Continental Motors Group, an AVIC International Holding Corporation company, is celebrating the 5,000 CD-100 series engine manufactured and delivered. CD-100 series engines of jet fuel piston engines for General Aviation aircraft have been manufactured in serial production for 15 years.
As a result, the production figures of CD-100 series engines are higher than that of all other manufacturers of diesel aircraft engines in the history of aviation combined. Pilots enthusiastically and frequently use Continental Motors Group’s reliable engines. Officially, Continental Diesel engines have cumulated more than 5.25 million flying hours to date.
In September 2000, an aircraft with a Continental Diesel engine took off for the first time from the Altenburg airport in Thuringia, Germany. At the time, the engineers used a Valentin Taifun motor glider for testing purposes. By the spring of 2001, the then-called Centurion 1.7 had found its place under the engine cowling of a small aircraft: the legendary D-EPAT, a Piper PA-28. Additional installations quickly followed, including in the Cessna 172, Diamond DA40 and DA-42 or Robin DR400, which became a sales success with the innovative diesel engine. In 2002, serial production of the Centurion 1.7, which had an output of 99 kW, began – based on the “one person, one engine” production principle. Since then, the Centurion 1.7 has been displaced by the improved and state-of-the-art Centurion 2.0 now called CD-135, as well as today the engines are assembled on an automated, computer-monitored production line.
The fuel-efficient and reliable Continental Diesel engines became a success story in a challenging market environment. Since the start of production, more than 5,000 new engines of the models Centurion 1.7, CD-135 (both with 99 kW power), and CD-155 (with 114 kW power) have been manufactured and delivered. A fleet of well over 2,750 aircraft has been equipped with them.
