IF ONE wants to know what hard work and total dedication is all about, one just needs to meet the team at Adept Airmotive, a relatively small company based at Virginia Airport, Durban North.

Some of these people first nurtured a dream decades ago of designing and building a completely new type of general aviation powerplant and who, together with others who joined the team along the way, have at last seen that dream reach fruition. Little wonder, therefore, that the opening paragraph of a press release Adept Airmotive issued late in July reflected their pride and satisfaction in a job well done.

It read: “We are proud to announce that on Friday, 23 July, we successfully completed the maiden flight of the Adept Airmotive 320T engine.” The rest of the press release is indicative of the utter joy the team had to see their creation take to the air for the first time. The released continued: “The first circuit, flown by test pilot Neville Matthews, follows months of rigorous ground testing of the advanced new 120- degree V6 piston engine. Installed in the all-composite South African Ravin 500 aircraft, the engine displayed its performance characteristics as it took off effortlessly after a 260-metre take off roll at Durban’s Virginia Airport.

“The aircraft, flown with its landing gear extended, and the composite MT propeller pitch set to fine, achieved 100 knot at 800 feet on downwind with a 35% throttle opening.” During the flight, all engine parameters were logged by the engine management system, and monitored by Adept’s managing director, Richard Schulz, who was on board the aircraft for the historic firstflight.

“For the takeoff, engine rpm was set to 5 000, leading to a propeller speed of 2 200 rpm. Onlookers and members of the press noted that the engine is extremely smooth and quiet in operation, the press release added.”

To ensure safety on the initial test, a rich fuel mixture, and several electronic limits were added to the engine control parameters. As the prescribed SA CAA flight test programme procedure, various parameters will be optimised based on the logged engine data. Ongoing testing will continue to establish engine performance parameters and reliability. The initial flight was performed using standard unleaded Mogas. The makers claim that the engine has been designed and is capable of using Mogas, Avgas or Biofuel and sets new standards in efficiency and low environmental impact.

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