After the news that Mark Wilksch joined Continental for that very purpose, we hear now from Rhett Ross, the new Teledyne-Continental CEO, that the company has approved developing very quickly its own diesel, and will be ready in early 2010 in a range beginning with 300-350HP and later going on down to 100HP. It means therefore that any long term plan for Thielert supplying Cessna is still very uncertain. But developing any aero engine is a long term project implying high risks. Continental had already developed a 2-stroke diesel prototype with NASA money in the last nineties, and put it on the back burner. Then we heard about some cooperation with Honda, before the news that Cessna was offering now as an option a Thielert 2-liter 155HP on the 172 beginning in August 08. Ross said in an interview to Paul Bertorelli (Aviation Consumer) that two factors are pushing them: the demand for alternative fuels, and the demand for engines burning JetA from overseas GA market. Therefore the diesel. Mark Wilksch has a proven record in 2 strokes, so we might expect the future Continental diesel to be a 2-stroke.

Jordan Aerospace Industries (JAI) is getting in on the act with a diesel version of its Sama CH2000 single-engined aircraft. The aircraft on show on a recent JAI stand is due to make its first flight before the year-end. It is powered by a 2-litre 135bhp Centurion diesel engine, developed Thielert Aircraft Engine of Germany. Tamara Mash, JAI vice-president and industrial facilities director, says JAI hopes to have a first customer for the diesel-powered Sama in the near future. ‘We have had a lot of interest from a flight academy in Yemen,’ she says. The diesel Sama CH2000 has lower operating and service costs than the standard Lycoming-engined versions, Mash says. As well as training, the Sama CH2000 can be used for surveillance thanks to its seven-hour endurance, she adds. ‘The aircraft has a proven track record in successfully completing missions in combat and inhospitable environment. When supplied with the advanced surveillance equipment and secured military communication systems and ground and air radar, the Sama CH2000 aircraft works as an effective tool in fighting terrorism.’

In late 2005, Martin Hagensieker from Germany installed early Thielert Centurion V8 310HP engines in a Beech 60 Duke, a plane with which Hagensieker is very familiar since his firm owns, operates and services a fleet of them. We hear that the project is now under way again with the help of the Gomolzig FBO ( www.gomolzig.de ), this time with the 350HP engine. Supposedly the delay was because Thielert had its plate full with other projects and was not able to provide adequate support for integrating the newer 350 hp variant. Gomolzig told the Duke Flyers Association in the USA in fall 2007: ‘Supply for the engines with the mono turbo Charger ist planned for the end of 2007, so that we hope to fly in springtime with the 350 hp engines.’

According to a European pilot who has contacted them, the first 50 engines for experimental are scheduled for European delivery this summer. They say that they had some delays because of trouble with a supplier, which forced them to exchange some parts and to redo 300 hours of test stand time. Certification is however still far off. Anyone knows further details?

Now a Thielert powered version of their new A-viator is considered: The Casoria, Naples-based firm is developing a shorter version of the A-Viator powered by a Thielert Aircraft Engines 350hp V8 Centurion 4.0 power plant targeted at ‘cost-conscious operators’, mainly in Africa and Asia markets. ‘We believe that a diesel version will be very popular within these markets where avgas is costlier and not as plentiful as in many other parts of the world,’ says de Feo. The aircraft is scheduled for certification and first deliveries at the end of 2008. Plans to offer a diesel-fuelled P68 utility aircraft have been halted due to a 'lack of support from engine developer SMA', says de Feo. ‘The Textron Lycoming version of the P68 continues to sell well, and we had hoped to have a similar success with the 230hp SMA 305-230 diesel engine. But we have been forced to cancel the program as we could not get the aircraft certificated due to a number of technical issues,’ he says. The Casoria, Naples-based firm is continuing to evaluate the market for a shorter version of the A-Viator powered by a Thielert Aircraft Engines 350hp V8 Centurion 4.0 powerplant. ‘We will see how the industry develops over the coming months and assess whether there is a strong enough demand for this product,’ says de Feo.

A German Mooney association is conducting a survey trying to gauge interest for a diesel conversion: Visit http://www.mooney.de/diesel/index-en.html They say: The topic diesel engines for general aviation aircrafts has been discussed several times in the last years and is still a very hot topic. The improvements in diesel engines for GA aircrafts is very obvious and the list of planes that can be converted to a diesel engine grows continuously. Also some of the Mooney-owners of our Community often play with the idea of a diesel conversion when they come to TBO. But soon they realize that there is still no alternative to the old, Avgas engine and the conversion simply stays a dream. First of all there still is no engine that would fit within the performance class of a Mooney. A Mooney with a Thielert 135HP engine, like Robin, Piper or Cessna do it, is no option. As for the Thielert four liter V8 engine, it might fit into a Duke, but definitely not in a Mooney. Not every engine would fit into its tight cowling. Also the engine weight will be very critical, as the Mooney is already very heavy on the nose gear and will not take much more weight in the front. This fact also prevents the SMA O-305 engine from being an option. It is the only engine that - with 230 HP - would fit into the performance class of many Mooneys, but it is about 50 kg (110 lbs) heavier than our current Lycomings and therefore an absolute NO-GO for the Mooney! So what can you do in this case? One option would be to be satisfied with the current situation and stay with the old engine. Another option would be, to wait until something might happen on its own and the third option would be to do something yourself. We decided for the last option and would like to find out, which possibilities are available for our Mooneys and what can be done today.

Stephen W. B. wrote us: I continue to appreciate your reporting on the progress of aero-diesel engines into the general aviation market, however, increasingly, most of the news is from "across the pond" manufacturers. What happened to DeltaHawk? The website, though sporadically updated once or twice a year offers very little insight on the progress of certification. I am not being jingoistic. I would buy the best value product the market offers but, with the Euro being so strong against the dollar, the cost of a Thielert or SMA has been pushed into the realm of not providing a reasonable time for return on investment. The Thielert replacement for a run-out Lycoming in a 172SP is about $70,000 (parts and labor). Did the Thielert and SMA STCs take this long to get through the FAA or were their tribulations as difficult but unobserved by me? Given the favorable exchange rate for American products it seems that DeltaHawk could make great strides in GA market share if they could get out of the starting blocks. Any insight on their progress (especially Cessna 172 STC)?

Andre answers: What I notice is that manufacturing plans are more and more transoceanic. The D-Air opposite piston 2-stroke engine has been acquired by a US firm and is inspiring the Gemini on both sides of the pond. IndUS Aviation assembles in the US a US designed Thorp made in India and plans to put in it a UK Wilksch WAM 120 engine, which may be soon manufactured in the US. Thielert acquired Superior Engines already some time ago. We may hear one day that Raytheon, Teledyne or SNECMA has acquired a controlling interest in Thielert. Etc. Remember: The famous North American P51 Mustang, so dear to the heart of so many jiongoist American aviation enthusiasts, was designed by Elgar Schmoed, an Austrian engineer sent to the US in 1929 to manage the Fokker New Jersey facility, and eventually flew with a British designed Rolls-Royce engine; and the Republic P47 Thunderbolt was the work of engineer Georgiu Hartveli from Russian Georgia, himself hired by entrepreneur Alexander de Seversky, a white Russian WW1 ace who escaped to the US during the Russian revolution. But this must not make us forget that all modern all-metal planes to this day are derived from the 1929 Jack Northrop cantilever wing, which was the real breakthrough; and Northrop was a red-blooded American born in Newark NJ. DeltaHawk seems to be doing well thanks to the DoD market (drones) and slowly moving towards offering their engine for STC retrofit. It takes time because I understand they still have cooling issues (every aircraft/engine design since the Wright Brothers had to cope with cooling issues, which always conflict with weight problems. You can improve the cooling of any aero engine: All you have to do is add weight!) And they have limited resources. Buying a diesel has nothing to do with return on investment because what you get is a different plane altogether, not simply a savings on fuel. DieselAir has elaborated on this many times here. Both Thielert and SMA will end up manufacturing in China, India, Mexico or similar. And, yes, both SMA and Thielert had to go through an extremely lengthy process imposed by FAA, not by bad will, but because FAA itself lacks resources to undertake testing!