Also Thilert flys two SR22 with her diesel engien!
During the latest COPA meeting in Bornholm, mr. Dale Klapmeier (CEO of Cirrus) was there and one of the questions asked had to do with his view on the Diesel engine. His response was that there are a few initiatives (experimental) but that in the first few years to come, he was not expecting to see anything coming to market yet.
Cirrus Diesel getting closer and closer…
http://www.flyingmag.com/news/high-performance-eps-diesel-engine-progresses
“The progress has been encouraging,” said EPS president Michael Fuchs. “We have a lot of work in front of us, but the early results have confirmed that the ideas and reality are in sync.”
If you translate that from American corporate English to plain English it means something like “we are absolutely nowhere but not giving up yet”.
My bets are on Continental’s V6 engine which has been flying for some time. SMA have worked for almost 20 years on an engine from scratch and not gotten to any numbers. Why should it be so much easier for EPS?
If there’s one Diesel for the SR22 that might succeed then it is trhe Mercedes based 3.0 liter V-6 that has been in flying at Continental (Germany) for a while now. I have that base engine in my car since 2011 and it’s a terrific motor. I just wonder if they will manage to build a gearbox that is not eaten by the high torque of 520 NM. In my car the engine gives a C-Class Merc the performance of a 911 Porsche Carrera from the 1990s (6.3 s to 60 mph/100 km/h …limited to 250 km/h)
First time Cirrus announced a Diesel in 2001…
Would a fluid coupling solve torque pulse (and prop strike) issues?
I wouldn’t be too harsh on EPS – they test flew a year ago already, with pre-series engine components but still – EPS Cirrus test flight
Currently development and accompanying certification of the engine control unit are in full swing, plus continued development on the actual engine as well, I’m sure. Thanks to the certification regime these things take some time. I just hope they don’t run out of funding before they’re there, and find some OEs that will integrate their engine with some volume behind them… which of course is the tricky bit.
I’d actually be glad if there were many successful competitors in thast field … I just fear I might not get old enough to fly one of them. But maybe my kids will take me to the airport in a wheel chair in 30 years so i can see the first flight of one of those :-)
there is a other one but as many said before will we ever see it in masses?
