We need that torque low down the range so that we can lift from small clearings and climb at more than 1,000 ft per minute if needed. Robinson R44 helicopters need lots of torque to turn those 33 foot rotor blades and drive the tail rotor and the Lycoming has lots of that, almost 800 ft lbs. A car engine will have a gearbox with different ratios, either manual or automatic, so the engine is rarely at the same RPM for long, ranging up and down the rpm quite a lot.Īn aircraft engine is designed to run at a single power setting almost constantly, very much like a generator. While Lycoming aero engines and car engines may be both piston in design, they’re developed to run in totally different ways. Well firstly, it’s actually difficult to make a direct comparison to car engines. So why do we operate an engine like the Lycoming 540 when in automotive terms it may appear at a glance to be an antique? It also burns around 14 gallons of fuel per hour. While the lead content is far lower than automotive fuel used to be, it does still contain some, due to the age of the engine design.
The Lycoming engine, like most aviation piston engines, burns 100LL fuel. It burns what seems like a lot of fuel, with lead in it. OK, there is an injected version in the R44 Raven II available too, but most of the Lycoming O-540s in the world have carbs. We stopped buying new cars with those on a long time ago. Lycoming O-540 – industrial strength engineering Even a family turbo diesel 2.0 can make 200 bhp. Modern 4.0 litre car engines can make 500 bhp. After all, a similar flat six engine in a modern Porsche 911 develops more than 300 bhp from just 3.4 litres. To have an engine which is almost nine litres in capacity, yet only develop less that 250 bhp seems incredibly inefficient. This is probably the number one thing that surprises people more used to the statistics from a conventional car engine. It’s a 540 cubic inch, or 8.9 litre, air cooled flat six engine, but it only revs to 2,700 rpm and makes just 220 bhp. So here is a short rundown especially for car enthusiasts, with some interesting facts on why the Lycoming O-540 engine is built the way it is, why it’s used in aviation, in Robinson R44 helicopters particularly and why its difficult to make a direct comparison with a car engine.Īt first glance, the performance statistics of the O-540 are rather underwhelming, compared to a car engine. They’re often quite surprised when the hear some of the figures. On hearing this, car enthusiasts in particular become very interested in how the Lycoming O-540 engine we use compares to their own car engine. The Robinson R44 has a piston engine, as does our famous Hiller film star helicopter. Many helicopters used for pleasure flying, aerial work and other types of flying are often turbine powered. One of the questions we’re often asked about our Robinson R44 helicopters is what type of engine they use.
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