Power Flow revives Leading Edge exhaust systems

In late 2017, with the sudden passing of Dane Wagner, founder and chief designer of Leading Edge Exhaust Systems of Anchorage, Alaska, it seemed all but certain that Wagner’s exhaust system designs for the Cessna 180, 182, and 185 aircraft would die with him.

Although uniformly acclaimed by those few customers who were fortunate enough to get their hands on one of Dane’s systems, the limits of what was essentially a very low volume, build to order operation were painfully obvious. During its four-year production run, Leading Edge managed to produce 35 of its PMCF exhaust systems.

Where others saw another impending loss to the aviation community, officials at Power Flow Systems saw an opportunity.

Power Flow has been producing its Tuned Exhaust Systems since 1999, delivering more than 6,000 systems to customers around the world. In 2019 company officials committed to re-engineering Dane’s ground-breaking designs.

Meeting that commitment entailed two years of engineering, tooling, and re-certification effort, followed by another year of low rate production and test fits to work out the inevitable kinks in the process, company officials noted.

Officials added that the benefits of the company’s “slow, steady, cut no corners” philosophy were finally realized when full-rate production of 10 to 12 new PMCF systems each month was attained in 2022.

In the 20 months since the first new PMCF was shipped, Power Flow has now delivered more than 90 of the systems to customers worldwide.

A properly tuned exhaust system improves the efficiency of an aircraft engine, allowing it to extract more power from each combustion cycle, Power Flow officials explain. Power Flow tuned exhaust systems are FAA approved via STC and provide an increase of 30 to 130 rpm, an additional 100-250 feet per minute in climb, and the ability to go the same airspeed while saving up to 2.2 gallons per hour in fuel burn, they say.

For more information go to PowerFlowSystems.com.