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Mike, Yes, I know what you mean. Yesterday, we were sitting around talking and this old timer started asking me about the inner workings of the rotary. So, for the next half-hour I tried to explain it to him, remembering how long it has taken me to really grasp the rotary concepts. He thought the rotor was fixed solid to the crank and therefore could not understand how it turned 1/3 the crank speed. But I persisted, and finally he got it. It was like a light came on and he got a big smile on his face. I looked over at another old timer that I've been "proselytizing to for the past 2-1/2 years and I said, "looks like we've got another convert". We all got a good laugh. Going rotary definitely isn't for the thin-skinned.
My guess is that your guy is in the business of selling engines, or something similar, and we represent a threat to his livelihood. The easiest way to convince the "non-believer" is for us rotor-heads to just do it.
Mark S.
On Sun, May 18, 2008 at 10:37 AM, Mike Wills < rv-4mike@cox.net> wrote:
Mark,
Re your comment about the "flying
chainsaw"... Met a guy yesterday at EAA Chapter 14 with a pretty nice RV-8,
IO-360, CS prop, blah, blah, blah. Nice military paint scheme and good
construction. Pretty typical RV-8. I've seen the airpalne and the guy around
before and have always gotten a pretty snooty, aloof vibe from him so havent
ever spoken to him before.
Yesterday it was the only really interesting
plane there so I struck up a conversation. He was relatively talkative and I
mentioned that I had a flying RV-6A and an almost ready to fly
RV-4.
Him: "The -4 is a great flying plane - you are
going to have a blast flying it! O-320?"
Me: "Uh, no - Mazda rotary out of an
RX-7."
He scrambled away like I had plague mumbling
something about stupid people screwing up perfectly good RVs. I saw this coming
which is why I've never really talked with the guy before. Still torques me off
when I meet some close minded jack ass like this who is supposedly an
Experimental aviation supporter.
Mike Wills
RV-4 N144MW
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2008 6:57 AM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Lancair ES - 20B
Takeoff
Thanks Kelly,
The old-timers at the airport call me "the
flying chainsaw". ;-) But that's ok. 100LL is $5.10/gal
and I'm burning mogas at $3.62/gal. While nowhere near cheap, it is
$1.48/gallon less than 100LL. I've noticed a newfound interest in the
rotary engine amongst the airport bums lately.
Mark
On Sun, May 18, 2008 at 8:29 AM, Kelly Troyer < keltro@att.net> wrote:
Mark,
You sure do not have anything to apologize for
!!..........Flying that
thing has to be a thrill every time........Awesome !!
-- Kelly Troyer "Dyke Delta"_13B ROTARY Engine
"RWS"_RD1C/EC2/EM2 "Mistral"_Backplate/Oil Manifold
--------------
Original message from "Mark Steitle" <msteitle@gmail.com>:
--------------
If anyone is interested, I posted a video of my
3-rotor Lancair on Youtube. I apologize in advance for the
photography (my son-in-law took the video). ;-) And no, it isn't
out of focus, it was 94* the day it was taken and what you're seeing is
the heat coming off the runway. Check it out at... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiSSGU7wmMA#GU5U2spHI_4Mark
S.
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