The Lycoming IO-580 engine is a
horizontally opposed
A flat engine is a piston engine where the cylinders are located on either side of a central crankshaft. Flat engines are also known as horizontally opposed engines, however this is distinct from the less common opposed-piston engine design, wh ...
, six-cylinder
aircraft engine
An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...
featuring three cylinders per side, manufactured by
Lycoming Engines
Lycoming Engines is a major American manufacturer of aircraft engines. With a factory in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Lycoming produces a line of horizontally opposed, air-cooled, four, six and eight-cylinder engines including the only FAA-certi ...
.
There is no
carburetted version of the engine, which would have been designated O-580 and therefore the base model is the IO-580.
This engine family competes with the
Continental IO-550
The Continental IO-550 engine is a large family of 9 liter fuel injected six-cylinder, horizontally opposed, air-cooled aircraft engines that were developed for use in light aircraft by Teledyne Continental Motors. The first IO-550 was deliver ...
series which are also six-cylinder engines with similar power output and weight.
Design and development
The IO-580 had originally been developed at the behest of Cessna, who were looking for a modern engine to power their
Cessna 206
The Cessna 205, 206, and 207, known primarily as the Stationair (and marketed variously as the Super Skywagon, Skywagon and Super Skylane) are a family of single-engined, general aviation aircraft with fixed landing gear, used in commercial air ...
Stationair. Development was slow, and the aircraft was delayed to wait for the engine. When production began, Cessna found problems with the cylinders, and instead of further delaying the introduction, they moved the 206 to the older and less powerful 260 hp
Lycoming IO-540
The Lycoming O-540 is a family of air-cooled six-cylinder, horizontally opposed fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter engines of displacement, manufactured by Lycoming Engines. The engine is a six-cylinder version of the four-cylinder Lycoming ...
. Lycoming eventually addressed all of the problems, and the engine found some use in various aerobatic aircraft, but no serious production was undertaken.
The IO-580 family of engines covers a range from . The engine has a
fuel injection
Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of an injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines.
All comp ...
system which meters fuel in proportion to the induction airflow through air-bled nozzles at the individual cylinder intake ports. The engine has a
displacement
Displacement may refer to:
Physical sciences
Mathematics and Physics
*Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...
of and produces a maximum of in its B1A version. The cylinders have air-cooled
heads
A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may no ...
cast from aluminum-alloy with a fully machined combustion chamber.
The first IO-580 was type certified on 12 August 1997 on the regulatory basis of
FAR 33 effective February 1, 1965 as amended to 33-1 through 33-18. The engine is certified for use in either
tractor
A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...
or
pusher configuration
In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in nor ...
installations.
Variants
;IO-580-A1A
:Six-cylinder, horizontally opposed, air-cooled direct drive, , at 2500 rpm, dry weight , PAC-RSA-10ED1 fuel-injection system, certified 12 August 1997
;IO-580-B1A
:Six-cylinder, horizontally opposed, air-cooled direct drive, , at 2700 rpm, dry weight , PAC-RSA-10ED1 fuel-injection system, certified 23 March 2001
;AEIO-580-B1A
:Six-cylinder, horizontally opposed, air-cooled direct drive, , at 2700 rpm, dry weight , certified 13 August 2007. This model has an aerobatic fuel and oil system. It may be equipped with either the PAC-RSA-10ED1 fuel-injection system or a Lycoming FM-250 system.
Applications
*
Bearhawk 5
*
Cessna NGP
The Cessna Next Generation Propeller Aircraft (NGP) was a proof-of-concept design for a future family of single engine, fixed-gear, high cantilever wing, light aircraft intended for personal, flight training and commercial use.
The single ...
*
MSW Votec 252T
*
Rockwell Super Commander
;IO-580-B1A
*
Expedition E350 - factory installation
*
Evektor VUT100-131i SuperCobra
;AEIO-580-B1A
*
Extra 330
The Extra Flugzeugbau EA300 is a two-seat aerobatic monoplane capable of Unlimited category competition. It was designed in 1987 by Walter Extra, a German aerobatic pilot, and built by Extra Flugzeugbau.
Design and development
Design of the ...
*
Game Composites GB1 GameBird
The Game Composites GB1 GameBird is a British single-engine, two-seat, aerobatic aircraft that was designed by Philipp Steinbach and the first prototype was built by Game Composites.
Steinbach is a German aircraft designer, but not an aerona ...
*
XtremeAir Sbach 342
The XtremeAir Sbach 342 (XA42) is a German high performance two-seat aerobatic and touring monoplane designed by Philipp Steinbach with Albert Mylius and built by XtremeAir GmbH of Hecklingen.
The Sbach 342 (a marketing name for the XA42) is ...
(XA 42)
*
XtremeAir XA41
Specifications (IO-580-A1A)
See also
References
{{Lycoming aeroengines
1990s aircraft piston engines
IO-580
1997 introductions