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DeltaHawk announced Wednesday that it has begun to engineer and develop a firewall-forward installation package for the Van's Aircraft RV-14. The first installation will be on an RV-14 owned by award-winning aircraft builder Craig Saxton and the first flight is expected to be in late Spring 2024.
The new DHK family of FAA-certified jet-fuel-powered piston engines, as well as using jet fuel, will offer customers ease of operation, safety and reliability, higher fuel efficiency, reduced maintenance and improved altitude performance compared with traditional piston engines. The DeltaHawk DHK180, built at company headquarters in Racine, Washington, received FAA Type Certification in 2023. Now, DeltaHawk moves forward to the production phase for the engine.
"Van's aircraft are incredibly popular thanks to their high performance with exceptional efficiency, combined with a very high level of safety and ease of operation," DeltaHawk Engines President Jon Heup said. "Those same attributes accurately describe our DeltaHawk engine family, making this a great match."
Saxton is building his RV-14 with help from Synergy Air, the largest builder assistance company for Van's Aircraft builders. Van's Aircraft will be providing technical assistance.
"We're pleased to be part of this revolutionary project," Synergy Air owner Vaden Francisco said. "We've helped build over 200 Van's RV aircraft to date and this may be the most exciting one yet."
Currently, DeltaHawk is developing a similar firewall-forward engine installation package for the Bearhawk 4-Place from Bearhawk Aircraft. The new DeltaHawk DHK engine family, as well as the improvements to safety, performance and efficiency over traditional aircraft piston engines, will offer RV-14 owners the advantage of using jet fuel. The ability to use jet fuel will address the increasing lack of availability of 100LL fuel for GA aircraft and eliminate the environmental repercussions of using leaded fuels. DeltaHawk is currently taking fully refundable reservation deposits for the new installation package.
"The DeltaHawk engine and its derivatives bring many unique and exciting benefits to aviation in general and, specifically, to RV aircraft," Saxton said. "I approached DeltaHawk because their new engine platform offers superior performance, while being significantly more efficient to operate and maintain. I believe it is a very capable alternative to other engine offerings."