After a long market analysis, made in cooperation with more than 70 dealers worldwide, TECNAM considers that the future of General Aviation will no longer count on gasoline-powered engines for different reasons including, but not limited to: gasoline price, limitations of AKI91 aviation gasoline on the TIO/TEO-540 turbocharged engine series, difficulty in fuel supply and complete absence of aviation gasoline in many worldwide countries.
For this reason, it appears evident that designing and certifying a new aircraft in the 21st Century needs to take into account these aspects. Actually:
“if an Airline Company wants to carry up to 9 passengers with single-pilot operations and with no access to AVGAS, simply have no choice on the market and no business”.
The selection of a good partner for engine manufacturing is essential and linked to the following requirements:
• An engine manufacturer that should have experience in heavy fuel piston engine certification under EASA;
• An engine manufacturer that has a big and capillary diffused after-sales service worldwide;
• An engine manufacturer that is able to provide a “born for aircraft” engine, suitable for wing nacelle installation, in comparison with all the other players mainly derived from automotive diesel engines and so high installation volumes.
It is evident that the above-mentioned points result in high investments and consequent high engine acquisition price. For this reason, TECNAM demonstrated that even where access to Avgas is available, the use of JET fuel-powered piston engine is still convenient in the medium/long term.
Following the main considerations:
• the spread between the avgas and Jet-A cost is different in USA and Europe;
•the diesel engine has generally lower fuel consumption in all the flight phases (average of 58lt/h against 83lt/h at same cruise power output: 260hp) and so lower emissions and absence of lead, actually burnt in all avgas fuels engines;
• the oil consumption is lower as well due to the modern technology and component sealing.
With the previous assumptions, also taking into account that diesel piston engines have consistent differences in purchasing price (generally +50% for the same rated power in comparison with an Avgas operated one) and in maintenance, an airline company can recover all the related costs in 3.000 flight hours (in USA) or 366hr (in Europe). This means that, after 3.000 hours (or only 366 hours in Europe), the airline company will have the investment of the diesel engine installation paid and will start increasing the profit which can be quantified in 57$ per passenger (USA) or 127€/passenger (EU) due to the lower operating costs, for every single flight2.
The possibility to offer the same platform powered by Avgas and JET fuel (diesel) engines will be the winning strategy for all worldwide scenarios.
The project is a significant experience for diesel engines in General Aviation.
Wider operative scenarios/runaways and airports allow diesel-propelled aircraft to connect people from remote areas to the main hub, thus have a huge social impact and a commercial opportunity for TECNAM.
http://www.cira.it/it/aeronautica/propulsori-aeronautici/einstain(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)http://www.cira.it/en/aeronautics/aeronautical-propellers/einstain(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)P2010 CDI Achieved Type Certificate n. EASA.A.576 (Is.10) on Oct. 2020.
