Page 7 - Volume 15 Number 4

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ON STEROIDS
Steve Seibel by Mark Matheson
How do you make a solid airplane an even better performer? A number of successful aftermarket performance companies have cracked the code by applying new power plants, systems, and aerodynamic enhancements to proven airframes. The goal is to squeeze out improvements in speed, reliability, efficiency and overall utility that customers would be willing to pay for.
Soloy Aviation Solutions is one such company that has created what it believes is the “Ultimate 206.” The Cessna Model 206 Mark 2 firewall-forward turbine conversion takes a rather ordinary, piston- powered Stationair 206H and adds all the extra performance capabilities and maintenance advantages that a 450-shaft horsepower turbine provides.
During the past decade, Olympia, Wash.,-based Soloy has converted more than 90 Cessna Model 206 airplanes to turbine power under
Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs) using the Rolls-Royce/ Allison 250-C20S turboshaft engine combined with Soloy’s patented Turbine-Pac gearbox drive system. Soloy has now further evolved its 206 turboprop conversion, exclusively for the 206H model, with its latest Mark 2 package, utilizing the Rolls- Royce 250-B17F/2 engine/gearbox combination.
“We’re taking a great airplane, the Cessna Model 206H, and making it better,” said Dave Stauffer, chief executive officer of Soloy Aviation Solutions. “We have yet to find anybody saying anything negative about our turboprop 206.”
Better Performance
In addition to significant performance advantages – including a climb rate of 1,635 feet per minute and maximum cruise speed of 185 knots true airspeed at altitudes up to 20,000 feet – the Soloy conversion adds additional reliability and versatility to the already tough
APRIL 2011
TWIN & TURBINE 5
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