Diesel aircraft engines and are the light jets pushing out the twins?

In rec.aviation.owning Mike Rapoport wrote:

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snip

The question remains, at what HP level, based on the physics of the
engines,
does the crossover from piston to turbine occur?

As additional criteria, assume specific fuel consumption is the most
important parameter and that the A/C spends the majority of its time in
flight not doing touch and goes.


I think that you can look at the market to see where the crossover occurs.
THere are currently no production piston aircraft engines over 450hp and
there are no aircraft turbines under 400hp.

There's lots of ground turbines under 400hp so we know there's a market
there; i.e. they must be practical and competive with pistons or they
wouldn't sell.

I thought the Chinese were still making a big radial, but I could be
wrong on that one and it is a bit of a nit.

If gasoline hadn't risen to twice the price of Jet-A (at least in parts
of Europe), no one would be seriously discussing diesel engines for
aircraft or actively developing them as several manufacturers are now.

So put it this way, if it were the turbine makers instead of the diesel
makers that jumped on this bandwagon, what would be their smallest
engine?


--
Jim Pennino

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