DeltaHawk Diesel | 9.12.2020

This isn't a progress post, but a bit of interesting history on this plane and why it never made it to completion with the previous owners.

DeltaHawk Engines was founded in 1996 with a very cool goal. Provide a very close replacement for a very popular aviation engine, but have it run Jet-A (diesel) and burn ~60% of the fuel as the engine it replaced. Jet-A is cheaper than the typical 100LL fuel by 20-50% at most airports, and is available at a large portion of public use airports. So you burn less fuel, and that fuel that you burn is cheaper. Win/win.

The problem is that DeltaHawk (as of this post) still has not brought an engine to market. As I understand from the previous owners, they bought the plane with the intention of putting a DeltaHawk in it in 2006, and went to AirVenture every year, where they were told the engine was "right around the corner", so they'd make some more progress, only for the engine to be delayed. Just as an example, here's an article from 2015 saying that they'd have an initial run by year's end, and serial production by early 2016. And here's another from 2019 saying they expect certification by the end of 2019. Their website as of today states that "DeltaHawk Engines expects certification in late 2020." Personally, I doubt it, but I really do want them to succeed. It would be an absolutely awesome game changer for general aviation as far as cost to operate goes, and would help get small planes off leaded fuel.

With all that said, the previous owners had (at some point) purchased a mounting kit from DeltaHawk to mount the engine that they thought was right around the corner. This came complete with the engine mount, oil coolers, fittings, hoses, fuel pump, and an admittedly awesome foam mockup of the engine prototype. See below:

 

Emily and I disassembled the mount for parts today, essentially. It was sad to break down a part of the plane's history, but hopefully we'll be able to re-use some of the parts for our own engine install. Needless to say (since we'd like to finish the plane), we'll be going with the standard Lycoming IO-360 install. If anyone is in need of an engine mount for a DeltaHawk, shoot us a line, because we have one we're not using. ;)