Lakeland (FL), 04/04/2017 – RS Aerotech of Nassau/Bahamas, Progressive Aerodyne Searey of Tavares/Florida and MT Propeller of Straubing/Germany have teamed up and created the Searey Advanced Technology Demonstrator (Searey ATD). The combined land/seaplane is certified in the experimental category and will be used for long time testing of new engines, propellers and electronic systems. For this purpose, the Searey ATD has been equipped with a state-of-the-art flight data acquisition and recording system which combines engine data with aircraft and navigation data.
The Searey ATD is strongly supported by BRP-Rotax and uses their 9 series iS aero engines exclusively, providing valuable data for future engine developments. At present, the Searey ATD has a Rotax 912iS Sport engine, an MTV-34 propeller and an MT-853-12 propeller governor installed. Immediately after Sun & Fun 2017, the 912iS will be replaced by the new Rotax 915iS for performance comparison and long-term flight tests.
For the first time in the light sport aircraft category, the Searey ATD offers a single-lever operated constant speed propeller, which significantly improves performance and dramatically reduces power management complexity for the pilot. The highly automated system is based on the EMU 912iS Engine Management Unit and the MT propeller/governor combination.
Another first is the capability of the Searey ATD to automatically transmit its engine and aircraft data via LTE networks worldwide. This data is continuously received and stored on a computer server to generate a data base, which will be used by BRP-Rotax to perform engine health monitoring similar to existing systems in the large transport aircraft world.
The Searey ATD flight test activities are coordinated by RS Aerotech, which operates the aircraft out of its homebase and provides flight test plans, data reduction and analysis. RS Aerotech also generates the flight test reports and organizes the availability of flight test engineers and test pilots.
The unique Bahamian style paint scheme of the Searey ATD was created by Mirco Pecorari (www.aircraftstudiodesign.com), with the actual paint job being done by Recreational Mobility (www.seareyspecialist.com).
The Searey ATD is on display at the Rotax tent SE-015, Progressive Aerodyne Searey can be found on stand MD-028B, MT Propeller in Hangar A on stand A-081. For further information, please refer to:
www.rsaerotech.com
www.flyrotax.com
www.searey.com
www.mt-propeller.com
