The TJ- 100
The little jet engine that ‘might’
BY TIM KERN
JETS ARE COOL. THERE’S something about a big fire whining inside a
small cylinder that fascinates the Top Gun pilot in all of us. Yet, so
far, a practical, pint-size jet engine has remained the elusive Holy
Grail for designers of light aircraft. That paradigm could be shifting
in front of our eyes, though, thanks in part to a company in the Czech
Republic. První Brnnská Strojírna (PBS) manufactures the 45-pound
TJ- 100 turbojet engine, which can generate up to 247 pounds of
thrust. About two feet long and one foot in diameter, the TJ- 100 has
already found a home on a single-place air show sailplane and a few
new light aircraft design projects.
Desert Aerospace’s two-place, TJ-100-powered TST-14J BonusJet.
Bob Carlton’s Super Salto single-seat aerobatic glider has shown that jets and
sailplanes can be a good mix. The Super
Salto’s TJ- 100, mounted on a fixed pylon,
produces plenty of thrust to launch the sailplane and easily pushes it to its structural
redline of 175 mph. In Albuquerque, New
Mexico, Carlton’s company, Desert
Aerospace, is also working on a two-seat
sport jet glider, the TST-14J BonusJet. It has
a retractable TJ- 100, similar to other propel-ler-driven motorgliders, and successfully
completed its first phase of test flights in
June. The BonusJet will no doubt draw
crowds when it appears at EAA AirVenture
Oshkosh this year. And we may soon need
another acronym in aviation. Desert
Aerospace is working on a 250-plus mph,
200- to 400-pound (empty) concept airplane, which it has dubbed the eXtreme
Light Jet (XLJ).
At AirVenture last year, John Monnett
introduced his own little jet-powered kit
airplane, the aptly named SubSonex. It has
since been refitted with a TJ- 100 after its
original jet engine became unavailable. The
SubSonex, with its planned 32-gallon fuel
capacity, is very much a development program at present, and Monnett plans to keep
improving its handling.
