EC 120 with engine upgrade

[cherminator]

With all the talk of EC 120s being so underpowered, what if a company like Soloy offered an engine upgrade for the EC 120, to something like a Honeywell LTS101?

 

You can pick up used 120's for $900k now. If you did an engine upgrade for say $400k, you would have a quiet, capable, better-looking than most, 5 - seat turbine, with improved high and hot performance for $1.3 million or so. Would existing 120 owners be interested in something like that as well?

 

Do you think there would be a viable market for something like that?

[arotrhd]

Possible. De-rated engine would be likely. To get started, would have to review & understand the EC120 dynamic components/driveline/MGB/trans - as matched to a new powerplant - and figure what the differences in weights & fuel burn/capacity will be. This would be a very interesting equation. It might make sense for some. Not sure how many are used for utility & higher alt ops (pax/cargo/ext. loads), or if it would be worth the "upgrade" expenses versus going to a new airframe that is better matched to ops. I know the fenestron does not bite into the air nearly as well as open T/R. Probably a better rationalization is better support, especially for unscheduled issues. An airframe like the Eagle 407HP really was a good candidate because of it's operational profile brought it a lot closer to matching performance of a B3.

 

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