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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 November 24, 2009Centurion, the firm owning and developing Thielert's assets, has good news.2,600 Thielert-Centurion (T-C) engines are flying now, and have accumulated 1.7 million hours flying time. We assess that the major problems of the engine are over with a 600h recommended TBR for clutch and transmission. The Diamond DA42 is still sold with the T-C engine, and is selling. So is the Diamond drone. An airplane equipped with a T-C engine can therefore expect somewhat costly but trouble-free operations; but in countries where Avgas is fading away, with general uncertainties on Avgas future (see our previous reports), and with gradual improvements on the engine which can be retrofitted later on the existing fleet, we can expect now that, such as they are, the 2-liter T-C engines have begun the demonstration that aerodiesels are here to stay and that small piston-engined airplanes of the future (up to some 500HP) will be diesels. The market is waiting with some impatience for a revival of the T-C 4-liter V8, which was put on the back burner as the business was reorganized. 4 or 5 of them are flying, which were delivered before the reorganization. Centurion has made no definite announcement on their plans, except that they will come back to promoting and certifying this engine. We also expect that there will be competition in the 300-450HP range of powers. As previously reported, that 2-stroke diesels in the 100-120HP range will make their way to LSAs and to trainers for flight academies, but this will take some time. The most credible competition in aerodiesels consists today in Centurion, SMA, and Wilksch. But this will also change. Centurion is the leader, but there is no head-on competition yet: Centurion sells 155HP engines, SMA silently pursues promotion of its 230HP, and Wilksch will be present at least in the 100-120HP range. Andre Teissier du Cros, Publisher posted at 5:37 AM |
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