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When will a diesel be available for my aircraft? |
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News, facts, and comments on the coming revolution for piston-engine aircraft.News of October 18, 2009Cessna boss: dubious about bio-fuels, sees aero-diesel available by 2012?The chief executive of US plane maker Cessna, Jack Pelton, during a recent visit to Australia, gave a keynote address at the Regional Aviation Association of Australia annual conference. Pelton used his RAAA address to call for a global approach to the three primary issues facing general aviation: security and safety, the need to modernize air traffic management and rising environmental concerns. He also said he believed the worst of the global aviation crisis was now behind the Kansas-based manufacturer of corporate jets and general aviation aircraft. "We have certainly stopped the freefall and we are seeing some strong leading indicators of growth out in the future with the used aircraft market finally starting to get active again," he said. "'Prices are still weak, but the number of airplanes for sale continues to reduce, which is good. And we're seeing the flight hours of people in our current fleet increasing. They're starting to fly again, which is another good indicator that things are starting to improve." An industry veteran of more than three decades, Mr Pelton has been with Cessna since 2000, when he joined as senior vice-president product engineering, and became president and chief executive in 2003. Cessna was instrumental in launching a campaign urging business leaders and aircraft users to defend their aircraft and the reasons for using them and Mr Pelton said public perception would be helped by moves to establish a caucus of legislators in Washington who support general aviation. He said reasons for using private aircraft remained unchanged. "It's whole issues of productivity, getting to places that you can't get to by a commercial air service, the need for security and confidentiality and all of those issues along the humanitarian relief and the emergency medical (services). (…) On wider questions about the company's aircraft, Mr Pelton said there had been discussion at the RAAA conference on how to manage ageing aircraft and the cost to operators. He said Cessna's philosophy around airworthiness and support was that the industry could not afford to have a safety record "that's nothing than perfect". "When we discover items like, whether it be cracking or corrosion in some of our older models, we have an obligation to put up the right guidance material and require or mandate the necessary checks and refurbishments," he said. The manufacturer was also waiting on engine technology to catch up. "We would like an engine that would run on diesel or Jet A before we probably announce any other major activities in the single-engine family," he said. "You know with (engine developer) Thielert we were really close and with their insolvency that has thrown a curve in there. I think it will be three years away before somebody really has an engine that's really ready for high-rate production. And we're working with a lot of manufacturers on that." The Cessna boss is dubious about the ability of biofuels to be manufactured on a big enough scale but sees improvements to air traffic control, such as the US Next Gen system, as a key element to improving aircraft efficiency. He said the manufacturer would like to see double-digit improvements and he believed this was achievable by effectively managing the airframe design with systems that used less thrust at a given a weight. (Australian Business 10/16/09) Andre Teissier-duCros comments: Reading between the lines, we translate: Cessna will see favorably a large number of piston-engined airplanes, notably in the U. S., scrapped for obsolescence. This is the first time that Cessna makes such a political announcement acknowledging that bio-fuel is no solution (including as a replacement to Avgas) and that diesel engines are being seriously assessed with several engine manufacturers, expected to be ready for consistent supply by 2012. Reminder: Bio-fuel is either too corrosive for air-cooled engine (methanol) or simply far too costly. Other no-lead Avgas alternatives (100 Octane) are synfuel, also too costly. Diesel, move ahead… NextGen and other fundamental reforms of ATC will re-open the market of General Aviation. Of course we agree on the 3 points... posted at 12:05 PM |
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