Re:A plane so good it's still in production after 60 years
by sokoloff on Saturday March 04, 2017 @05:34PM
(#13793277)
This might be Stockholm syndrome, but I'm fairly happy with the 1960s-tech TNIO-550B (turbo-normalized, fuel-injected 550 cubic inch 6 cylinder opposed [boxer] engine) that powers my A36. The only significant downside is that it requires 100 octane fuel and the only certified option in the US right now contains tetraethyl lead(TEL).
There are several companies making unleaded fuel undergoing certification testing right now. It's not clear which one (if any) will "win", but I have high hopes that one of them will.
In terms of efficiency, that airplane does >200mph at better than 15mpg. That's not too bad, IMO. Better engine management tech would get me an easier workload as a pilot, but I don't expect it would yield meaningfully more power or efficiency, unless you were to raise the compression ratio (which typically requires higher octane fuel, and existing 100LL fuel is already pushing it, with a rich detonation performance of roughly 130 octane due to the benefits of TEL)
There are several companies making unleaded fuel undergoing certification testing right now. It's not clear which one (if any) will "win", but I have high hopes that one of them will.
In terms of efficiency, that airplane does >200mph at better than 15mpg. That's not too bad, IMO. Better engine management tech would get me an easier workload as a pilot, but I don't expect it would yield meaningfully more power or efficiency, unless you were to raise the compression ratio (which typically requires higher octane fuel, and existing 100LL fuel is already pushing it, with a rich detonation performance of roughly 130 octane due to the benefits of TEL)