AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2014 - 82

P&E

AIRFRAME

Seeing red
Flight schools look to replace red ink with Redbird's Redhawk
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THE CESSNA SKYCATCHER has "no future,"
says Cessna CEO Scott Ernest. A new
Skyhawk costs more than $400,000.
Diamond sales have slipped, and light sport
isn't catching on with students as expected.
Other than Piper, which is seeing a surge in
light aircraft sales, one could conclude that
the market for flight training aircraft is more
or less at rock bottom. Maybe that explains
the big interest in a diesel-powered, remanufactured 172, an airplane that may not have
been taken seriously a few years ago. But
Redbird's Redhawk is serious, and it could
be the right airplane at the right time.
The Redhawk was introduced last year,
but many details remained either unreleased or unknown. Now that Redbird has
converted another 172, and has been using
the airplanes in its training fleet for a few
months, the project is starting to take shape.
The first question Redbird had to
answer was what. What will it do with a
1970s or 1980s ramshackle airframe to make
it a Redhawk? According to Redbird's Roger
Sharp, the work orders include new paint,
interior, panel, engine, seats and seat rails,
glass, control cables and pulleys, and even
new rivets and hardware. The paint is simple and tasteful. The interior looks like a
new airplane. Because it includes Cessna's
new 26-G seats and synthetic leather,
there is virtually no difference between the
Redhawk interior and a new 172's.
Acknowledging that today's students
will be drawn to glass cockpits and need to
learn them, Redbird opted for a dual Aspen
primary flight display and multifunction
display with a Garmin GTN 650 driving
them. There will also be an S-Tec System
Fifty Five X autopilot. One of the nice things
about the Aspen is that the transition is
virtually nonexistent, and some backup
instruments are kept front and center.
Students will be exposed to a cross-section
of legacy and cutting-edge instrumentation.

82 | AOPA PILOT January 2014

Contintental's Centurion 2.0 diesel
replaces the original Lycoming 320-series
engine. The Centurion 2.0 is a 135-horsepower turbo-diesel with dual full authority
digital engine control that Continental purchased from the smoldering ruins of
Thielert. What was a boutique European
company with inconsistent quality and support is now under the umbrella of one of the
world's foremost engine manufacturers.
The Centurion has always been considered
a solid engine, but Continental's support
could make the difference in spreading
diesel technology to the American masses.
That's especially true when you consider
that if the Redhawk is successful, thousands
of new pilots will train solely on diesel.
For the Redhawk experiment to work
the business case has to be there, and
Sharp says that so far, the numbers seem to
add up. Although the Centurion currently
has a 1,500-hour time to replacement-as
opposed to the traditional overhaul-Sharp
said the decreased maintenance costs (no
50-hour tasks, and a greatly reduced 100hour inspection), and lower fuel burn of
around 5 gallons an hour in training, pretty
much make the engine swap a wash. If
Continental can extend the replacement
interval to 2,000 hours, the per-hour cost
should be significantly less.
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2014
