There was quite a bit of fuss earlier this summer over the insolvency (bankruptcy) of TAE (Thielert)...the manufacturer of the diesel engines for Diamond Aircraft's DA-42 Twin Star. The economy offered by the Twin Star's great design and its super-efficient engines revolutionized twin piston training and stood to influence the entire piston aircraft market.

Diamond, being a proactive company announced that it would deal with the problems by "simply" producing their own diesel engines, something they'd been working on for a while. I hadn't heard anything in a while, so I snooped around and was turned on to the following by an Aviation.ca article.

First, Diamond is in the process of certifying the Austro engine in Europe and hopes to add US certification soon after that's done. They plan to offer two versions of the Twin Star. One will have the Austro engine (DA-42 NG), while the other will be equipped with a pair of Lycoming O-360's (DA-42 L360). (The Lycoming option was requested by some customers for flight training fleets and may just be a stopgap until Austro engines become available.)

Second, Diamond is doing their best to take care of their customers. After trying repeatedly to get those overseeing TAE's insolvency to honor their commitments and support their engine, to no avail. As such, Diamond has announced several options for DA-42 position holders. These range from taking delivery of one of a few TAE-powered aircraft owned by dealers, to taking delivery of a DA-42 L360 and possibly upgrading to Austro engines later, to applying their deposit and a free $20,000 toward a different Diamond aircraft, to getting a full refund.

I'm very disappointed in TAE's inability to support their customers and more than a little confused at how a company with a growing market that included Diamond, Cessna and Maule aircraft could end up in insolvency. I'm very impressed with Diamond though. Instead of just crying about their problems, they have been proactive and even generous in giving their customers options. I hope their Austro engine receives certification soon and that it proves to be as great a product as I think it will. I still maintain that if we can get a strongly-backed diesel into the piston aircraft market, we will see a lot of things change for the better.