Centurion Aircraft Engines has earned European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) authorization to retrofit Diamond DA40s with the company’s new 155-horsepower Centurion 2.0s diesel engine. This follows the European certification of the Centurion 2.0s engine.
A DA40 TDI powered by a Centurion 2.0s will turn in max cruise speeds of 148 knots, Centurion says. Currently, the 2.0s is approved for installation in existing European DA40 TDI aircraft, as well as European-based Cessna 172s and Robin DR400s. Certification for the Piper PA-28 Cherokee is to follow.
The Centurion 2.0s engine has 20 more horsepower than its predecessor, the 135-hp Centurion 2.0. Its weight and dimensions are the same as those for the straight 2.0 engine, so retrofitting is a simple process, involving no cowling redesign. Time between replacement (TBR) remains 1,200 hours—the same as that recommended for the 2.0 engine. The goal is to boost the TBR to 1,500 hours. Orders are now being taken for the new engine, and deliveries will begin by the end of November.
As for reliability, Centurion hints that the 2.0s may well beat what it calls the FAA’s average inflight engine shutdown rate of 10 shutdowns per 100,000 flight hours. The company says that Centurion’s 1.7 and 2.0 engines have demonstrated an inflight shutdown rate of 5.46 shutdowns per 100,000 hours since their introduction in 2003. The 2.0s engine will “possess a range of advantages over the 1.7 engine since the entire field experience gained with the predecessor model,” the company said. “So far, the currently series-produced Centurion 2.0 and Centurion 2.0s successor models account for 1.4 million flight hours. In sum, well over 3,000 Centurion engines have been delivered so far,” said Centurion CEO Jasper M. Wolffson.
