Stratus 2000, Inc was an American
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 ...
manufacturer based in
Camano Island, Washington
Camano Island is a large island in Possession Sound, a section of Puget Sound. It is part of Island County, Washington, and is located between Whidbey Island and the mainland (Snohomish County) by the Saratoga Passage to the west and Port Susan ...
and later in
Corvallis, Oregon
Corvallis ( ) is a city and the county seat of Benton County in central western Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2020 United ...
. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of engines based on
Subaru
( or ; ) is the automaker, automobile manufacturing division of Japanese transportation conglomerate (company), conglomerate Subaru Corporation (formerly known as Fuji Heavy Industries), the Automotive industry#By manufacturer, twenty-first ...
automotive engines for
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 ...
.
[Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', pages 240-243. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485X]
The company was founded as ''Stratus, Inc.'' in 1992 by Reiner and Petra Hoffmann, and was sold in 1999 to Mykal Templeman and renamed Stratus 2000, Inc. The company seems to have gone out of business about 2008 and engine production ended.
The company built two Subaru-derived designs, the
Stratus EA 81
The Stratus EA 81 is an American aircraft engine, produced by Stratus 2000 of Corvallis, Oregon for use in homebuilt aircraft.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', pages 240-243. WDLA UK, L ...
based on the
Subaru EA 81 automotive engine and the
Stratus EJ 22 based upon the
Subaru EJ 22 automotive engine. The company also designed its own 2.2:1 ratio
propeller speed reduction unit to slow the crankshaft speeds down to those that can be used by
aircraft propeller
An aircraft propeller, also called an airscrew,Beaumont, R.A.; ''Aeronautical Engineering'', Odhams, 1942, Chapter 13, "Airscrews". converts rotary motion from an engine or other power source into a swirling slipstream which pushes the propeller ...
s efficiently.
Some existing airframe designs, like the
Zenith CH 601, have been adapted for the Stratus engines, while other aircraft have been designed around the engines from the start, such as the
Airdale Backcountry. Stratus powerplants have also been used as retrofits in production aircraft, such as the
Cessna 150.
Aircraft
References
{{Reflist
External links
Company website archiveson
Archive.org
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
Defunct aircraft engine manufacturers of the United States
Homebuilt aircraft