Continental Aerospace Says Market Demand Points to Diesel Jet-A Engines for General Aviation

Continental Aerospace representatives told aviation journalist Larry Anglisano at AirVenture that the general aviation market is increasingly seeking diesel Jet-A powerplants for mainstream airframes such as Bonanzas, Barons, Cessna Centurions, Cirruses, and Mooneys. The company's flagship diesel, the CD-300, is a 3.0-liter liquid-cooled 300-hp twin-turbocharged V-6 compression-ignition engine certified in 2017 for the Diamond DA50 and later the DA50 RG, which lists for approximately $1.2 million new; it weighs 584 pounds dry, uses single-lever FADEC control with dual redundant ECUs, and has a time before replacement of 2,000 flight hours or 12 calendar years.

Continental, which acquired Thielert Aircraft Engines in 2013, now offers FAA/EASA-certified CD-series engines from 135 to 300 hp, with about 2,000 Continental Jet-A engines in service, including the four-cylinder turbocharged CD-155 retrofit kit for select Cessna 172, Piper PA-28, and Diamond DA40 airframes. Continental's Vadim Cateli emphasized the value of simple single-lever FADEC operation while noting training challenges for mechanics used to conventional engines, and VP of global research and development Dr. David Dorner cited competition with the automotive sector for crankshaft forgings as a supply-chain constraint.

Third-party firm FTI Engineering Network GmbH is flight-testing the CD-300 for a retrofit STC targeting select later-model Cessna 206 Stationair aircraft, with certification planned for 2027 and the conversion kit expected to be priced around $300,000. Separately, DeltaHawk is expanding its certified and experimental engine offerings, with Piper flight-testing DeltaHawk's four-cylinder 180-hp DHK180 on the Seminole DX twin trainer, showing preliminary performance of 178.2 knots true airspeed and 1,083-nautical-mile range, while DeltaHawk also develops two-cylinder and six-cylinder variants.