With avgas in Europe hovering around the $12-a-gallon mark, little surprise that there’s continuing interest in diesel technology. SMA has already introduced the second generation of its certified four-cylinder diesel, and at Aero this week, it showed a technical mock-up for a six-cylinder model in the 400-hp range, just what some OEMs are insisting is needed to tip the diesel market toward large airframes such as cabin-class singles and twins, which now rely on thirsty, large-displacement gasoline engines.
According to SMA’s Thierry Argaud, the company isn’t quite at the mold metal stage with the new motor — to be designated the SR460 — but it hopes to have what’s now essentially a mock-up running the test cell by the end of the year. In planform, the engine is similar to the four-cylinder model — with a split case, bolt-on cylinders, and a combination of air and oil cooling. In this podcast recorded during AVweb‘s continuing coverage of the Aero show in Friedrichshafen, Germany, Argaud said the engine’s dry weight is about 455 pounds (206 kg) with expected fuel specifics of about 0.36 lbs/hp/hr.
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