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Diesel C182 F-HAEB ditching near Corsica

The front passenger took charge of the liferaft.

France

Congrats to the outcome, well prepared. But what a bad luck regarding the engine! From what I’ve read I assume that the Diesel runs on ambient air pressure, when the Turbo fails, but should run at double the pressure. At sea level it might therefore deliver some 30% of nominal power. This significantly increases glide range. So the area over sea, where Turbo failure leads to ditching should be very small. And in any other occasion, with a turbo failure it should be possible to stretch-glide to an airfield…

Germany

Very interesting report !

On turbo failures, that’s true, you should be able to maintain some power – but the worry is always “what are the exhaust gases doing if they’re not going through the turbo anymore?” with the risk of fire that comes with having a blow torch in your engine compartment.

EGTF, LFTF

The SMA needs the turbo to produce any significant power. That probably holds true for other diesels (the new DA50 has twin turbos) as well. Perhaps with the exception that the SMA runs at 2200 RPM and the other diesels at higher RPM driving a reduction gearbox. Perhaps with the higher RPM they’re able to provide more than 30% power?

I’ve heard of issues with the hoses to/from the turbo. I believe they have a 500 hour life before replacement.

Bushpilot C208/C182
FMMI/EHRD, Madagascar

Interesting point about the 121.50 ELT signal messing up radio communications.

Yep, I once had an ELT accidentally go off while crossing a military base and radio communications were impossible to hear thereafter. Interestingly the receiving station has no problem hearing my calls, but no chance I could hear any response. Bluetooth telephone call via the headset was the only alternative until the ELT could be reset.

DA62
EGTK, United Kingdom

0fficer wrote:

The SMA needs the turbo to produce any significant power. That probably holds true for other diesels (the new DA50 has twin turbos) as well. Perhaps with the exception that the SMA runs at 2200 RPM and the other diesels at higher RPM driving a reduction gearbox. Perhaps with the higher RPM they’re able to provide more than 30% power?

That’s interesting. I once had a turbo failure on a diesel car. The car was still perfectly drivable, but of course noticeably sluggish in acceleration. Why the difference with aircraft diesel engines?

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden

Airborne_Again wrote:

The car was still perfectly drivable

The experience varies- I had an wastegate wire broken on my 2.5L D5 volvo, resulting in no turbo. It was barely able to cruise at 95-100 km/h ,so probably no more than 50-60hp or 30% power.

EETU, Estonia

Airborne_Again wrote:

That’s interesting. I once had a turbo failure on a diesel car. The car was still perfectly drivable, but of course noticeably sluggish in acceleration. Why the difference with aircraft diesel engines?

I had a BMW turbodiesel back in 2001, it had the first of a series of French built turbochargers. I was heading back to Germany with it, had covered about 2000km with the car since new. After the Eurotunnel crossing, I started the engine, drove slowly from the train and accelerated up the ramp – suddenly in my rear view mirror a massive cloud of smoke, the engine had minimal power and I just about crept up the ramp, max speed on the flat was around 50km/h.

EDL*, Germany
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