Teledyne Continental TSIOF-550 turbocharged

Rhett Ross, President of Teledyne Continental Motors (TCM), held a press conference at Airventure this afternoon where he announced some great innovations. Perhaps the most impressive was the fact that some of he arrived at Oshkosh in a "TR-22," their name for a Cirrus SR-22 equipped with their new TSIOF-550 turbocharged FADEC engine running on unleaded avgas. If you aren't impressed yet, don't forget that he did this flying at SR-22 speeds and got an efficiency of 24-30 miles per gallon.

TCM has been working on FADEC technology for some time. The TSIOF-550 joins the IOF-240 and IOF-550 (the "F" stands for FADEC) to round out the top of their product line. Ross mentioned that many SR-22s are approaching TBO and owners have been asking about options to upgrade their engines. He hopes that the TSIOF-550 will be exactly what they are looking for.

FADEC technology (full authority digital engine control) is a great thing for general aviation aircraft. It allows a computer to customize fuel flow and other parameters to individual engine cylinders to produce either maximum power or maximum efficiency. It eliminates the need for a mixture lever in the cockpit and sets the stage for having a single lever to for engine control.

All of the new TCM engines are engineered with an ability to run 94 octane unleaded fuel or 100 LL. Ross said that 94 UL is performing very well in their testing and hopes it will someday replace 100 LL. This fuel could be produced and distributed without any major changes to infrastructure and TCM is pushing for 94 UL's industry-wide adoption.

TCM has decided that their new engines are so much more efficient and safe for the industry that they are actively working to obtain STCs for their engines in many other models of aircraft. Though there isn't any word about a FADEC version of their IO-360 yet, I hope it's on the way.

The company is looking at future generations of FADEC technology right now. Specifically, they are working on a FADEC version of their new O-200 lightweight engine for use in LSA aircraft. Though the economy has slowed things down, Ross told AviationBull that we could be hearing an announcement about something along the lines of an OF-200 this time next year. He is very proud of the O-200 lightweight and it's good to see TCM taking enough interest in the LSA market to develop a FADEC option for the rest of us.

Ross mentioned that TCM has been thinking as seriously about improving customer service as they have been about improving their engines lately. He plans to offer prices for a TSIOF-550 retrofit/replacement that give credit for an old engine core and are competitive with the price of an engine overhaul