Diamond Aircraft has had planes sitting on the assembly line waiting for engines for a couple weeks. Since Thielert started having issues, Diamond was been worrying about filling orders and customer support for their diesel-equipped DA-40 and DA-42 aircraft. It looks like a solution to these issues is at hand.

FlightGlobal.com reported on Monday and then followed up with a more detailed report yesterday that Diamond has decided to take matters into their own hands and start producing their own diesel engines. Diamond is expected to make an announcement about their new Austro engine at Berlin ILA airshow this month.

Apparently the new engine offers even better fuel economy than the impressive numbers of Theilert's Centurion 2.0 engine. The Astro is also a 170hp engine. I heard someone mention that his Centurion-equipped C-172 didn't give him quite the performance he'd hoped for. A 170hp diesel would give a performance gain to Diamond's DA-42 and DA-40 diesels, as well as any other former Theilert customers like the C-172TD. (As a sidenote, don't look for the C-172TD on Cessna's webpage right now. They seem to be worried enough about its future that they have temporarilly removed all information about it.)

Diamond expects to ramp up to full production within a couple months and hopes many of the current DA-42 and DA-40 owners will want to trade their old Centurion engines for Austros. They also expect that other aircraft makers will consider using their engine. The FlightGlobal article mentions that Lycoming and Continental have both been toying with the idea of diesel engines. Hopefully, this development will get them considering the idea a little more seriously.

Given Diamond's history of innovation in producing quality aircraft, I have no doubt their engines will prove themselves quickly. As far as I'm concerned, this is great news and I can't wait for the Austro to hit the market.