I am an aircraft accident investigator. The majority of all reported "engine failures" are too much air and not enough fuel.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ted Noel <tednoel@cfl.rr.com>
To: lml@lancaironline.net
Sent: Tue, May 31, 2011 12:41 pm
Subject: [LML] Re: L-IV Choice of Engine
Mark,
I'm a doctor. I know that "safe" is a relative evaluation, even if plaintiff's attorneys don't. 90% of all engine failures in aircraft may be directly traced to the design compromises required by 1930's technology air cooling. About 9% may be traced to 1930's magnetos. That leaves 1% for "other."
Those numbers are what drove me to liquid cooling.
Ted
On 5/29/2011 4:47 PM, Mark Steitle wrote:
Ted,
If you are of the belief that Lycoming or Continental are "safe" choices, may I direct you to the FAA accident database? It is full of evidence to the contrary.
Thanks for mentioning the Fly Rotary group (
www.flyrotary.com) of which I have participated in since the mid 90's. A couple of other good rotary sites are
www.rotaryeng.net and
www.rotaryaviation.com. There are many flying examples of the rotary engine being a viable alternative engine. While it is definitely not a plug-n-play solution and nor is it for everyone, it has proven to be a reliable aircraft powerplant. But, as they say, the devil's in the details. As with the Lycoming or Continental options, I wouldn't call the rotary a totally "safe" choice either. A broken oil line can ruin your day as quickly as a broken crankshaft. If you address the peripheral systems, the engine itself is extremely robust. (My 350hp peripheral-ported 3-rotor engine has only 4 moving parts, all of which spin rather than stop and start, but that's a topic for another posting.) The rotary has shown to be more than capable of producing very high power in racing applications. In the Mazda series they typically run the engines for one or two seasons without overhaul. The rotary is a very tough little engine!
Is the Lycoming engine "safer"? Maybe, maybe not. But if "safe" is the target to which we aim, then we should all stay on the ground.
Mark
Lancair ES, n/a 3-rotor