On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 21:04:19 GMT, "Mike Rapoport"
wrote:

The ultimate Helio is a early model with an Allison turbine engine. I know
of only one that exists. This give you a larger prop, much more power AND
lighter weight, although fuel consumption eats up some of the weight
savings.

I seem to recall a Sport Aviation article about a Helio or similar
STOL plane converted to turbine. The owners put a lot of crazy
conversions onto the plane. For example, they had a train whistle
driven by bleed air from the engine, a sprayer/fogger system for
killing mosquitos in the area prior to landing, and tires that looked
to be from a 4x4 truck.

One hell of a back country airplane.

-Nathan