Greg,

 

I'm glad to hear that there are not a bunch of crashe attributed to the rotary engine that I hadn't heard about.  As I said, I know of none that were caused by the actual rotary engine or its design.  I feel the statistics support that this is one tough little engine.  Did I mention that the pistons (rotors) are made of cast iron.  Makes it pretty hard to burn a hole in a piston (rotor) if it is made of cast iron. 

 

Concerning airplanes with thousands of hours, off the top of my head I know of only two, make that three.  But keep in mind that the rotary movement is still in its infancy.  Certified aircraft engines have been around for many years and they still fail on occasion.

 

First, the pioneer is Tracy Crook.  He took first place in the SNF 100 in his RV-4 at 217mph a few years back (around 2000-2002), and this was on a junk yard engine no less.  He had approx. 900 hours on this engine when he removed it to replace it with one of the new Renesis RX-8 motors.  The 13B was still running fine as far as I know.  He can claim having the first Renesis powered airplane in the world.  This was a few years ago and he is still flying that airplane.  He's usually at SNF every year with his RV-4.  BTW, he's almost finished building a 3-rotor RV-8.  That should be a very fast airplane.

 

Another is Ed Anderson and his RV-6A.  He has been flying for over ten years with that engine.  No, it hasn't been trouble free, but there has been nothing catastrophic either.  Ed is a retired engineer (as is Tracy) and so he's always trying something new.  One time it may be a new intake manifold.  Another time it is a new low restriction muffler.  Ed's RV-6 took first place in the auto-powered aircraft category at SNF a few years ago.  He did an unusual install by rotating the engine 90*, which is referred to as "plugs up" orientation.  He is also normally at SNF on the auto-installation row.  I believe that he has over 900 hours on his engine.  He did manage to break an apex seal, but that was attributed to him assembling the engine with an out-of-spec rotor.  The apex seal slots in the rotor were worn into a vee shape which allowed the apex seal to roll up and out of the slot.  (He now makes it a point to check the apex seal slots for wear.)   He made a precautionary landing, replaced the rotor housing and rotor and flew it home a few days later.  Like I said earlier, the engine has a reputation of continuing to run even when something breaks.  Shut it down and it will refuse to start again, but it will stay running until you tell it to stop. 

 

There is Perry Mick with his Long-EZ.  Initially he was running it as a direct-drive ducted-fan with no re-drive.  His performance was not all that great, so he's installed a conventional prop and psru.  I don't know the number of hours he has flown, but I do know that it is in the hundreds of hours, if not more.  He flies it to work and back every day, weather permitting.  He lives in Southern California.  

 

I am aware of quite a few more that have recently been completed.  I'll be the first to admit that installing a rotary engine isn't the easiest route to take, but it can be a very rewarding experience. 
 

Greg, I look forward to meeting you some day soon.  You sound like a very interesting guy. 

 

Mark S.

 

On 6/9/07, kneaded pleasures <kneadedpleasures@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

Mark Steitle responds. "If you have actual (verifiable) examples of where the rotary engine failed in flight, causing a crash, I would sure like to hear about them.  But please provide some details so I know which accident you're referring."

 

Well, I don't have any examples... so, I apologize to all users of rotary engines and to Mazda too.  Further, the engine decision for my plane was long ago settled in favor of Lyc. and I, therefore, simply don't have the time or inclination to research the recent accident history of aircraft rotary engines.

 

Just like every other person on this website, I get excited in hearing about new technologies that might be applied to our Lancairs.  I sincerely hope rotary engines prove to be safe, reliable and relatively inexpensive for our applications.

 

It was a concern for safety that triggered my original (unsubstantiated) statement and attending questions.  If you know the answers, I would still like to hear them.  Of the more high-time rotary-powered aircraft now flying, how many flying hours are you seeing on the engines without serious maintenance or modification?  On the RDs/PRUs and/or PSRUs?

 

Thanks - and again many apologies.          Greg Nelson