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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.
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L \ } $ x+ 1 1 LI NY As b xf p Iz g #2 9 mQ & 5 News of February 06, 2010"I am at TBO, worried about Avgas future. Why can't I find a diesel for my airplane?"Subscribers send me this question more and more often, about all kinds of airplanes from Cessna 150 to Piper Meridian and Cessna 340, showing that aerodiesel is now credible, and this is not surprising. But a purpose of this newsletter is to explain that things are not at all that simple. You cannot just expose your engine mount, remove your propeller, disconnect hoses, tubes and wires, remove your old engine, install the new diesel on the engine mount, reconnect and reassemble, put propeller back, and here it is. Your model of airplane, with a diesel, will be a totally different plane from the firewall upfront and for major instruments and controls on the dashboard. (It will also perform different but this is not the issue here.) A diesel being high compression generates a lot of heat that needs to be evacuated; and at same time it is a smaller engine, meaning its capacity to evacuate heat directly from the engine metal core is less than on a gasoline engine of same power. So you need much more heat exchanging capacity and you need to modify the cowl and air intakes to make sure that air does get in and out to carry all that heat out of the exchangers. And some diesels are liquid-cooled, replacing an air cooled engine. So far, this redesign has been effected and STCd by FAA on the most popular models in the Cessna 172 and 182 families. If you fly experimental, you can consider the Thorpe 211 (still waiting its certificate as an LSA) and one or two models of RVs. The propeller is completely different for two reasons: The rpm is lower; and the vibration pattern generated by the engine is different. You can get rid of everything related to spark-plug ignition (magnetos-related, wiring…) since diesel is compression ignition. There may be some weight & balance adjustment to implement because both the weight in your nose and your tanks (Jetfuel is more dense than Avgas) have slightly changed. Some fittings of your old plane may need to be checked and refitted because of the new vibration pattern which, at certain rpms, may gradually induce leaks for rain through the windshield or other. While checking your fuselage and cockpit for such, your mechanics may discover corrosion damage and suggest a complete inspection, and some refitting, which will conclude with a new paint job… Your engine controls are reduced to one only: the throttle. Propeller pitch/constant speed is monitored automatically. Mixture control disappears. All instruments monitoring engine (EGT, CHT, oil pressure, rpms, etc.) are replaced or disappear. And since so much will change, for the cost you might as well replace avionics: A diesel plane, even small, is capable of full IFR flying because of its extended range, so why not take advantage of it? Fuel tanks remain, but all fuel flows need to be checked and sometimes altered to handle Jetfuel; also it may happen that a conversion will specify smaller fuel tanks because you won’t need the same capacity and will save weight that way, which you may need elsewhere: Engine cooling for instance. Example: A 182 SMA with regular 92 gallons tanks can fly almost 1,500NM at best economy. Are you sure you may need to fly such legs? And then keep in mind that the FAA is somewhat worried at envisioning that some 100,000 singles, averaging ages of more than 35 years, be modified in such ways and be on their way for a new career. We notice therefore that, while more and more convinced that diesel is indeed the future, its policy is very conservative about granting STCs to dieselized airplanes. In many cases it does make sense to favor new airplanes, including new airplane designs, to make it to the market being dieselized at OEM level. Think about it. This being said, will there be other models to be STCd for diesels than the 172 and 182? 5 years ago I was forecasting a large wave of conversions, including conversions of twins of 300HP and plus per engine, for professional and commercial uses, where diesel will justify the most. Now I see that the scope of this forecast should be limited to singles and twins which are still in production and on the catalogue of a manufacturer now. That’s not very many: The production of new piston-engined planes has again gone dramatically down, and it looks like reviving production volumes and catalogues will accompany diesel introduction. At same time, we wrote about the probable scenario for shifting from leaded to no-lead Avgas and to diesel, and why it will be the occasion of across-the-board dieselization. But all that, as everything in aviation ever since Orville Wright was complaining to Wilbur that their engine wasn’t ready yet, will take time. Andre Teissier-duCros posted at 11:34 AM News of January 24, 2010Discussing respective advantages of 2-stroke and 4-stroke diesels.
    One of our subscribers sends us a question we already heard in the past, so the question and our answer are published here for discussion. Feel free to send me your comments at info@dieselair.com. Q. Could you please expound on the differences of the harmonics produced between a 2 stroke and a 4 stroke diesel. We have experiences with both 2 and 4 stroke diesels in our truck fleet, and found that the 2 strokes last longer, with only a fraction of maintenance, along with fewer fatigue cracking in thin or weak surrounding metal areas, and longer lasting clutch assemblies, plus we learned that the worlds most efficient Diesels are found in large ships and happen to be 2 strokes. A. In theory it is correct: A 2-stroke of same configuration and number of cylinders generates less vibration than a 4-stroke. This is why often in the automobile and vehicle world we have seen a 2 cylinder 2 stroke or a 3 cylinder 2 stroke giving comparable vibration patterns than their equivalent 4 cyl. and 6 cyl. 4 strokes, for less weight and cost. It is also correct to say that opposite cylinder engines and radial engines have a better vibration behavior than In-Line engines. What is unknown yet about diesel 2-strokes applied to aviation is the wear & tear behavior due to the fact that you have no valves, but instead some kind of static openings for gas intake and exhaust, which induces in theory both friction problems and heat stress problems. And these problems are complicated or simplified by lubrication technology used: A very simple 2-stroke engine burning by design a lot of oil mixed to gasoline (the old motorcycle and scooter design of my youth) is very low cost and lasts a long time. Of course modern 2-strokes have a separate lubrication system. Nevertheless 4-stroke was ultimately preferred for reasons of fuel efficiency and pollution. Q. We are hoping for a 350 hp 2 stroke to become available for our PA-46 in the near future, and are currently looking at purchasing a Cirrus for LoPresti to convert into the SR2X Delta Hawk 2 stroke Diesel when that becomes available in the next year. A. We expect to see progress for powers of 280-400HP of 3 different manufacturers offering different technologies: Thielert/Centurion, SMA, and Deltahawk. The others may come only later. So we will have the 3 solutions available. Which one is the best? See next question. Q. Would you agree that 2 strokes are a better investment, and would make a better aircraft engine? I personally cannot see how the V8 Thielert could be made as light or as long lasting as a V configuration Delta Hawk or a flat Gemini, 2 stroke, and I think that there is a reason for Thielerts clutch assembly not lasting due to harmonics, (which is why I request your comment), but after saying all the above, if Thielert were to produce a 350 hp engine that would fit in a PA46 and still allow the nose gear to fully retract, then just because it's a Diesel, we would be first in line to purchase one. A. You are right. This is why so many users of the first 1.7 liter Thielert kept their engine and waited patiently for repair kits: They had no choice because Avgas was simply not available anymore where they are. Now let's discuss what's best: In-line or opposite/radial or other? Air-cooled or liquid-cooled? 2 stroke or 4 stroke? Well, imagine we go back to 1945 when you had, active in military operations, the Rolls Royce Merlin, a liquid-cooled in-line V12 geared design; (see our photos); the radial engine, offered by Wright and P&W, and the Jumo Opposite Piston 2 stroke diesel: The discussion then was exactly the same! Note that the three fastest piston engine airplanes ever (say the Hawker Tempest/Fury with Napier H-24 or Centaurus radial, the North American Mustang with Merlin, and the Grumman Bearcat with R2800) are still competing with both radial versus in-line, (except the Napier has disappeared because of too high maintenance costs)! As for diesel, already at the time the Jumo was demonstrating a much lower specific fuel burn on the Ju-86P high altitude bomber and on the Dornier and Blohm & Voss patrol flying boats. The Germans, however, experienced that diesels were at a disadvantage in combat, and more efficient on a peaceful, long range cruise. Which is what we need today. That's another story. Now here is another aspect: any engine design makes fantastic improvements as its production and applications develops. The first Merlin with 1,000HP had a TBO of 30 hours in 1939; and a TBO of 200 hours with 1,850HP in 1945! You cannot assess what all these engines will become until they are produced and flown in significant numbers, and backed by full time permanent design engineering teams. As of today, my forecast is: 2-strokes position: They will invade the 100-120HP (LSA and flight academies) market; and DeltaHawk has enough time to position itself as supplier of a 2-stroke 160HP for Cessna 172s in the US and Canada, because Centurion/Thielert has got itself a bad name. Outside the US it is a different story because Centurion has established a service network and many 172 Thielerts keep flying. But DeltaHawk should have a weight and cost advantage in that power. 300HP plus: There is no competition yet between SMA and Centurion because of difference of power offered. Within a few years, we expect to see them competing with fully certified engines in the 280-450HP range. We do not see yet which 2-stroke manufacturer will be ready and certified to compete with them. By then, we expect for each of them some kind of strategic alliance to better address the US market. Andre Teissier-duCros posted at 4:54 AM News of January 10, 2010What will a Bio-JetFuel behave like and where it will come from.This paper gives a good forecast on the incidence of biofuel on JetA. It foresees $3.20/gallon in 2020 for a fuel containing 50% biofuel. Brazil to become a big supplier? I personally doubt that Brazil alone can fill the gap for other reasons: intelligent use of their cultivated land. But other countries may address that market too... Click on the link to read more. This may affect future aero diesel engines because we don't know yet what will be the Cetane rating of such a fuel. Cetane rating measures the speed at which a diesel fuel will burn once ignition has been triggered by compression. posted at 12:05 AM News of December 27, 2009Teledyne states its commitment to diesel technology...
 ... but says they have purchased some technology to supplement their own, and will make a more detailed announcement in January. Stay tuned... posted at 12:42 PM News of December 19, 2009DOE Moving On BioFuel, while Boeing and UOP work on green Jetfuel.The DOE intends to develop biofuels that can act as drop in replacements for diesel and gasoline and believes that domestic sources -- including both cellulosic ethanol and algae-based fuels -- can match almost 100 percent of the U.S. demand. Biomass Magazine has reported that the agency has solicited $50 million for algal biofuel development through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The goal is to apply the monies to develop a consortium of research and development teams that will aggregate all the experts and apply their work to key targets. Currently, the DOE hopes to accelerate the development of hydrocarbon-based biofuels, targeting a pilot scale rollout at the end of five years. DOE hopes algae-based fuels could hope to be at the same stage within about ten years if funds are released to allow development of a consortia-based research program. Algae's potential productivity far outpaces that of land-based crop productivity (corn), but hurdles remain and the DOE has set deadlines. For algae to become a fuel source, algal cultivation and biology must be analyzed both economically and technologically. Proposals that detail plans for moving from research to development are sitting with the DOE, which plans to announce its decisions by year-end. (AVweb, 11/16/09) Meanwhile, UOP and Boeing work on a new class of Jet Fuel... Airlines are under serious pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, so when the most prolific oil refinery technology provider on the planet teams up with the world’s biggest airplane manufacturer, they produce results—and a new class of fuel. More than a year and a half ago, a task force was put together to investigate alternative jet fuels. Its creation was initiated by the aviation industry to facilitate development of fuel alternatives so private airlines can meet upcoming regulations on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; and so the military can gain supply security and cost stability. In September, ASTM International published a new fuel specification for aviation turbine fuels containing synthesized hydrocarbons, D7566. While D7566 was under development, news reports on aviation testing of a nebulous “biofuel” abounded, even if most of them lacked any real definition of what kind of biofuel this was exactly: bio-derived synthetic paraffinic kerosene (bio-SPK). In June 2007, UOP LLC won a defense department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency award to develop and commercialize a process converting renewable feedstocks such as algae into a replacement for Jet Propellant 8 (JP-8) to be used by U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization militaries. In November 2008, Air New Zealand, The Boeing Company, Rolls-Royce and Honeywell's UOP announced a collaboration to demonstrate a 50/50 blend of Jet A-1, the standard commercial aviation fuel, and jatropha-based green jet fuel. In January 2009, Continental Airlines held a demonstration flight using a similar fuel blend in a Boeing aircraft. Later that month, Japan Airlines announced a demo flight using camelina-based SPK. Six months later, 12 representatives of the companies mentioned above, plus executives from Virgin Atlantic Airways, engine maker Pratt & Whitney, GE-Aviation and others, signed a document titled “Evaluation of Bio-Derived Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosenes,” displaying acceptance of the research. A common theme throughout all of those reports was the involvement of UOP, the most prolific oil refinery technology provider on the planet, and Boeing, the world’s largest airplane manufacturer. According to Jennifer Holmgren, director of renewable energy and chemicals business unit for UOP, more than half of all the hydrocrackers in operation today are UOP-designed. Hydrocrackers are used by oil refiners to process crude petroleum into transportation fuels utilizing heat, pressure, catalysis and hydrogen. Boeing is the most recognized name in aircraft design and manufacturing. Terrance Scott, a member of Boeing’s environmental strategy team, says when it comes to improving aviation’s environmental footprint, many options available to ground transportation just aren’t feasible for aviation. “We can’t go with an electric plane,” he says. Airlines must, therefore, focus on making their planes more fuel efficient and embrace bio-derived synthetic jet fuels to meet future GHG reduction targets, which the EU has in place for 2012 in the form of a cap-and-trade scheme. “Any airplane flying into the EU must demonstrate its GHG reductions,” says Mark Rumizen, an aviation fuels specialist with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, and chairman of the ASTM synthetic aviation fuel task force. Scott says there are still ways to make airplanes more fuel-efficient, by making them lighter and faster, to fly farther on the same amount of fuel. “For every one pound of fuel saved, that’s 3.1 pounds of CO2 not being emitted,” he says. But Holmgren says making planes more fuel efficient is not enough to meet upcoming GHG reduction targets. “We must be looking at the fuel itself,” she says. According to Scott, however, aviation has a good track record overall—only 2 percent of all manmade CO2 emissions are generated by aviation. He tells Biodiesel Magazine that the aviation industry is targeting consumption of 600 MMgy of bio-SPK by 2015. UOP is finalizing commercialization of its process technology for production of bio-SPK, targeted for completion in fourth quarter 2009. The technology is based on UOP’s trademarked Ecofining process, a commercially available, licensable technology for green diesel production. While an Ecofining unit can produce up to 15 percent bio-SPK jet fuel as a coproduct of green diesel refining, the Renewable Jet process is designed to boost bio-SPK production to 70 percent by volume. “This is achieved by optimizing the catalytic processes of deoxygenation, isomerization and selective cracking of the hydrocarbons present in natural oils and fats,” the company states. In this line of work, catalysis is everything. Holmgren says UOP’s catalysts are proprietary, and small differences in yield output can make big impacts on a technology’s profitability. “There once was a time when we were not big into catalysis,” she says. “Now, 50 percent of our revenue comes from catalyst supply. See, processes don’t change that much, but catalysts continue to improve.” The UOP Renewable Jet process begins with standard oil cleanup procedures to remove impurities. Then, the oil is converted to shorter chain diesel-range paraffins by removing the oxygen and converting any olefins to paraffins by reacting them with hydrogen. Converting olefins to paraffins increases the thermal and oxidative stability of the fuel. A secondary catalytic reaction then takes place, which isomerizes and cracks the diesel-range paraffins (C14-C20) to shorter, highly branched molecules in the jet fuel range (C10-C14). The resulting fuel is virtually identical to jet fuel with one exception. “It doesn’t have any aromatics in it,” Rumizen says. “What those do is add density to the fuel, and help maintain proper functioning of the elastomeric seals,” also known as seal swell. This lack of aromatics in bio-SPK is why the new D7566 spec only covers up to a 50 percent blend. The petroleum-derived portion of the fuel provides enough aromatics for adequate seal swell. While Rumizen says the known differences between bio-SPK and conventional jet fuel are well understood, there are a couple of debates going on right now. “One is whether we can we approve a new class of fuel on just the analysis of the final fuel without controlling the process?” he poses. The aviation industry is very conservative when it comes to making changes because of the safety issues involved with flying passengers six miles high. “Do we need to worry about the process?” he asks. “Another area of question is will there be limitations on feedstocks? What about the concern of carry-through of trace materials—like with mercury in fish oil? How do we define process criteria?” Stay tuned… (BioDiesel Magazine 12/09) Andre’s Comment on both stories: One can imagine a BioFuel derived from Algae. But whether from Algae, palm oil, corn, fruits or any other biomass, concentration of constituents which have a caloric content and therefore can be used as fuel, means separation from the biomass constituted mainly with water. Just as it takes energy (distillation or membrane separation or catalytic cracking or other) to make brandy out of wine (wine is 85-90% water), it will also take energy here, and the cost will be high. The main message remains that future aviation fuels for piston engines will be costly, except Jetfuel. Jetfuel, needed for massive consumption for air transportation, will be in the future the lowest prices fuel; and yet its bio-content will make it somewhat costlier than regular Jetfuel. In any case, for piston engines, Diesel, here you come! posted at 11:33 AM Diamond completes first AE300 conversion
 Just over a year ago, Diamond Aircraft announced plans to offer owners of DA42 TDI aircraft two new options: Upgrade to Lycoming avgas-burning engines or to the new Austro Engines AE 300 turbo diesel engines that burn jet fuel. Late this summer, Diamond began delivering Lycoming-powered DA42 L360 aircraft and completing Lycoming upgrades for DA42 TDI aircraft. In November, the company successfully completed the first DA42 TDI to Austro Engines conversion for the European University College CESDA. During the conversion the two TAE diesel engines were swapped for two new diesel Austro Engines (AE300). Other necessary adoptions were performed to change the plane to a “New Generation” aircraft, company officials said. Under the supervision of Günther Weinhart, head of the Upgrade DA42NG Program, there are two other customers, Stapleford Flying Club Ltd. and Halfpenny Green Flying Club, in the process of converting their aircraft, officials add. Diamond Aircraft officials expect that the upgrade program should not take longer than two to four weeks. For more information: DiamondAircraft.com or upgrade42@diamond-air.at (GANews 12/16/09) posted at 11:07 AM News of November 29, 2009The CEAPR Robin DR400 Ecoflyer to be OEMd and retrofitted with Centurion 155HP.
 Owners of the Robin DR400 diesel Ecoflyer have been informed that the latest Centurion 2-liter 155HP is now available for both retrofit on existing fleet of Ecoflyers 135HP and as OEM equipment on new planes. posted at 5:54 AM 'Gentlemen, we have a plane!' The Big Frog SMA diesel racer for Reno Air Races.
  The Dassault Systems website publishes this announcement (see link): A few months ago, we welcomed a project with the strange name of Big Frog in the Passion for Innovation program. Big Frog is an audacious project to compete in the Reno Air Races with a diesel engine and yet win thanks to faster, greener aerospace design. For a limited time Big Frog itself is on display at Dassault Systèmes Campus. Boy was everyone surprised Monday morning when they saw the splendid, shiny, black carbon aircraft on display! Yes, using our CATIA and SIMULIA solutions, the Big Frog team integrated the diesel SMA engine to this 100 percent composite racer and brought several betterments to the aircraft. All these operations were conducted with the help of our experts. We were delighted when the Big Frog team decided to display the aircraft at Dassault Systèmes to celebrate this important step on their road to Reno. We’re proud to have this “Formula 1 with wings” on site! It seems that Reno Air Races organizers have also understood that something special was cooking here. As a matter of fact, Big Frog has just just been moved up from Sport Class to Super Sport Class, a development that has fired up the team with even greater enthusiasm. There’s still much work and training to do before the race in September 2010. Reno Air Races are introduced by the ritual sentence “Gentlemen, you have a race” issued from the pace aircraft. Today, we cas proudly say “Gentlemen, we have a plane!” Signed Richard Breitner, an engineer working for Dassault Systèmes since 1992, who is managing the Passion for Innovation technical sponsorship Program. The French "Big Frog" will be part of the Reno Sport Class races in 2010. SMA, part of the International Aeronautical Leader SAFRAN Group, is dedicated to develop, produce, market and support the SR 305-230 Aircraft Piston Engine burning Jet A. posted at 5:28 AM 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 News of November 07, 2009Kurt Goodfellow in his RV Van with Wilksch diesel
140 knots with 120HP and less than 5 gal/h of Jetfuel... Look at this pilots in the U. S., this is the future. Kurt Goodfellow reports from Nevada: "I now have 95 hours on my plane, and it has worked very will with the WAM 120 engine. On Oct 23, I met Ken Krueger (Van’s chief engineer) in Bishop, CA for a comparison test between my plane and Van’s company 160 hp RV9A. We both realized that it wasn’t an apples-to-apples comparison because of the HP difference, but Van’s doesn’t have an O-235 powered RV9 to compare to. We flew side-by-side, comparing: Brakes-off to 12,000’ climb, WOT speed at 12,000’, 10,000’, and 8,000’. We also flew a 1.25 hour cross country flight to test fuel burn, along with a power-off glide to test drag. Marc Cook, the editor for Kitplanes magazine was also there. Ken is working on all of the data gathered, and is working together with Marc on an article for the magazine. I aso expect an article in Van’s RVator newsletter. The plane performed beautifully, but was no match for the 160 hp RV9 when it came to climb and speed. However, even with the ‘9A cruising slower to match my speed, the WAM burned quite a bit less fuel. At the end of the day, we determined that the WAM performance was comparable to what you would expect (according to Van’s published numbers) from an RV9 with a Lycoming O-235. Since Ken kept track of all the numbers, we’ll have to wait and see them in the article. My cruise speed at 65% power, 8,500 ft, is 160 mph TAS (140 knots), burning just under 5 gph (I do not have a fuel flow instrument). The plane performs very well, even in the extremely hot ambient temps we experience here in Southern Nevada. On our climb to 12,000’, I was able to average 878 fpm. Even on a hot day (42C), I can climb out of Boulder City, NV at 850-700 FPM, staying within the temp parameters that WAM recommends. Wilksch Airmotive has been very helpful and supportive all through my installation and testing. There are five Van’s RV9A’s with WAM 120’s flying in the UK. They recently had a Wilksch fly-in in the UK, which was hampered by weather, but 3 WAM RV9A’s showed up. I’m forwarding a picture from the event." posted at 1:43 AM 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 News of October 13, 2009Tule River Aero-Industries is the other supplier of fully certified Cessna 182 SMA.A few months ago we published a report on FlyJetA LLC in Sarasota FL, mentioning that they alone can at same time procure a suitable, used Cessna 182 on the US market (where there is by far the largest fleet available of used 182s in the world), refurbish it, convert it to diesel under compliance with the license from SMA Engines, using for this the SMA 305 230HP turbodiesel engine, and organize its ferrying anywhere in the world where a suitable customer service is available. We were wrong! There is another source, on the West Coast: Tule River Aero Industries (TRAI) TRAI has a 20,000-sq. ft. facility which features full line aircraft engine and airframe maintenance capabilities. It has a staff of experienced IAs, A&Ps and aircraft technicians. TRAI is the factory-authorized west coast distributor and installation facility for the SMA Turbo Diesel Engine conversion for the Cessna 182 Skylane Aircraft. TRAI offers assistance in finding a customer a suitable airframe for the SMA conversion, and permanently has an airplane used as a demonstrator that is also available for direct sale to the customer. In the past TRAI has have converted four A/C for their own use as SMA demonstrators, and have sold three of them within a year to new customers. To date TRAI has converted nine 182s with the SMA engine. Four of them are located in the U.S. Three have been sent to Russia. One in Finland, and one in Africa. Tule River Aero-Industries, 2011 S. Wildcat Way, Porterville CA 93257. http://www.tuleriveraero.com posted at 4:27 PM News of September 11, 2009The U.S. Army relies on Centurion diesel engines for its dronesThe U.S. Army has made extremely positive comments on the reliability of Centurion (Ex-Thielert) 2.0 liters engines. For years these engines have been deployed worldwide in the reconnaissance drones manufactured by General Atomics. The U.S. Army plans to expand its fleet of drones in 2010, while continuing to deploy the Centurion 2.0 engine. In an interview with the magazine Aviation Week, Tim Owings, project manager for unmanned aircraft (UAVs) at the U.S. Army, expressed his deep satisfaction with Centurion engines. In internal Army tests the engine proved that it is able to operate reliably at flight altitudes of up to 25,000 feet and even reaches flight altitudes of more than 30,000 feet. The engines have been flown a total of 6,000 hours without a single problem. The big driver across the board in terms of UAVs equipped with expensive technology is in-flight engine failures. “We’ve had zero,” Owings confided in Aviation Week. “We are pleased about the confidence of the U.S. Army and their confirmation of our engine’s performance even under difficult operating conditions,” commented Centurion chairman of the board Jasper M. Wolffson. “Each one of these hours of deployment is very valuable and contributes to the further development of our engines. Above all, our civilian customers in the area of general aviation also profit from this experience.” Altogether, more than 2,600 Centurion 1.7 and 2.0 engines in operation in the area of general aviation have completed more than 1.7 million flying hours to date. The engines are employed in Cessna, Piper, Apex, Robin, and Diamond machines. Both civilian and military customers appreciate the reliability, range, the low consumption and minimal emissions offered by the engines. What is more, kerosene (Jet A) is low-priced and available worldwide. Centurion has more than 300 service centers and thirty distributors on all of the important general aviation markets worldwide. Centurion is the world’s leading brand for certified, kerosene (diesel) piston aircraft engines for general aviation. Centurion engines were the first in the world to be approved for kerosene piston engines. A global network of more than 300 authorized service centers is also available to Centurion pilots. The more than 2,600 Centurion engines in operation in the area of general aviation have to date completed more than 1.7 million flying hours altogether. (Centurion press release, 8/31/09) posted at 5:19 AM News of August 04, 2009Austro diesel engine gets FAA approvalSix months after winning approval in Europe, the FAA has granted a type certificate for the 170-hp Austro AE300 diesel engine, clearing the way for FAA approval under a reciprocal agreement of the type certificate of the Diamond DA42 NG multiengine aircraft. Diamond Aircraft will offer the engine on the DA42 to replace Thielert diesel engines. Thielert went bankrupt, requiring speedy development of the Austro engine. The FAA certification of the AE300 paves the way for FAA validation of the EASA type certificate for the DA42 NG. Diamond can also install AE300 engines on earlier DA42 aircraft. Austro Engine developed the engine in collaboration with MB Technology (Mercedes Benz) and Bosch General Aviation Technology. It uses a single-lever engine control using FADEC (full authority digital engine controls). Diamond displayed a DA42 with Austro engines during the recent EAA AirVenture 2009. It flew from Diamond's Austrian facility averaging a fuel burn of 5.6 gph per engine at 65-percent power, getting 155 KTAS at 14,000 feet. posted at 1:26 AM Some good news for aero-diesel from OshkoshDieselAir attended the EAA Air Venture in Oshkosh, which was a major success as you can read in leading media. Andre Teissier-duCros’ lecture on Why Aero Diesel Will Be Dominant 30 Years from Now had an audience of 119, and was repeated the next day for a private restricted audience. Regarding the future of aero-diesel engines, the climate was favorable too. What transpires most clearly is the tight link between the short term future of diesel and the one of leaded Avgas. All experts we talked to seem to agree that leaded Avgas has only a few years more to survive in the US. What will replace it is not yet clear but the options are: Probable: A Non-Leaded 95 Octane Avgas very close to present Mogas which could be digested by all existing engines, the most modern engines being offered kits to make them compatible with this fuel. It seems that Lycoming and Continental are working on such kits. It is not yet clear whether they will be possible for absolutely all existing engines. They will come at a cost. This will anyway accelerate the scrapping of a large U. S. fleet of older piston engine planes, probably some 50,000, which are still officially airworthy but are presently hardly flying at all. Possible: A Non-Leaded 100 Octane gas obtained from addition either of Ethanol or from some Syngas. Ethanol seems highly improbable because it causes very destructive corrosion at the very high temperature of an air-cooled high performance turbocharged engine, while it is better tolerated in a water-cooled, low temperature automobile engine. Syngas is possible. Both however would mean a fuel much costlier to produce. One thing for sure therefore, a Non-Leaded Avgas at 100 Octane will be very expensive. Certain: A diesel airplane will avoid this dilemma and burn Jetfuel. However the industry faces here a theoretical risk that future Jetfuel also incorporating some kind of added-on Synfuels would suffer a drop of Cetane rating. Cetane rating measures the flammability of diesel fuel, therefore the speed at which it ignites under compression, and conditions therefore the design of an aero diesel. Presently all aero-diesels accept a Cetane rating of 30+ with a lot of flexibility. Turbines, benefiting a constant continuous combustion, are indifferent to Cetane rating. Would it be possible that Jetfuel would gradually evolve to a rating of 20+? We doubt it, considering the huge amount of Jetfuel produced, consumed, and available worldwide. But stay tuned… Syngas or Synfuel, if not of biotech origin (Ethanol, Methanol, Swift fuel or other), refers to a synthetic hydrocarbon produced from coal as per the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process, click here for more on this, invented in Germany decades ago and perfected since. It works fine since World War II, but one thing for sure: It is costly... posted at 1:17 AM |
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