Rapid growth in the use of modified automobile engines to power amateur-built aircraft was a key feature of this year's US Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Copperstate Fly-In which, was held at Phoenix, Arizona, on 10-13 October.
Tucson, Arizona-based SWAG Aeromotive proved the fuel economy of its modified Geo Metro three-cylinder engine by mounting the engine in an 80%-scale replica of a Curtiss Jenny canard biplane and flying it from Tucson to the Fly-In with an average fuel-consumption of less than 3.4litres/h.
At the other end of the power scale, Copperstate saw the public debut of Performance Aircraft's Legend racing kitplane, powered by a modified Chevrolet Vee-8 engine developing 335kW (450hp) in its non-turbo-charged form.
Source: Flight International