*From:* Rick Irwin
*Sent:* Wednesday, May 25, 2005 2:32 PM
*To:* 'AOPA'; 'AOPA Pilot mag'
*Subject:* Letter to the editor.

Mr Boyer

I have an application for signing up to AOPA tucked away in my Cozy MkIV
aircraft plans.  I was thinking about signing up soon.  But this article
that has been written about Mazda rotary engines being heavy and not a
good choice has me thinking I can delay a bit.  I say this mostly
because I feel that it was irresponsible reporting due to the gross
error in weight as well as the other comments about automotive engines
in airplanes.

First of all, the Rotary engine is typically within 30 to 50 pounds of
the weight of a Lycoming installation.  Adding a turbo would be no
different than adding a turbo to a reciprocating engine.

A rotary engine is most like a turbine engine.   I There are only a few
moving parts in a rotary engine.  There are so many parts that can fail
in a reciprocating engine.  Have you counted those?  Or applied risk
factors to those?  The greatest risk in putting a rotary engine in an
aircraft is the quality of work and installing adequate cooling systems.

The Renesis engine has won engine of the year for two years now.  A
rotary recently won the Lemans race.  This engine can handle higher rpms
and produce more horsepower per weight when compared to a reciprocating
aircraft engine.

A reciprocating engine by definition has parts that move “back and
forth” .  Parts actually work against each other.   The rotary engine by
contrast is already moving in the same direction as the prop.  It only
makes sense that there is more mechanical efficiency there and certainly
less vibration and wear.

There are active interest groups putting these rotary engines in their
aircraft and I don’t feel that your article does this subject justice
because many are flying, efficiently, fast, smooth, and quiest.

I hope your magazine prints a retraction to cover these errors in reporting.

Rick Irwin


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