs. of flight time. As Paul Mather of M-Squared only had 3 weeks from design implementation to ready-to-fly aircraft for the show, only 1 hour of flight time was managed before the show. A real accomplishment.

This was enough to prove, however, that not only does the aircraft fly, but it flies very well. It’s a “low and slow” bird. It can take off in about 50 feet, land in less than 100 feet, cruise at 50 MPH, and stalls at 22 MPH. Definitely not a cross-country plane, but perfect for fun flying around the “patch”.

Not only that, but it puts affordable flying back into the market. Priced at $14,995, it is way below the average of $80,000 price tag for other light sport aircraft on the market. Even the powered parachutes and trikes are more expensive. Another advantage is that, being an ultra-light, no pilot license or aircraft registration  is required to fly it. After only 5 hours of dual basic flight instruction you can take off in this single seater and fly it.

Many interviews were given to the media by Mr. Payne and Mr. Mather, so we look for articles and internet video to appear shortly. The interest shown by the flying public was also tremendous, and we anticipate taking lots of orders for the R301A powered M-Squared aircraft at the Oshkosh AirVenture 2008 show. Judging by the high interest from a large number of OEMs, the public will be seeing Revolution Rotary engines in other aviation applications soon.

We are also proud to announce the appointment of M-Squared aircraft, Inc. of St. Elmo, Alabama as the South-Eastern Distributor and authorized repair center for the Revolution Rotary’s engines for aviation. Paul Mather, President of M-Squared will prepare the engines for installation into various types of aircraft in addition to the M-Squared line, for other manufacturers of aircraft, and will be sending maintenance technicians to the Markham facility for training in the maintenance procedures of the rotary engines.

M-Squared Aircraft is building another of these ultra-lights for Revolution Rotary to demonstrate in Canada. The plan is to have it ready for the Canadian Aircraft Expo in Oshawa, Ontario, June 20 to 22, 2008.