Innodyne Turbines is probably the leader in developing GA-sized turboprop engines like the one pictured above. So far, its offerings are for Experimental aircraft only.

By Gregory Travis

It’s axiomatic that the gas turbine engine is more reliable than general aviation’s ubiquitous warhorse, the reciprocating piston engine. Like the old saw about the two kinds of pilots—those who’ve made a wheels-up landing and those who will—we all fly behind our piston engines wondering not if they’ll eat a valve, but when.

Several new companies have appeared recently with promises for GA turbines as plentiful as Chinese goods at a WalMart—and almost as affordable. For those of us interested in safety, what kinds of effects can we expect should the powerplant demographics of the fleet, particularly the demographics of spamcan power, change from suck-squeeze-bang-blow to the smooth whine…