Vantage Engine Receives Production Certificate

More than a year and a half after awarding a type certificate to Superior Air Parts for its 360-cubic inch Vantage piston engine, the FAA has finally signed off on the engine's production certificate. The Vantage is a 180-horsepower engine that grew from Superior's many years of making FAA-approved PMA replacement parts for Lycoming 360-series engines. The production certificate recognizes that Superior's quality control system meets the requirements of 14CFR 21.143 and will enable Superior to manufacture new Vantage engines in quantity without having FAA inspectors inspect and sign off each engine.

Superior has already delivered 15 new engines to aircraft manufacturer American Champion Aircraft for its High Country Explorer single-engine taildragger. And owners of Piper PA28s and Cessna 172s have expressed interest in a modification program to replace their original engines with Superior's Vantage Engine. "We are getting a tremendous amount of interest in the engine," said Superior president Tim Archer.

An advantage of the Vantage is that it is certified to run on autogas (91 octane, with no alcohol allowed). The engine's type certificate data sheet does mention that manufacturers installing the Vantage engine may need to conduct tests to ensure that the fuel system suffers no vapor lock "while using high-volatility fuels such as motor gasoline. The aircraft fuel system hot weather testing requirements of FAR 23.961 must be successfully accomplished for each aircraft powerplant installation design of these engines (both carbureted and fuel-injected) to obtain approval for operation with motor gasoline."

The Vantage engine is the first U.S. piston aircraft engine to be built by a new company and receive FAA certification since, Archer believes, the Franklin engine entered the market decades ago. Superior conceived the type certification program in 1999 and began the FAA type certificate application process in 2001. The long period between granting of the type certificate and the recent awarding of the production certificate was not the FAA's fault, according to Archer. While the FAA's resources are strained, he said, "the [FAA personnel] in Fort Worth [Texas] were a tremendous help to Superior to get us all the resources they could. These guys bent over backwards to work with us. I don't think we could ask for a better group." Some of the delay was due to Superior's own resources, Archer added. One big challenge was creating an entirely new quality system for the certified engine line. "It's tremendously involved," he said.

One unusual feature of the Vantage is that current certification rules require a hard time between overhaul (TBO) number, which is listed in the type certificate at 1,000 hours. Older-generation engines don't have fixed TBOs, and TBO numbers are simply manufacturer recommendations unless made mandatory in operations specifications. Archer said that Superior will conduct testing to extend the TBO to the planned 2,000 hours and that once the type certificate is updated, the longer TBO will be retroactive to all Vantage engines.

The next step in the Vantage series may be derivative four-cylinder versions. Archer said that the company might explore larger engines in the future but will focus on growing the four-cylinder Vantage business first.

"It's been a tremendously exciting journey for all of us at the company," Archer said. "I couldn't be prouder of the group here, they worked their tails off to get us where we are today."

ARSA Files Part 13 Complaint Against ICA Withholding

On November 23, 2005 the Aeronautical Repair Station Association filed a Part 13 complaint with the FAA on behalf of ARSA member Helicopter Engine Repair Overhaul Services (H.E.R.O.S.), alleging that Rolls-Royce is not providing basic safety information about one of its engines as required by FAA regulations found in 14CFR Part 21.50(b).

H.E.R.O.S. is an independent overhaul and repair company specializing in Rolls-Royce 250 engines; the company is not a Rolls-Royce authorized maintenance center but holds FAA repair station certification to overhaul and repair model 250 engines and accessories. The complaint was filed per procedures in FAA regulation 14CFR Part 13.5, which permits anyone to file a complaint with the FAA covering matters that the FAA regulates.

H.E.R.O.S and ARSA are complaining that Rolls-Royce will not make overhaul manuals available, as required by 21.50(b), which states that"The holder of design approval...shall furnish at least one set of complete Instructions for Continued Airworthiness [ICA]...and thereafter make those instructions available to any other person required...to comply with the terms of those instructions."

Following multiple requests for detailed overhaul information by H.E.R.O.S., Rolls-Royce vice president and legal counsel Eric Pederson sent a letter dated October 16, 2005: "Rolls-Royce has developed some more complex and critical repair procedures for these components that it makes available only to AMC's with which Rolls-Royce has business arrangements and oversight capability. The procedures are proprietary."

"The regulation is very clear as to what should be provided," H.E.R.O.S. president Heros Kajberouni told Aviation Maintenance. "We want the FAA to force them to do what the regulation says."

While Kajberouni admits that his company could obtain FAA approval for DER repairs--paying for engineering to create its own repair schemes--he said that option is too costly and shouldn't be necessary. "That is beside the point," he said. "We should not be put through that kind of hardship and expense. According to the law of the land, OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] are obligated to do certain things and they aren't doing it." DER repairs cost thousands of dollars each, according to Kajberouni. "I don't have the money to fight it. I'm a small shop. I'm trying to be legal and do it right. The FAA has to stand up and take the proper position."

Rolls-Royce is not required to respond to ARSA's complaint, and ARSA executive director Sarah MacLeod said she won't be surprised if there is no formal response. This is the second time that ARSA has filed a Part 13 complaint against an OEM regarding withholding of instructions for continued airworthiness (see AM, February 1, 2004, page 23). MacLeod said that ARSA will pursue this issue by filing more complaints, including in Europe, and may take it up with Congress.

For its part, Rolls-Royce has seen the complaint. "We've just received the formal complaint and we're reviewing it," said spokesman George McLaren. "Rolls-Royce policy is to follow the legal requirements for releasing maintenance information on the Model 250 engine."