[Vwdiesel] Diesel Aircraft

[Val Christian]

>
> This just in:
>
>   Diamond Aircraft continues to turn heads with a piston twin that
> appears to put the fuel-economy figures of the most miserly singles and
> the performance data of the most spirited high-performance piston
> aircraft to shame. The company released test data on its DA42 Twin Star
> earlier this week. The all-composite, diesel-powered aircraft ripped
> along at 201 knots TAS on 80-percent power at 18,000 feet. But perhaps
> even more startling was that at max economy setting, it held a
> respectable 110 knots IAS using just three gallons per hour of Jet A or
> diesel. That's far less than a Cessna 152 would use at the same speed.
>

Gee, I wonder what blue line is in that plane.  My guess is that it's a
little squishy at 110K.  We've been seeing more diesel engines for
aircraft in recent years.   Issues around avgas have been a factor.
The tradeoffs are the usual, weight/power. TBOs are in the ballpark as
gasoline, and will probably get better.  Simplification, with the elimination
of dual magnetos is a plus.

Then again years ago I held out hope for cruise missle engines to work
their way into general aviation.  Unfortunately, they are not designed for
a long life, and are priced at DoD prices.  Therefore VW diesels have been
my oil burners.

The diversity of fuels which CI engines can handle is a real advantage.
Showing a friend my diesel Rabbit back in '77, his eyes lit up, and
he said something like, "could this thing run on peanut oil?"

Val