New Luxury Prop Plane Boasts Speed of a Jet, Fuel Efficiency of a Car And Fraction of Costs

Otto Aviation’s Celera 500L could carry six business passengers at 450 mph at around 20 miles per gallon thanks to a new high-efficiency piston engine.

A new space-aged propeller plane could overtake business jets at a fraction of the running costs.

California-based Otto Aviation claims its prototype Celera 500L can cruise at 450 mph, with a continental range of 4,500 miles.

But the most striking boast is an environmentally-friendly fuel efficiency between 18 and 25 miles per US gallon (mpg), comparable to a large car.

By comparison, a Bombardier Learjet 60 manages 2.5 mpg while cruising at 500 mph, giving a range of around 2,700 miles.  

A video released by Otto Aviation on Wednesday shows a successful test flight of the highly-streamlined aircraft from, which carries the Federal Aviation Administration registration number N818WM, from the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville.

The Celera features a sleek teardrop-shaped fuselage and long, narrow high-aspect ratio laminar flow wings ending in large winglets, and a cruciform tail with a large ventral fin.

The secret of its exceptional fuel economy is its high-efficiency Raikhlin Aircraft Engine Developments A03 V12 engine, mounted at the rear and driving a four-blade pusher propeller, which generates between 500 and 600 horsepower.

A proposed passenger cabin layout shows luxury seating for six, with four seats facing across tables.

Otto, who formerly worked on nuclear rocket engines at the Los Alamos Scientific Labs, believes his plane could put private air travel within the budget of an ordinary family.

Otto Aviation Celera 500L, top view over desert

“Innovation at its core is solving a problem without conventional bias,” he said in a press release on Wednesday.

Sourse: sputniknews.com