Kelly Troyer wrote:

     George Graham, one of the early aviation rotary adopters, isn't

on

the list so though I'd pass along his latest.  After 200+ hours, his
second Mazda manual transmission (2nd gear) PSRU
     stripped it's gears and he dead sticked safely on a road about 10
miles from Leesburg Fl yesterday.

     Tracy is building him a RD1A redrive !!

     Kelly Troyer

I am glad he is alive.

Paul Lamar

Archie wrote:

We can give him credit for quite an accomplishment, in following through
with his transmission redrive.
He was successful, although the gearbox did not follow suit.
Thank goodness he is OK, and in FL, inasmuch as Buffalo where he
is from, and we in the northeast are enjoying snow and freezing weather.
Archie

I don't see it that way Archie. The way I see it is yet another ill
advised adaptation of a part totally out of its intended use. You
might say that about the rotary and you could except it happens to
be one of the very rare exceptions. Partly because the rotary is not
highly refined cost wise for use in automobiles. In other words the
rotary is intrinsically robust as not enough bean counters have been
at it long enough to reduce its cost and consequently its duty
cycle. The modern piston car engine on the other hand has just
enough strength and durability for its intended use as a car engine
and no more.

In the mean time the rotary got another black eye in the eyes of the
aviation community.

Paul Lamar

Did George have a recent incident? I haven't heard anything. Last I talked
to him by email a few months ago everything was fine and he had several
hundred hours.

Perry

Rumor has it he striped 2nd gear in the stock Mazda TX AGAIN and landed 
off airport on a road.

Paul Lamar
 
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