AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - July 2022 - 88

RUDDER & WRENCH
SWITCH
AND
SAVE
Then there's the issue of supporting
an entirely new line of business.
One of the bigger players in the light
GA turbine market-if you can even call
it a market-is PBS, a company based in
the Czech Republic that by all accounts
makes a great engine. The TJ100 powers
the SubSonex, and its sister turboprop
version, the TP100, powers some experimentals.
Owners we spoke to are happy
with the engines and think they could
represent the future of alternative powerplants
in GA. The problem is support.
Christian Skoppe owns Turbine
Solutions Group, a small company in
Florida dedicated to overhauling Walter
instrumentation on the glass display,
Skoppe created the cowling and helped
with the exhaust. Walker said the airplane
is exactly what they had hoped for. Yes, it's
relatively fast at 190 knots, and reasonably
efficient at 19 gallons per hour. But what
he raves about most is the ease of use.
With one switch it starts perfectly every
time. " It doesn't matter if it's hot, cold,
high, or low, " he said. " It's like having to
tinker on a 1960s farm truck versus having
a [Toyota] Tundra. I hurt for people
trying to hot start their $1 million modern
airplane. "
But the problem comes back to support.
Most of PBS' business is military
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As avgas is increasingly threatened, and the rest of our lives
become increasingly more sophisticated and our machines easier
to use, there's an ever-louder drumbeat demanding better technology
for our engines.
engines and working with customers on
one-off turbine projects. Skoppe built an
RV-10 with a PBS TJ100, and he loves the
engine. His RV-10 burns around 18 gallons
per hour and cruises around 185 knots.
" I'm interested in the reliability and the
avgas problem, " he said.
For a time, Skoppe was all-in on PBS
conversions. The plan was for a customer
to bring him the kit and he would alter
it to fit the engine. That was when the
engines were hovering around $100,000.
A huge amount of money compared to
a piston, but not unreasonable for many
builders. But then PBS raised the price to
$150,000 and mostly pulled back on the
support, according to Skoppe.
In addition to his own RV, Skoppe
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also helped Lucas Walker create a turbine
Velocity. " We wanted a futuristic airplane
that met the newest technology, " Walker
said. Their family firm, Falcon Aero in
Fredericksburg, Texas, did the majority of
the work under manager Adam Sheffield
and builder Tom Duley. The airplane
won a bronze Lindy at EAA AirVenture
in 2021, and it's easy to see why.
Advanced Avionics worked to
incorporate the PBS into the engine
88
AOPA PILOT / July 2022
drones or missiles, and GA's liability and
relatively small market are a hard sell for
a company looking at the bottom line.
" People in the factory, it freaks them out, "
Walker said.
All hope is not lost. As avgas is increasingly
threatened, and the rest of our lives
become increasingly more sophisticated
and our machines easier to use, there's an
ever-louder drumbeat demanding better
technology for our engines. TurbAero, an
Australian start-up, debuted at this year's
Sun 'n Fun and is working on a turboprop
to fit the 200-horsepower range. The
target price is $80,000, which could be
competitive if they can hold that number.
Also, at this year 's Aero
Friedrichshafen JMB Aircraft introduced
a turbine in its VL3. Although still
very early in its development, a JMB
representative said it's lighter than the
Rotax and produces more power for the
same fuel burn. The engine is made by
French company TurboTech, and the
turboprop version produces 130 hp of
power with FADEC control.
It's the beginnings of what will hopefully
be more steps toward our turbine
future. ian.twombly@aopa.org
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AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - July 2022

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