Jan,
I can only imagine that the piston they mention is the Thielert-developed 4.0 liter V8. That engine was meant to refurb avgas engines on various twins. Only a few flying today. IIRC a French company uses it on a C206 for para jumping and they are happy.
Which piston engines exactly will be available?
As it says in the text, I think the only available option right now would be “a Continental Motors geared”, i.e. the GTSIO 520. The C406 was developed from the C404 which has those engines fitted. I think there is a big market for the F406, but only with turbines. I have flown the 404 for several hundred hours, mostly express cargo, night freight and mail and we had to plan all our flights around the AVGAS refueleing stops, often reducing our payload because of the need for fuel tankering. Also, these big piston engines are quite delicate (no matter if AVGAS or Diesel powered) and not really suitable for the type of operation. We really wished we had a 406 then and even convinced our boss that it would significantly reduce our downtime and maintenance cost, but there were zero available on the market then. He bought us a Metroliner instead which ultimately ruined the company…
I can only imagine that the piston they mention is the Thielert-developed 4.0 liter V8
I think the only available option right now would be “a Continental Motors geared”, i.e. the GTSIO 520
Hah! They did manage to confuse the enemy!
PS I did see the Thielert V8 installed on a Belgian-registered C206 – quite impressive it was!
Hah! They did manage to confuse the enemy!
Obvoiusly, they don’t know what the market needs and propose a bunch of options… Still, I stand my ground and insist on turbines for this aircraft, which really needs them. The smallest PT6 installation will offer twice as much power than the V8 and weight will be 200kg less. This means shorter runways, better hot&high performance, much faster climbout (important when operating from large airports in the cargo business) more payload over short distances (which really is the main business of an unpressurised aeroplane). Turbines!
