The Rotax 915 iS is an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

aircraft engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...

, produced by

Rotax Rotax is the brand name for a range of internal combustion engines developed and manufactured by the Austrian company BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG (until 2016 BRP-Powertrain GmbH & Co. KG), in turn owned by the Canadian Bombardier Recreational Product ...

Gunskirchen Gunskirchen is a town in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Geography Gunskirchen lies in the Hausruckviertel. About 11 percent of the municipality is forest, and 78 percent is farmland. Internal combustion engine maker Rotax has been headquarte ...

for use in

ultralight aircraft Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with ailer ...

homebuilt aircraft Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenn ...

light-sport aircraft A light-sport aircraft (LSA), or light sport aircraft, is a fairly new category of small, lightweight aircraft that are simple to fly. LSAs tend to be heavier and more sophisticated than ultralight (aka "microlight") aircraft, but LSA restrictio ...

, small

helicopters A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

and

gyroplane An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. Whi ...

s. The engine was

type certified A type certificate signifies the airworthiness of a particular category of aircraft, according to its manufacturing design (''type design''). It confirms that the aircraft of a new type intended for serial production, is in compliance with applica ...

in 2017. The engine was first publicly displayed at

AirVenture EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, ...

in July 2015 and first flown in March 2016. In January 2016 the engine was named AVweb's "Best New Engine" of 2015.

Design and development

The Rotax 915 iS is a four-cylinder

four-stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directio ...

horizontally-opposed A flat engine is a Internal combustion engine#Reciprocating engines, piston engine where the cylinders are located on either side of a central crankshaft. Flat engines are also known as horizontally opposed engines, however this is distinct fro ...

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

, air and liquid-cooled, gasoline engine design, with a mechanical gearbox

reduction drive A reduction drive is a mechanical device to shift rotational speed. A planetary reduction drive is a small scale version using ball bearings in an epicyclic arrangement instead of toothed gears. Reduction drives are used in engines of all kinds t ...

. The turbocharger has a compression ratio of 3.5:1 and the engine will have a critical altitude of . It employs dual electronically controlled fuel injection, using dual channel

Rockwell Collins Rockwell Collins was a multinational corporation headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, providing avionics and information technology systems and services to government agencies and aircraft manufacturers. It was formed when the Collins Radio Comp ...

ECUs, with dual ignition and produces for take-off and continuous. The engine can produce rated power up to and has a ceiling of . The engine is based on the

Rotax 912 The Rotax 912 is a horizontally-opposed four-cylinder, naturally aspirated, four-stroke aircraft engine with a reduction gearbox. It features liquid-cooled cylinder heads and air-cooled cylinders. Originally equipped with carburetors, late ...

, but differs in that it has fuel injection, a reinforced crankshaft, new pistons, a new gearbox and a turbocharger.

Time between overhaul Time between overhauls (abbreviated as TBO or TBOH) is the manufacturer's recommended number of running hours or calendar time before an aircraft engine or other component requires overhaul. On rotorcraft, many components have recommended or man ...

s was expected to eventually be raised to 2000 hours with operational experience, but started at 1200 hours. The design entered production in the second half of 2017. The

European Aviation Safety Agency The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) with responsibility for civil aviation safety. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs investigation and monitorin ...

certified the Rotax 915 iSc3 A on 14 December 2017 and the Rotax 915 iSc3 B on 4 January 2018. In December 2021 the option to replace the 12V electrical system with a 24V one was introduced. The 24V version of the engine is designated the 915iS C24 for the non-certified version and the 915iSc C24 certified version.

Variants

;Rotax 915iS :Base version with a 12V electrical system ;Rotax 915iS C24 :Non-certified model with 24V electrical system ;Rotax 915iSc C24 :Certified model with 24V electrical system

Applications

* Issoire APM 41 Simba 915iS *

Progressive Aerodyne SeaRey The Progressive Aerodyne SeaRey is an American two-seat, single-engine, amphibious flying boat designed and manufactured by Progressive Aerodyne originally in Orlando, Florida, and now in Tavares, Florida. It was first flown in November 1992 a ...

The Airplane Factory Sling TSi The Sling TSi is a South African four-seat, single-engine, low-wing homebuilt aircraft sold in kit form by Sling Aircraft of Johannesburg South. It was developed from the Sling 4. The Sling TSi first flew in 2018, with kits being shipped to ...

Specifications (915 iS)

References

External links