<... I would even consider a 336 with fixed gear or I would put fixed gear on
the mains ...>
That's exactly what Defiant does.  Except the Defiant will fly SE and the
piece of shit Cessna won't.  I was flying OV-10s in Nam while our USAF
counterparts had he 337s.  The OV-10 was a very bad airplane, but the 337 was
a death trap.  The guys I talked to universally hated it.  Lose an engine and
you're going down.  No if's and's or but's.

If you're totally committed to push-pull, Defiant merits some serious
consideration.  If all you're looking for is safe SE operations, a Cozy or
Velocity twin pusher would fill the bill.  You'd have more than enough rudder
authority to fly it safely and even comfortably in any engine out conditions,
and have an airplane that performs pretty good too (particularly with a couple
of good rotarys).

Just a theory - except about the 337 being a piece of shit :o) .... Jim S.


Ken Welter wrote:

>  Cessna
> >chose to put the very worst engines TCM ever produced on it. They
> >they wedged those crappy engines in so tight that every mechanic
> >will charge you a premium just for being forced to work on the
> >knuckle busting pig. (just one example, you have to time the rear
> >engine from the back seat of the plane, you pull off a panel on the
> >rear firewall and reach through it to set the timing!)
> >