Search for a Diesel Engined Aircraft

Search for a Diesel Engined Aircraft

Over the years, SIMAIR has used various types of aircraft to best serve

missionaries. The Piper Saratoga has proved to be a very good "all-around"

airplane for SIMAIR. However, ten years ago, the price of avgas (aviation

gasoline) began to rise. The Mobile Fuel Company at the airport in Niamey,

Niger, has been warning SIMAIR for the last five years that Avgas would

become scarcer and more expensive. This has not been an idle warning, as

there have been increasing shortages of Avgas across West Africa, and in the

last six years the price has tripled.

Understandably, this is putting a real strain on SIMAIR's program as we

strive to keep our prices affordable for the missionaries whom we are trying

to serve.

In 2001 the SIM Niger Directorate, working with SIMAIR, decided to pursue

the purchase of an airplane that would use Jet Fuel. Jet Fuel is cheap and

widely available. While there a lots of turbine-powered aircraft available

on the market, they are expensive to purchase and operate, and, in most

cases, larger than what SIMAIR requires for the majority of our flying.

SIMAIR has for years now been watching the development of diesel engines for

AC. Diesel aircraft engines use jet fuel and are extremely efficient. In

2002, the first diesel engine was certified in Europe and the United States.

In 2003, the first aircraft were certified to use these engines. In the

past six months our attention has been focused on one particular AC.