21st Century Piston Power
Adrian McHardy, Lycoming’s Regional Manager for Asia Pacific, was upbeat at Avalon on the manufacturer’s new engine initiatives: “Oshkosh last year was probably a milestone for us, when we released the IO-233 which is our entry level engine for LSA aircraft. It was derived from our venerable O-235 engine which powered aircraft like Cessna 152s and Tomahawks, so now we have a lightweight fuel injected engine with electronic ignition and roller camshaft. We’re targeting the high-end Rotax market with this engine, and we’ve also come under pressure from our OEMs to certify the IO-233 as well so we’ll have it available for light sports and also as a fully certified engine. Its entry level is 100hp and that can actually extend up to 116hp. It weighs only about 91 kg.”
Roller tappet technologies, which will be standard on the new engine family, are already proven in high-performance auto engines and on Lycoming’s test bed engines at the National Air race Championships in Reno. They offer numerous advantages over traditional flat tappets including reduced wear, and allowing the use of more advanced materials.
Timelines for introduction of the new Lycoming “family” are tight. Says McHardy
“We will certify our first electronic IE2 (integrated electronic) series engine in December this year. That’s electronic fuel, electronic ignition, electronic governor, single lever operation and it’s Mogas-compliant. This is the first engine of a whole new family. The initial engine is 350hp but it will cascade down through our existing range of engines over the next few years. So we’re starting with the hard one and we’ll work down through the easier models. Once we’ve proved the electronics it’s easier to move those systems down to the next platform. The base engine becomes the platform and the electronics become the driving part of the system.”
Lycoming already has thee launch OEM (original equipment manufacturer) customers which it won’t name, but we’d be surprised if Gippsland Aeronautics wasn’t one of them when the GA8 goes to ten seats.
How about upgrades for old faithfuls? “Eventually we may provide supplemental type certificates (STCs) to upgrade existing aeroplanes, but right now we want to develop the whole family, and once we’ve done that we’ll then start to look at the STC market.”
McHardy says the new engines are expected to push down direct operating costs in several ways: “You’ve got no magnetos to worry about, you have a fully-electronic fuel system and better engine operating parameters because we have more precise control of fuel burn and ignition, so you’re getting more efficient engine operation, less wear and tear in the engine, a whole bunch of benefits. Our Mogas strategy is that we’re looking to complete our Mogas fuel certification for our standard 8.5/1 compression engines by June this year. It probably doesn’t have any direct bearing on commercial operators at this time, but it’s certainly going to make a lot of private owners very happy worldwide, particularly in Europe. The fuel we’re looking at is based on the European EN 228 specification.”
There are a lot of industry developments in the Diesel power area and it’s known that Lycoming has been researching these. Any developments yet?
“Diesel is an ongoing work in progress.”
