>Thanks for the comments everyone. The Rotax is a great engine and a
good match for the Europa, indeed. But, to me, "real engines don't have
sparkplugs". I'll put a diesel wherever I can.<
If you are set on having a diesel you might be better considering the
Wilksch as it has already flown in a Europa. This might save you a lot
of development work. As Ivan Shaw said, there is often more work in
installing a new engine type than building the airframe.
If your Europa is a monowheel I would be especially cautious about
fitting a heavier engine for two reasons.
1. An aft C of G with the monowheel eases handling during take-off and
landing. To keep the C of G aft with a heavy engine will need the
battery right back in the tail, especially if a well equipped panel
and/or a VP prop are fitted.
2. The extra inertia in both the directional and the pitching axis does
make a monowheel slightly more difficult to control particularly on hard
runways. There was quite a noticeable increase of incidents in the early
days of Subaru powered monowheel Europas on hard runways. Diesel engines
and Lycomings weigh in at or greater than the Subaru.
I think the future for light aviation is the diesel but the Europa is
the wrong airframe. Now that it is possible to get diesels around the
weight of an equivalent Lycoming the time has come for companies such as
Thielert, Wilksch, Delta Hawk and Diesel-Air. To use any of these
engines successfully you need to start with an airframe which was
designed for an engine of this sort of weight. Here in Europe some of
the Cessnas and Pipers which are coming up for engine overhaul are
substituting the Thielert, particularly in club a/c which get a lot of
flying hours. As well as the fuel being cheaper, as with car diesels,
the efficiency is significantly greater. It is also now possible to buy
a Robin aircraft with a diesel fitted.
Looking at kitplanes, the latest design to offer a diesel is the Lambert
Mission. As well as the usual Lycoming they are also producing a version
with a Delta Hawk diesel. As this aircraft is a 4 seater it is quite a
logical step up for those who wish to have a modern design, like the
Europa, but with a greater payload.
Nigel Charles
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