Does Continental still sell the CD-230?
The Continental diesel RV-10. By Dan Horton.
www.kitplanes.com
And there is also the SMA SR305-230, like on the
182 "JT-A" turbo-diesel. Flyer, the company in Brazil that assembles quick-build fuselages and wings for Van's... and that
ASTM-certified the RV-10... developed an SMA 230 installation for the RV-10. My understanding is that
they offer it as an option on factory-built certified RV-10s, but I don't know the details,
you'd have to ask them. I keep telling my friend there that they really should offer a firewall-forward kit.
Flyer Industria is offering the SMA SR305e-230 diesel in their "certified" RV10. Check out this vid from their assembly bay:
. Two of the aircraft in final assembly are equipped with SMA diesels. I also hope they'll offer some kind of FWF kit.
I have built an experimental C180 with the same engine (SMA SR305e), and have had excellent service from it. I now have almost 400 hours of trouble-free flying. It has been very efficient, smooth, and reliable so far. Roder Group in Germany took over SMA and have been good to work with. A few things I like: Easy starts - no hot or cold starts. it starts immediately every time, like your car. Efficient - constantly 30% better fuel economy than the same avgas plane. Safety - Jet A is much less likely to explode or catch fire in the event of a crash, plus exhaust fumes wont kill you like gas engine fumes will. Simple: one-lever controls. Electronic with mechanical backup. If you lose all electrical power, no problemo.
My point is that the technology exists for very functional modern diesel aircraft engines. I have over 1600 hours flying behind aerodiesel engines in experimental aircraft over 18 years and will not go back to avgas, although I have nothing against "traditional" engines.
Don't let the 230 hp (SMA and Deltahawk) number scare you off. Remember, these engines are turbocharged and and make full power at high altitudes. In every case, my experience has been that a diesel with substantially lower hp will perform as well as a higher hp gasoline counterpart. For example, the Glasair Sportsman with CD155 diesel performs as well as its 180 hp Lyc counterpart in most flight regimes. Now that I have the C180 with 230 hp diesel, I can verify that it easily out-performs its 230 hp O470 counterpart in every respect.
I still believe Jet A piston is the best way forward in the long haul (don't shoot me down; it's just my opinion). It seems to solve many of the current issues, including leaded avgas and military goals. The technology exists, and works well. Diesel technology was moving along quite nicely until the electric airplane fad (once again, my opinion) came along. Millions, if not billions, of investor dollars have been wasted on that pipe dream. Hopefully more dollars will be routed back to more realistic and achievable goals.
Kurt Goodfellow
. For those worried about 'only' 235hp in an RV-10, remember it makes 235hp up to 17 or 18 thousand feet. Over around 3,000ft Density Altitude, the 235hp will be making more hp than a 260hp IO-540.
) before I’m in need of an overhaul on my existing Lycoming, and can run 93 octane mogas (though UL94 is more appealing, tested to higher standards than auto fuel) when 100LL disappears in 2030, but the thought of a small, reasonably fuel efficient turbine is very appealing. Smooth power is a good match for our lighter weight RV’s. If they scale up and build one in the 250hp range with similar fuel burn to today’s lycomings/continentals, that is pretty appealing for the 10.
