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Whats The Future For Deltahawk’s Diesel?

You know, Ive been trying to keep my mind open to Jet-A-burning diesels finding their way in the U.S. GA market, but so far its been easy to shrug off the notion that the typical engine buyer has a real need for one. Most recently Textron canceled production of its diesel-powered Turbo Skyhawk JT-A, not a year since earning both FAA and EASA certification. The 155-HP Continental CD-155 turbodiesel powerplant is still offered to buyers directly through Continental as an STCd installation for existing Skyhawks, but whether Textron had buyers or not for the JT-A Skyhawk, its still a tone-setting setback. Officially, Textron said the decision will help streamline its production process. Its not tough to read between the lines.

Larry Anglisano
Verified

You know, I’ve been trying to keep my mind open to Jet-A-burning diesels finding their way in the U.S. GA market, but so far it’s been easy to shrug off the notion that the typical engine buyer has a real need for one. Most recently Textron canceled production of its diesel-powered Turbo Skyhawk JT-A, not a year since earning both FAA and EASA certification. The 155-HP Continental CD-155 turbodiesel powerplant is still offered to buyers directly through Continental as an STC’d installation for existing Skyhawks, but whether Textron had buyers or not for the JT-A Skyhawk, it’s still a tone-setting setback. Officially, Textron said the decision will help streamline its production process. It’s not tough to read between the lines.

Weeks before AirVenture at Oshkosh this past summer, reader Rick Stanton called and asked if I could report on the DeltaHawk DH180A4 engine, since he was seriously noodling the idea of transplanting one in his Skyhawk to replace his timed-out engine. That jolted my memory to follow up with Wisconsin-based DeltaHawk because it originally said its four-cylinder, two-stroke diesel would be certified by AirVenture 2018. That didn’t happen, so I made tracks to the DeltaHawk display at the show where the company was showing an enhanced 180-HP version of the engine that it has been testing on a Velocity V-Twin experimental airplane.

Larry Anglisano

Editor in Chief Larry Anglisano has been a staple at Aviation Consumer since 1995. An active land, sea and glider pilot, Larry has over 30 years’ experience as an avionics repairman and flight test pilot. He’s the editorial director overseeing sister publications Aviation Safety magazine, IFR magazine and is a regular contributor to KITPLANES magazine with his Avionics Bootcamp column.