The Nov issue of AOPA Pilot mag had an article on page 83
called Diesel dawn by Tom Horne. He was naively taken in!

Quote, on page 87: "Though the TAE 125 makes 125 HP its trust levels
are great enough (540 lbs) to match those of the O-360's
by 77 pounds." End of quote.

AOPA Pilot ought to fire Tom and get somebody that
can do the physics.

Lets say the quoted thrust out of the prop was at 100 feet per 
second velocity. So the HP is 100 x 540 pounds divided by 550 
or 98 HP net out of the prop. 98HP/125HP gives a prop 
efficiency of 78%.

So lets take 78% of 180 HP (same prop) of the O-360 180 HP we get
140 HP net out of the prop. 140 HP is 77000 pound feet per second.
Dividing that by 100 feet per second gives us
770 pounds of thrust!! 770 pounds minus 540 pounds is 230 pounds 
more thrust for O-360  than the TAE 125 econo shit box turbo diesel 
car engine and NOT 77 pounds less thrust claimed by Tom. 

Who in hell do they think they are fooling? What an insult
to our intelligence.

This is just one of many errors and lies in this article.
I quit the AOPA a long time ago. Mainly because of the mag.

Paul Lamar
 
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