There is apparently a certified 310 HP diesel aircraft engine available from Thielert now. A quick search on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org) found the following:
The first manufacturer to produce a certified design for the general aviation market is 'Thielert GmbH' <http://www.thielert.com/index.html> , located at the small town of Lichtenstein, eastern Germany (not to be confused with the principality of Liechtenstein, between Switzerland and Austria). They produce four-stroke, liquid-cooled, geared, turbo-diesel aircraft engines based on Mercedes automotive designs which will run on both Diesel and Jet Aviation fuel (JetA1). Their first engine, A 1.7 litre, 135 hp four-cylinder (based on the 1.7 turbo diesel Mercedes A-class power unit) was first certified in 2002. It is certified for retrofit to Cessna 172s <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_172> and Piper Cherokees <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_Cherokee> which were originally equipped with the 160-hp Lycoming O-320 Avgas (petrol) engine. Although the weight of the 135 hp Thielert Centurion 1.7 at around 136 kg, is similar to that of the 160 hp Lycoming O-320, its displacement is less than a third of that of the Lycoming. It however achieves maximum power at 2300 prop rpm (3900 crank rpm) as opposed to 2700 for the petrol Lycoming. The Austrian aircraft firm Diamond <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Aircraft_Industries> Aircraft Industries offers its single-engine Diamond DA40-TDI Star with a Thielert Centurion 1.7' engine and also the Twin Star with two. The Star offers low fuel consumption with a very fuel efficient figure of 15.1 l/h. Several hundred Thielert-powered airplanes are now flying, and the company has certified a 4.0-litre, V8, 310 HP version in 2005. Also on the Thielert website (http://www.centurion-engines.com/) I found the following: The jet fuel aircraft engine CENTURION 2.0 is already certified in Europe to JAR-E/CS-E for kerosene and diesel (EN590). The validation to FAR 33 for the US-market was issued in October 2006. Additionally on 28 October 2004 our 350 HP V8 kerosene engine CENTURION 4.0 was certified. Recently we have announced the development of the CENTURION 3.2 with 230 hp. Regards, ROSS _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Stuart & Kerri FERGUSON Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2007 3:57 PM To: 'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.' Subject: RE: [Aus-soaring] E-tug Aero deisal engines looked promising for a while too but they have not developed anything over about 200hp yet. Does anyone know what people are doing overseas? SDF _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Texler, Michael Sent: Wednesday, 4 April 2007 11:48 AM To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. Subject: RE: [Aus-soaring] E-tug Bravo with the eTug. A helluva lot of work has gone into it. The Gliding community should give it full support.
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