Delta Hawk DHK180

[Boatguy]

Another certified diesel. Similar power to Austro but 3.3l displacement, a little lighter, flat 4 so probably a little more compact.

https://www.deltahawk.com/engines/

https://www.diamondaircraft.com/en/aust ... /overview/

[RookieFlyer]

Inverted V

[Boatguy]

Good catch. Direct drive means no gearbox for less weight, less maintenance, less cost and greater reliability.

[chili4way]

Nice to see a third compression ignition engine. And so many thoughts & questions:

• lower RPM likely bigger diesel torque pulses and implications for propeller compatibility
• dirty diesel engine oil and the constant speed governor & propeller
• unclear about how "no complicated FADEC" engine control works (and where they draw the line between complicated and simple)
• is it a fully mechanical control system, i.e., will it continue to run when all the batteries in the plane are dead?
• "turbocharged and supercharged" aka "twin charging": see Road & Track Article; sounds nifty, especially at lower RPMs, but does this qualify as "simple"?
• probably even fewer engine service facilities compared to Austro and Continental diesel engines
• how many scheduled service parts are industry standard, and how many are proprietary? what's the initial & expected service schedule?
• has anyone taken a prototype engine to a shooting range to determine if it's bulletproof?

Wonder who the introductory airframe manufacturer will be (and if it will be GA)?

Looking forward to further developments.

[Colin]

They sure have been working on that for a long time. Does anyone know the timeline of the Austro?

[chili4way]

The question is where and when you place the starting line. Mercedes? Thielert? Or just Austro?

[CFIDave]

Critical altitude is over 17,000 feet, rather than only around 12,000 feet for Austros (and even lower for Continental TDI engines). So a great engine for maintaining full power up high and getting over more weather.

I'd expect to see this show up in a Cirrus SR20. Would probably provide more power than the normally-aspirated Lycoming IO-390 above 5000 feet.

[CFIDave]

They sure have been working on that for a long time. Does anyone know the timeline of the Austro?

Austro engine development was -- by necessity -- a "rush job."

By 2007 Diamond could see that the company Thielert supplying engines for DA42 TDIs (and European DA40Ds) was having financial problems, as well as experiencing serious maintenance issues on its engines.

So the Dries family (Diamond owners at the time) quietly started Austro Engine in that timeframe, developing the AE300 based on an existing Mercedes OM640 diesel car engine then used in European A-class and B-class autos. Austro mostly just swapped out engine accessories while leaving the core engines unchanged. That dramatically cut engine development and certification time.

Thielert went bankrupt in mid-2008, causing Diamond to temporarily produce aircraft with no available engines. Fortunately because Diamond had already been "secretly" working on Austro engine development, they were able to certify the AE300 engine soon afterwards in 2009, introduced in the DA42NG model certified that same year.

So it probably took Diamond/Austro less than 3 years (and about $50M in Dries family money) from start to finish for certification of the AE300.

[RookieFlyer]

If the Delta Hawk engine becomes popular, I could see Diamond adopting it and shifting away from their Austro's.