Airbus wrote:
In article ,
says...


Robert M. Gary wrote:

On Mar 23, 2:25 pm, Cubdriver usenet AT danford DOT net wrote:


Is it possible (is it likely) that we will see a diesel aircraft
engine small enough for a Piper Cub?

Blue skies! -- Dan Ford


Almost. The local A&P community college here runs an STC'd diesel 172.
The engine is made in Germany. They run it on French Fries.

-Robert

The engine is made by Thielert in Germany. It is a modified
Mercedes common-rail diesel engine.

For more information, go to http://www.centurion-engines.com/.

By the way, it runs on the big-airplane food: JET-A1.

--




I am personally aware of two such planes (Thielert-powered C-172's) which
have been removed from service due to unexpected, and as yet unexplained
engine stoppages. . . Anyone else heard of this?


Thielert has had its portion of new-design woes:

- problems in fuel and cooling plumbing,
- gearbox / clutch problems,
- broken high-pressure pumps.

AFAIK, no real problems with the most feared component,
FADEC (Full Authority Digital Engine Control).

One twin with Thielerts came down immediately after take-off
in Germany, when its electrical system collapsed. The engines
had been started with external power and the battery was not
in system at all. The procedure was prohibited in the operation
manual. The electrical systems have been changed so that it
is not anymore possible to repeat the preformance. This was
actually more an airframe problem than an engine problem.

At least one of the high-pressure pump failures happened
here for the Cessna of our club. It seems that the pump
had been dry some 5 hours before the failure. The Thielert
manual especially warns running the pump dry, and if so
happens, there should be an inspection of the pump
before the next flight.

--

Tauno Voipio
tauno voipio (at) iki fi