I see they are moving operations from Australia to Phoenix. Probably a good move considering where the largest market would be.
I have been hoping Dave and team can make this a real engine however I recently saw where they've already started to think about certification- before even having a running prototype. Seems very premature and following other engine manufacturers down a path to almost certain financial failure. Sorry to be blunt, but the costs and time involved almost always sink even the most promising designs which are well financed. Shoestring operations have almost no chance to make it.
As development draws out over time, more money is spent and RIO draws out at the same rate until either unit retail price becomes unpalatable or the funds run out.
Baby steps first are warranted. Get the prototype running on the stand, prove it enough to get in flying in an airplane while flogging at least another prototype on the test stand to build time and experience. When it's got at least 1000 hours of trouble free time, then maybe start selling to the Experimental market. Forget the certified one until you've got at least 10,000 hours field experience collectively on the fleet and recouped some of the development costs from Experimental sales. You also learn how to ramp up production and customer support here which is a big deal to ultimately succeed.
The Certified market brings you nothing but huge financial outlay, dilution of engineering focus, delay of product introduction to market and increased liability concerns initially- four things you don't need when trying to develop and bring a new engine design to market.
Marketing should follow a successful technology demonstrator, not the other way around. There will be plenty of customers if it meets the projected target price, power, reliability and BSFC figures. It will market itself based on those virtues I believe.
I have been hoping Dave and team can make this a real engine however I recently saw where they've already started to think about certification- before even having a running prototype. Seems very premature and following other engine manufacturers down a path to almost certain financial failure. Sorry to be blunt, but the costs and time involved almost always sink even the most promising designs which are well financed. Shoestring operations have almost no chance to make it.
As development draws out over time, more money is spent and RIO draws out at the same rate until either unit retail price becomes unpalatable or the funds run out.
Baby steps first are warranted. Get the prototype running on the stand, prove it enough to get in flying in an airplane while flogging at least another prototype on the test stand to build time and experience. When it's got at least 1000 hours of trouble free time, then maybe start selling to the Experimental market. Forget the certified one until you've got at least 10,000 hours field experience collectively on the fleet and recouped some of the development costs from Experimental sales. You also learn how to ramp up production and customer support here which is a big deal to ultimately succeed.
The Certified market brings you nothing but huge financial outlay, dilution of engineering focus, delay of product introduction to market and increased liability concerns initially- four things you don't need when trying to develop and bring a new engine design to market.
Marketing should follow a successful technology demonstrator, not the other way around. There will be plenty of customers if it meets the projected target price, power, reliability and BSFC figures. It will market itself based on those virtues I believe.
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