| Since the early 80's ultralight aircraft manufacturers have been looking for a lightweight, reliable and affordable aircraft engine to power their single place ultralight aircraft. The reason the engine has to be light weight is because of the 254 lbs weight limit for this category of aircraft. One style of engine that has shown promise has been the Rotary engine. This year Revolution Rotary Engines of Markham Ontario teamed with Paul Mather of MSquared to produced a part 103 legal single place ultralight using a Revolution R301A single rotor engine. According to George Payne of Revolution Rotary Engines the R301A is a single rotor Wankel style, 35 HP, with a displacement of 294 cc. The engine has had a very successful career in Kart racing and has been modified to better suit aircraft installation. The engine at the show was equipped with a gear reduction drive but the company is also working on a belt drive system. The engine at the show had only recently been installed and had only flown for about an hour, thus the plane was not able to fly at Sun N Fun as that requires the plane be flown a minimum of 25 hours prior to the show. However the engine was run about on the flight line several times. It started very easily, was quiet, and ran very smoothly. George indicates that Paul will be doing a lot of flying on the engine after the show, and giving the factory feed back. He will also be taking delivery of a plane in Canada so that he can get some time on the plane and engine as well. In the near future the factory will also be moving into production of 2, 3, and 4 rotor engines to fit the ultralight, light sport aircraft and other applications. George reports that future engines will be able to run on diesel, bio fuel or gasoline, and put out about 70 HP per rotor. He also indicates that the factory will be working closely with aircraft manufacturers on engine mounting and installations as well as exhaust system configurations. The standard engine configuration comes with an electric start, a charging system and dual ignition. (The ultralight engine does not have these to reduce weight.) George reports an expected TBO on the engines of 2,000 hours. The factory is in the process of setting of a training syllabus for dealers and OEM's in both Canada and the U.S. For more information | 
