__NOTOC__ The Masquito M80 was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

two-seat ultralight

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

designed and built by Masquito Aircraft.

Design and development

The prototype was designated the Maschelin M58 Masquito. It was a conventional pod and boom design and was powered by a

Rotax 582 The Rotax 582 is a two-stroke, two-cylinder, rotary intake valve, oil-in-fuel or oil injection pump, liquid-cooled, gear reduction-drive aircraft engine manufactured by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG. It is for use in non-certified aircraft operating ...

engine driving a two-bladed main rotor and a two-bladed tail rotor. It had two side-by-side seats and was fitted with two fixed skids as a

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...

. The M58 first flew in May 1996; it was later modified to the proposed production standard with a

Jabiru 2200 The Jabiru 2200 is a lightweight naturally aspirated, pushrod four-stroke, flat four, air-cooled aircraft engine produced by Jabiru Aircraft. Design and development The conventional direct-drive engine is fitted with an alternator, silencers, ...

engine and re-designated the M80. Three further M80 prototypes were built but the type failed to gain the appropriate certification and no others were produced. A Belgian company, D-Motor was set up to design and build a suitable motor for the M80. Two engines with a high power-to-weight ratio were produced: first, the D-Motor LF26 (a

flat four A flat-four engine, also known as a horizontally opposed-four engine, is a four-cylinder piston engine with two banks of cylinders lying on opposite sides of a common crankshaft. The most common type of flat-four engine is the boxer-four engine, ...

) and, later, the

D-Motor LF39 The D-Motor LF39 is a lightweight liquid cooled side-valve four-stroke flat six 4 litre petrol aircraft engine, produced by D-Motor in Deerlijk, Belgium. It is a derivative of the flat four D-Motor LF26. Design The LF39 produces and has a dr ...

flat-six A flat-six engine, also known as a horizontally opposed-six, is a six-cylinder piston engine with three cylinders on each side of a central crankshaft. The most common type of flat-six engine is the boxer-six engine, where each pair of opposed cy ...

). Unlike the Jabiru motor, these Belgian

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 ...

engines have

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 compr ...

, liquid-cooling and, having side-valves, are ultra-compact, .

Variants

;Maschelin M58 Masquito :Prototype with a

engine. ;Masquito M80 :Production variant with a

engine.

Specifications (M80)

References

Notes

Bibliography