AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2015 - 40

PILOT BRIEFING
By the numbers
LF26

Weight 123 pounds dry, 139
pounds wet
Max power 93 horsepower at
3,000 rpm
Max continuous power 89
horsepower at 2,800 rpm
Cost $18,500
Displacement 2,690 cc

LF39

Weight 171 pounds dry, 187
pounds wet
Max power 130 horsepower at
3,000 rpm
Max continuous power 125
horsepower at 2,800 rpm
Cost not determined
Displacement 3,993 cc
Fuel 95-98 octane or avgas

Belgium firm offers Light Sport engine
Hopes to compete with Rotax
B Y A LTO N K . M A R S H
COMPETITION IS COMING from Belgium for the popular Rotax seen
in many Light Sport aircraft. A four-cylinder side valve engine
from D-Motor near Brussells, Belgium, is entering the United
States market through its distributor, Renegade Light Sport in
Deland, Florida.
It is an old design seen in cars in the United States in the 1950s,
but has been adapted for use in aircraft. The first offering will be a
liquid-cooled 92-horsepower LF26 $18,500 model. In the works
is a six-cylinder LF39 model that can generate a maximum of 130
horsepower. It will be certified by mid to late 2015.
The engine is in testing at Renegade for certification to ASTM
standards used by this country's LSA industry. It is flying on several
aircraft around the world. The flat head design makes the engine

smaller. It operates at lower rpm than a Rotax engine and will
cruise at 2,800 rpm. It has been in testing in Belgium since 2010.
The website (dmotorusa.com), describes the engine as a fourstroke, side-valve (flat head) boxer engine. It is upgraded from
the old design with multipoint fuel injection, electronic ignition,
and liquid cooling. The site claims the direct-drive motor is simpler because it "doesn't have the complexity of rockers."
Renegade offers the Renegade Carbon Lil Rascal biplane, the
Renegade Falcon LS 2.0 low-wing aircraft, and the Renegade
Falcon LS 2.0 Mizzoura Taildragger. Both Renegade Falcon models can withstand plus 6 Gs and minus 3 Gs.
EMAIL alton.marsh@aopa.org

CUB PILOT CONQUERS THE PEAKS
GARRETT FISHER is an example of a pilot who knows his
mission and uses the exact aircraft needed. Using the Piper
Cub Special PA-11 in which
he soloed in 1997, Fisher photographed Colorado's 14 peaks
and wrote Above the Summit:
An Antique Airplane Conquers
Co l o ra d o 's Fo u r t e e n e r s ,

40 | AOPA PILOT March 2015

available at amazon.com.
Fisher admits mountain flying scared him, not to mention
froze him at minus 20 degrees.
F, for good reason. "Maximum
drama was a rotor on takeoff
at 200 feet above ground level
at Leadville (descending at 38
mph indicated, full power),
a momentarily sputtering

engine at 14,000 feet, and getting knocked [into] 60 degrees
bank twice while in cruise
flight (safely from terrain) due
to upper level winds interacting with terrain," Fisher said.
(See Fisher's "Never Again"
story on page 92.)
-AKM
WEB www.garrettfisher.me

http://www.dmotorusa.com http://www.amazon.com http://www.garrettfisher.me

AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2015

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