Thielert (Diesel Engines)

I haven't really been following this thread, but I thought I would interject
something I just learned about Thielert diesels.

A local flight school which also rents out airplanes, just got a DA42
Twinstar. An engine quit during a flight a few days ago. The pilot shut it
down, then later attempted a restart. It started back up and ran fine for a
few minutes, then quit again. No anomalous indication on any of the engine
instrumentation.

Turns out that an oil filter in a gearbox, I believe it was, was clogged.
The computer senses that and shuts the engine down. No warning, no
indication of trouble, just shuts it down, or takes it down to very low
power. Saves the engine in preference to the pilot. This seems to not be a
rare event with these engines.


"Charles Talleyrand" wrote in message
...
This data is from 2006, they Thielert has not released a 2007 annual
report yet.

The annual report for Thielert, which makes diesel engines for certain
single-engine Cessnas, Pipers, and Diamonds, shows an increase in
sales of aircraft engines from 22 million Euros to 31 million Euros.
That's a 44% increase. It's probably over 1000 engines in total.

They are the third largest piston engine maker in the world (which
surprises me, I would have thought Lycoming, Continental, and Rotax).

The total market for piston aircraft engines is about 13,000 including
both new planes and the larger replacement market.

They aim to sell helicopter engines in 2009.

The best quote from the annual report: "We aim to achieve a market
share in piston aircraft engines of over 50% in the medium term. The
necessary demand and customer base are already in place."

Maybe diesel engines are catching on??????