How Did They Pull This One Off?? Siberian Students Create World’s First Aluminum Aircraft Engine
Lighter, more powerful and more economical. Novosibirsk State Technical University has created the world's first fully aluminum aircraft engine. It will be installed in two-seat aircraft Yak-52.
Sergey Bondarenko with the details.
Nowadays, reciprocating engines are the headache of Russian aviators. It's too expensive to import them and they don't fit any airplane. The only thing left is to repair the Russian morally and physically exhausted engines.
Vladimir Dragochinsky, Siberian Aeronautical Research Institute: "These engines are the remnants of the USSR. The M-14P engine the one installed in sports airplanes like Yak-18 and other engines of similar capacity haven't been produced for a long time. And there's no replacement".
A small aircraft power unit was developed by the graduates of the State Technical University. They created a company and found sponsors.
Gennady Rastorguev, Novosibirsk State Technical University: "We put our rooms, students, and some other resources at their disposal. The work is mostly based on the pure enthusiasm of our students, scientists, and professors".
It's an 8-cylinder two-stroke gasoline engine with a capacity of up to 400 horse-powers and a heating system to start when it's cold. The main feature of the engine is its lightness. It's almost entirely made of aluminum alloys with a special wear-resistant coating. The potential demand is wide — from training and sports to small passenger aviation like air taxis.
Ilya Zvenkov, lead engineer: "The scope of activities is, in fact, unlimited. We must work hard. It's winter and our roads are covered in snow, How can one travel around Russia? There are not enough roads. We should fly".
The fiery engine is currently being tested. It has to be tested and adjusted before the commercial production begins. All parts of the engine are going to be made in Russia said it's designer. He promised the journalists to quickly fix an issue with the switches: to replace the ON-OFF labels with ВКЛ-ВЫКЛ.
Elena Rogozina, Sergey Bondarenko and Ivan Teplyakov Vesti, Novosibirsk.