http://www.gami.com/supplenator/supplenator.php
This has been kicking around for years but is it certified and if so does it actually exist?
It looks a lot like the additional alternator which was installed under an STC by Premier Aircraft Sales on my DA40 XLS.
Somehow it seems that GAMI have completely lost their thrust.
The web site is still in the 1980’s ( I know, this IS modern by engine standards but still….)
Apparently all these alternators (B&C and GAMI) are made by DENSO.
You could come to the EBKT APS seminar next week and talk to George Braly yourself. If the FAA wouldn’t be in the way, we would have electronic ignition PRISM and unleaded avgas since many years.
I don’t believe that. Mr Braly could have got an STC for his backup alternator – just like B&C have done for theirs. This is not rocket science. Not taking the project further was IMHO a commercial decision, nothing to do with the FAA.
The FAA (and certification) gets blamed for countless commercial decisions to drop some product.
I am sure there is also more to Mr Braly’s 100UL story, than just certification. There are commercial aspects e.g. most likely patent licensing. Nobody would develop a fuel formula unless they are going to make money out of it, and if they are not a refinery in a quasi-monopoly position (e.g. Shell or Exxon) then this is possibly only via licensing. I would speculate that the FAA is (quite properly) reluctant to certify products which will achieve a monopoly position in such a vital market, via patent licensing.
Same for electronic ignition. There seems to be little interest in the USA which is the prime market. People just don’t trust it. We have had previous threads on it here… there have been loads of failures of some of the contenders. One past thread is here. And you can be sure that failures in the homebuilt market will go under-reported simply because there is no reporting mechanism that could give rise to an AD, etc.
I have seen PRISM run about 14 years ago. It has pressure sensors in each specially designed spark plug by Champion if I remember.
He is pursuing the STC route for the G100UL unleaded fuel. All tests have been successfull so far. Clearly there are other interests at work, you use the word quasi-monopoly here.
6 years later – does this product exist?
No.
I wonder why they abandoned a product which would have had a decent market.
