History of Electroair

Early History & Development

Electroair was started in 1992 by Jeff Rose in Chattanooga, TN. Jeff became interested in electronic ignition systems and their application on experimental aircraft. Jeff has built several experimental aircraft including two Vari-Ezes, a Long-Ez, an Avid Flyer and a Kitfox.

Jeff selected an Electromotive high performance ignition system as the basis of his original investigation and began developing methods for coupling that ignition system to typical aircraft engines. The Electromotive system is dependent on a 60 minus 2 tooth trigger wheel that rotates at the same speed as the crankshaft RPM to deliver both engine speed and engine position information. With that information, the ignition system can deliver spark energy at the appropriate time needed for each cylinder. Jeff’s original systems attached this trigger wheel directly to the crankshaft, and using a magnetic sensor, delivered the engine information from that point. Later iterations included the development of the Mag Timing Housing (MTH), which utilized a magneto position for coupling the ignition to the engine. Jeff’s MTH design served as the basis for the current MTH used in Electroair’s present day system.

As the technical challenges of coupling the ignition system to an aircraft engine were overcome, Jeff turned his attention to developing an appropriate timing curve which would take advantage of an important feature available with modern, electronic ignitions: variable timing. In aircraft applications, efficiencies in both power and fuel consumption can be realized if ignition timing is varied based on altitude changes. Magnetos have fixed timing, which was based essentially on highest load conditions for an engine. Those conditions would exist at full-power, sea level operations. Jeff developed a Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP) sensor that would detect changes in MAP (varies based on altitude) and supply a signal (voltage in this case) to the ignition system. A power increase from the engine can be achieved by adjusting ignition timing as MAP changes. Jeff’s research showed that ignition timing curve to be a linear, fixed curve and is incorporated into the analog circuitry of the Electroair MAP Sensor.

As time moved forward, Jeff continued to focus the efforts of Electroair in the experimental world. Jeff developed systems not only for the 4cyl Lycoming engines, but for 6cyl Lycoming, TCM engines, Franklin engines, Volkswagen engines (& their variants e.g. Rotorway, Hirth, etc.), Corvair conversions, and Subaru engines. (After Jeff sold the business, Electroair continued to develop systems for large Continentals, Lycoming 720s, and Jabiru engines). Because of Jeff’s efforts and the continuation of those efforts under the new leadership at Electroair, we can safely say that amongst our competitors, we can offer ignition systems for the widest range of aircraft engine applications.

Some Interesting Applications & Customers

Since 1992 and with some 2,000 systems sold, there have been many interesting and noteworthy aircraft and customers that Electroair has had the privilege of working with.Some are listed below:

· Jim Price, Rutan Long-EZ with Lycoming O-320, 160HP engine: Jim with this airplane in the noted configuration used two Electroair ignition systems. With this modification and others, Jim was able to set two high altitude records in May of 1996.The records included a climb to a peak altitude of 10,676m and climb and hold of 10,645m (35,026ft & 34,925ft respectively).These records can be found at the Federation Aeronautique Internationale website:records.fai.org/general_aviation/.Electroair is very proud to have participated in this endeavour.

· Jason Newberg, Pitts S-1 with Lycoming IO-360 with 11:1 compression cylinders: Jason completed building this aircraft in 2006.He flew it 2800 miles from his home in Florida to Reno, NV to compete in the 2006 Reno Air Races. At the Reno Air Races, Jason competed in the Bi-Plane, Silver Class and after qualifying in fifth place, worked his way up to first place and won the division with a speed of 189.657mph. The only modifications to his aircraft were the high compression cylinders and a stock Electroair ignition system. This was Jason’s first competition at Reno.

· John, Rutan Long-EZ with Lycoming O-320: John has been flying his completed aircraft since 1996. John reported in March of 2007 that he had over 2,600 hours on the system, has overhauled three Bendix magnetos in that time, and that he regularly takes his aircraft to 25,000ft. John’s website can be found at:www.iflyez.com.

· Richard Brumm, Island Aircraft – services Republic Seabees: About three years ago, Richard had contacted us to discuss the possibility of replacing an automotive type distributor found on the Franklin engine common to the Republic Seabee. After working through the challenges of coupling the ignition system to the Franklin engine, we were able to develop a kit that could be used by his customers to replace the aging distributor system. Jim Poole of Florida was the first to receive this system and an FAA Field Approval for the use of this system. Data of the field approval can be made available upon request.

· Ron, Harmon Rocket with Lycoming IO-720: Ron completed his aircraft in 2009 and uses dual Electroair electronic ignition systems on his Lycoming IO-720, eight cylinder engine. As of April 2010 (Sun N Fun Fly-in) he had nearly 70 hours on the ignition systems.

· Bob, RV-6 with Lycoming IO-540, 322hp: Bob converted his ignition system to an Electroair system last year (2009) after several discussions regarding support and quality issues surrounding his previous system. Bob recently posted on the Van’s Air Force website electronic ignition forum (www.vansairforce.net) regarding his decision making process for using the Electroair system.

There are many more customers and applications that can be shared and, if necessary, Electroair will be happy to elaborate on more of them.

Current Events

Since early 2009, Electroair has been very focused on completing the data package for our STC application. Resources that have committed include a full-time engineer, larger facilities capable of handling production volumes, and a review of all the business practices to insure compliance with quality and production requirements. Electroair’s approach to the STC process has been very systematic and has moved to the point of near completion of the required documentation. This is a result of a focused effort on the part of Electroair and a cooperative relationship with the FAA. At this point, Electroair has completed the long term system bench test and is readying itself for the formal flight test of the ignition system as well as completing the environmental testing. All of the data will be used to support the design approval process with the FAA.

Electroair does not foresee any technical or systematic hurdles that cannot be overcome in completing the STC process and receiving design and production approval for their ignition system. The planned goal is to have a public release of the completed STC system at Airventure 2010. From there, Electroair’s history will continue to grow as it expands into the certified world offering a much larger pool of aviators the opportunity to gain much more from their aircraft.