I understand, Mark, But there are those
who’s minds are made up and no explanation is going to change the fact that an “Alternative
Engine” was being used. Certainly, we all want to know and I agree - I
seriously doubt it was anything internal to the engine.
Give that apparently no warning occurred,
I would say electrical in nature – but, just a guess on my part. Of course an
electrical problem could result in a fuel problem very quickly.
Ed
From: Rotary motors in aircraft
[mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On
Behalf Of Mark Steitle
Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2009 2:44
PM
To: Rotary
motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Accident
- Oly Olson Down but Alive and
well!!!!!!!!!!!
The bottom line is that whenever a rotary powered a/c crashes the
nay-sayers all shout "We told you that using automobile engines in
airplanes is a bad idea", or something close. We need to follow
up on this engine stoppage to find out what actually caused the
engine to quit. I would be very surprised if it turns out that the
rotary engine itself failed, but more realistically expect that it was a system
failure (fuel, lubrication, ignition, psru, etc.). Regardless, the
powerplant isn't any stronger than its weakest link.
I bring this up not to criticize, but because I truly hope
to learn what went wrong in order to help advance the state of
the art of rotary engine installations.
Oly did a great job of flying! He's obviously a very skilled
(and lucky) pilot to survive this ordeal without a scratch.
On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 12:56 PM, Ed Anderson <eanderson@carolina.rr.com>
wrote:
For what little of the wreckage you could see in the video, I
rather doubt much of anything is salvageable. But, you are right it was a
one-of-a-kind beauty. For what its worth, Oly purchased the aircraft with
the rotary already in it. He worked hard to make the installation work
right – but, don’t know how much he changed other than the intake.
Ed
From: Rotary
motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net]
On Behalf Of Michael Silvius
Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2009 2:45
PM
To: Rotary
motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Accident
- Oly Olson Down but Alive and
well!!!!!!!!!!!
Here
is a photo of Oly's Viggen, Hope it is saveable because it is a beauty.
-----
Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2009 9:13 AM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Accident - Oly Olson Down but Alive and well!!!!!!!!!!!
I am glad
Oly is OK. Sounds like he did
a great piece of flying to get upright before the tree caught him.
Apparently God placed the tree there for him. It is a shame he didn’t
have a lottery ticket at the time!
There is
a lot more going on here than just a rotary engine. The plane is supposed
to be plastic and stall at 48 mph and is stall resistant as well. This
plane was a metal variant (MiniViggen??). When Rutan gives up on a plane,
there may be a reason. Then there is that high thrust line???
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