Turbine Duke or turbine Baron?

("Thomas Borchert" wrote)
There's also a guy in Germany working on a conversion of the Duke to
twin Thielert diesels - the big ones doing 350 HP. He's got one flying.

See http://info.thielert.com/centurion/m...php?newsid=340

(From the link)
"The Centurion 4.0 of the GmbH Thielert Aircraft Engines is a V8-engine with
state-of-the-art technology, and in the twin it replaces the initially
built-in Lycoming IO-541-E1C4 which is not produced anymore. Furthermore the
manufacturer discontinued the product support for the IO-541-E1C4.

In comparison the diesel conversion weighs 20 kilograms (50 lbs) less. The
entire consumption was 22 gallons of kerosene per hour, which sums up to 8
gallons less fuel consumption. For this reason the range of the Duke
increases from 1100 Nautical Miles to 2000 Nautical Miles."


Huh? So the Duke was getting 15 per side (30) and now gets 11 per side (22)?

30 gal x 6 lbs = 180 lbs fuel/hr ...Avgas
22 gal x 7 lbs = 154 lbs fuel/hr ...Diesel (Saving 26 lbs/hr fuel weight)

I don't see how that almost doubles the Nautical Miles? Six hours of diesel
flight gets you a free hour. (6 hrs x 26 lbs/hr (saved) = 156 lbs)

Add in the diesel conversion saving of 50 lbs? I still don't get it.

If there was an increase in speed, I would think Thielert would want that
little extra bonus fact front and center.


Montblack