Originally Posted by Kolossi
Not doubting diesel engines at all - I have one in my car - but when you say no temperature problems for diesel, I thought it got waxy when cold (and by cold I mean -10Degc not the considerably colder an airbourne engine's going to meet.
Diesel engine doesn't neccessarily mean diesel fuel and that's why I say diesels are future - they run on Jet A-1, which doesn't have problems until -35°C
Plus the engine heats the fuel (at least in DA40D), so once you start the engine, the problem with fuel temperature is more or less gone. Just for information, I think that for Centurion 2.0 limits for Diesel fuel are 0°C for takeoff and -5°C in flight.
Rod1: If you look globally, there is a large trend to eliminate 100LL, mainly because it includes lead, but there are also economical reasons: why produce, transfer, store (remember, you must have seperate trucks & tanks) and sell 100LL to very limited number of customers, when you can sell one type of fuel for ALL aircraft?
Looking more globally than UK (I don't know the situation there), but even some developed (well, that's debatable, but let's stick to the topic) countries in Europe are decreasing supply of 100LL. For example in Italy, it is recommended, but I'd say practicaly mandatory to check for 100LL availability with actual fuel supplier at the airport before making the flight and realising that the only 100LL at the airport is the one in your tanks
