By Kate Sarsfield
Mistral Engines (stand 369), a start-up engine manufacturer, is showcasing its latest G300 piston engine at the show.
The 300hp (225kW) liquid cooled rotary engine is targeted at the experimental and factory-built aircraft market and is the first member of a growing family of engines that includes the smaller 200hp G200 and turbocharged 230TS and 360TS.
Mistral's communication and marketing manager Perrine Bell admits that as a general aviation engine manufacturer the Geneva-based company is not a typical EBACE exhibitor. She is hopeful, however, that the powerplant's innovative technology -which it has developed over the past eight years at a cost so far of SFr20 million ($18 million)-will attract interest from the brigade of light aircraft owners pounding the blue carpet of Hall 6. "At EBACE we are also close to prospective customers and suppliers such as Cessna," she says.
The G300 has flown 400 flight hours to date and is scheduled for US certification in the second half of 2010, leading to service entry later in the year. "We will then work on certificating the G200, G230TS and G360TS in the USA and obtaining European approval for all four models."
Mistral's aim is "to occupy 10-15% of the two- to six-seat general aviation market within five years."says Bell.