Hello,
I was just wondering if you know if there are any
active discussion groups out there.  I checked Yahoo
groups and didn't find much and the FlyRotary! group
seems dead - their email address bounced back.

Also, I am trying to get more information from the
aviation rotary engine community about what caused the
inflight engine failure of the fatal accident of the
Coot this past April.

The FAA had a Mazda dealer mechanic take the engine
apart and they reported "the engine was seized, with
both rotors, an oil pump, and the rotor bearing
surfaces exhibiting galling and burn damage consistent
with oil starvation" and that the engine had been
modified to disable the oil metering pump/apex seal
lubrication system.  I spoke with Bruce Turrentine
this morning and he hadn't heard of the failure but he
doubted the engine could seize due to the combustion
chamber oil system being starved of oil and that the
Apex seals would only get damaged then not retain
compression.

He indicated that it would likely be a failure of the
shaft lubrication system.

Thanks,

Dan
Anchorage,AK

The preliminary NTSB report is dead wrong.
I think it was a bad oil cooler that split and the engine pumped
all the oil overboard.

Paul Lamar
 
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