Engine research puts Racine on aviation map

BY MICHAEL BURKE, Jan. 7, 2001

RACINE - It's a bird. It's a plane. No - it's a diesel plane!

Perhaps only aviation fans will appreciate the "diesel" distinction. But diesel aircraft engines mostly have been a lead zeppelin during the seven or eight decades in which engineers have tried to put them in flying machines.

That is likely to change, however, before this year is out. And the aviation engine likely to change it is being developed at Racine's own Batten International Airport.

There, a small research and development company called DeltaHawk is bearing down on a diesel engine that should look remarkably attractive in the small, general aviation field.

DeltaHawk's information manager, Rip Edmundson, said much of the impetus for DeltaHawk came from J.P. Brooks, a pilot and now part-owner who wanted to set flying distance records. "He just couldn't carry enough gas on a plane to break the records he wanted to break," Edmundson said.

That led to a renewed search for a lightweight diesel engine. That search became DeltaHawk.

But there are other good reasons to make diesel practical, explained Edmundson, a New Berlin resident.

Most aviation fuel is kerosene-based jet fuel. However, the smaller planes use a gasoline-based fuel. It is being phased out by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency because - unlike auto fuel - it contains lead.

"You will have millions of dollars worth of airplanes that will not be usable," said Doug Doers, project engineer and part owner at DeltaHawk. He said about 140,000 civilian airplanes in business and/or pleasure are in use today. Many cannot use the auto gasoline that will replace aviation fuel. "That sort of tipped everyone into this search for the new engine."

"The people out there with these planes are desperate," Edmundson remarked.

Already, gasoline aviation fuel is scarce or nonexistent in many countries, Doers said. If you fly into Africa, plan to bring fuel along or have it shipped in, or you won't be flying back.

Diesel aviation engines have been around since the 1920s and 1930s, but they were too heavy for most airplanes except World War II bombers, Edmundson said. "There are no modern diesel engines now used in aviation," Doers said.

Only in about the past 10 years have materials existed to allow the creation of a feasible light diesel engine.

DeltaHawk is now testing its fourth prototype and nearing the production stage on two related diesel engines of 150 and 200 horsepower, respectively. The differences between them and their most direct competitor, the (gasoline) Lycoming IO-360, are remarkable, Doers said:

• Installed, the DeltaHawk will weigh about 50 pounds less than the Lycoming.
• It will use 25 percent to 30 percent less fuel.
• It will cost about $18,000. The Lycoming can be bought for about $28,000.
• The DeltaHawk will be much smoother in operation, meaning less wear and tear on both the aircraft and the riders.
• Finally, diesel fuel is less flammable, which will make the DeltaHawk far safer in a crash.

At least four other companies have been working on diesel aviation engines, Doers said. Only one, Continental Motors, has been working on one of similar horsepower to be a direct competitor. Doers is not sure who will be first but said, "If we can get on the market this summer, I think we'll beat everyone else."

Doers hopes to begin production in about August using components manufactured by various area companies including Waterford Aluminum and Wiscon Products, 5022 Douglas Ave. Partly because they made parts for the prototypes, Edmundson said, "The minute we get done with our testing, we can go right into production."

The engines will be assembled, tested and shipped from inside the DeltaHawk hangar at Batten. The company will employ about 20 to 30 people and be able to finish about eight engines per day there, Doers said.

In the future, "if we get into the marine world, then we're talking about hundreds of thousands (of engines) per year," he said. If that happened, the work would be moved out of Batten but likely stay somewhere in the area.

The market for the new engine won't be limited just to civil aviation, Doers said. It will include hovercraft, helicopters owned by drilling companies and the U.S. Navy.

Doers and Edmundson said the interest in their diesel engine has been sky-high.

"A lot of people are learning where Racine, Wisconsin, is," Edmundson said. "They're flying in here to see if we're for real." The visitors have included Boeing, the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy.

The investment so far exceeds $2 million, including some help from Racine County Economic Development Corp., Doers said. Company owners, who include Doers' wife, Diane, will need about $2 million to $2.5 million more to get engines into production.

Doers said the DeltaHawk engine will be more "evolutionary" rather than revolutionary.

Edmundson said, "Putting it all together with modern materials that did not exist before is our contribution."

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