I think what the EAA should be focusing on is reducing the cost of
flying. That is the core issue. Along these these lines are the 
price of engines and the cost of fuel. We are right in the forefront
on this issue for two reasons. One; we are taking advantage of
the economies of scale in manufacturing high power to weight ratio, 
long life rotary engines and two; the fact that rotary engines will run 
fine on automotive fuel including diesel or Jet A with minor 
modifications.

A secondary issue is the MPG an aircraft achieves and that is were
drag and prop efficiency comes into play. 

A third issue is the time it takes to assemble a kit and install
a low cost engine like the rotary.

How neat would it be if we could buy off the shelf motor mounts
and other bolt on parts for our variety of rotary powered airplanes.
The EAA could help by more articles on rotary engines encouraging
small manufacturers including kit builders like Van's to provide parts.
The cafe foundation could be dyno testing rotary engines for wear
and durability and reporting the results as an objective independent agency.

EAA is not doing as much as they should in these areas so it is up 
to us and the Internet.

Paul Lamar
 
The AirCraft Rotary Engine NewsLetter.              Powered by Linux.

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