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Ultimate Issue: Ly-Con Still Going Strong

A visit to Visalia, California, finds the aircraft engine builder near perfect but nothing fancy.

Ken Tunnell (seated) is the fuel and spark at Ly-Con, and brother Bryan oversees the vital inspection and assembly shop. [Tom Wilson/KITPLANES]
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Ly-Con Aircraft Engines, founded by Ken Tunnell in 1980, built its reputation by prioritizing meticulous measurement, accurate machining, and continuous process improvement to deliver dependable and powerful engines.
  • The company evolved to specialize in horizontally opposed (flat) engines and became a leading builder of high-performance engines for aerobatics and air racing.
  • Ly-Con stands out for its significant investment in advanced in-house machining, testing (dynos, wet flow bench), and unique processes like cryogenic heat treating and a new case shop, allowing unparalleled control over engine quality.
  • Lessons and innovations from Ly-Con's performance and racing engine development are directly applied to enhance the reliability and precision of its certified "daily driver" engines, benefiting all customers.
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If it weren’t for the snow-capped Sierra Nevada’s floating distantly in the haze, Visalia, California, might pass for Kansas.

The terrain is unremittingly flat, the roads checkerboard at right angles, and farming is what matters. Irrigation ditches and muddy tracks entering and then tapering off on the county roads are too numerous to notice, and the vastness in the crop rows and vault of open sky keeps human activity properly scaled inside nature’s expanse.

Tom Wilson

Tom Wilson got into general aviation in 1973 after pumping avgas and waxing flight school airplanes, but the lure of racing cars and motorcycles sent him down a motor journalism career heavy on engines and racing. Today he flies for fun in a Starduster and a shared Cessna 140A.

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