DeltaHawk Engines (DeltaHawk) announced today that engineering and development is now underway on a firewall-forward installation package for the company’s new DHK family of FAA-certified jet-fuel-powered piston engines for Van’s RV-14 aircraft. The first installation will be aboard an RV-14 owned by award winning aircraft builder Craig Saxton, and the aircraft anticipated to fly during early 2025.
In addition to burning jet fuel, the clean sheet design DHK engine family offers ease of operation, safety and reliability, high fuel efficiency, reduced maintenance, and superior altitude performance compared to traditional aircraft piston engines. Built at the company’s headquarters in Racine, Wisconsin the revolutionary new DeltaHawk DHK180 engine received FAA Type Certification in 2023 and the company is now moving towards production.
“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. Those same attributes accurately describe our DeltaHawk engine family, making this a great match” said Jon Heup, president of DeltaHawk Engines.
Craig Saxton added: “The DeltaHawk engine and its derivatives brings many unique and exciting benefits to aviation in general and, specifically, to RV aircraft. 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.”
Saxton is building his new RV-14 with the help of Synergy Air, the largest builder assistance company for builders of Van’s aircraft. Said Vaden Francisco, owner of Synergy Air: “We’re pleased to be part of this revolutionary project. We’ve helped build over 200 Van’s RV aircraft to date and this may be the most exciting one yet.” Van’s Aircraft is also providing technical assistance for the project.
At the present time, DeltaHawk is also developing similar firewall-forward engine installation packages for the Bearhawk 4-Place from Bearhawk Aircraft.
In addition to improvements in safety, performance, and efficiency over conventional aircraft piston engines, the new DeltaHawk DHK engine family offers the significant advantage of burning jet fuel – which not only addresses the increasing lack of availability of 100LL for general aviation aircraft worldwide, but also eliminates the significant negative environmental impact of leaded fuels.
DeltaHawk is now taking fully refundable reservation deposits for the RV-14 engine installation package, reserve yours today.
