That's it. We need a blond bimbo to build a rotary powered
airplane and show up at OSH.

Paul Lamar

you joke and perhaps mock me(geez, it was an analogy, not a suggestion)  all
advertising works thru either prestige or fear.  you buy the new f-150
because it's the highest rated truck 20 years in a row (or whatever...) or
you buy the jetta because two guys just got T-boned and walked away from the
accident.  my first reaction to seeing an airplane engine finally fail from
lack of coolant would be "why use a water cooled engine?"  let's face it,
needing a water pump is hardly a selling point.  when you break records
however, people remember.  what if the climb record was beat by an average
guy without lycoming or mattituck sponsorship and he did it with a rotary?
FAR more positive approach. kevin

Kevin:

I don't think it was mocking, I think that Paul was acknowledging the
truth of what you said, in an amusing way.

However, your comment about "why use a water cooled engine?" -- we've
been doing that since the beginning of homebuilding.  The first
hobby-homebuilt planes used auto conversion engines, and for a while
some guy whose name I forget made a good living modifying car radiators
with a hole for the propshaft to go through, when mounted on the front
of the plane.

If you look past the "real" airplane engines, you find that most of the
"alternate" engines being used are water-cooled.  Subarus, Geos, V-6 and
V-8 Ford and Chevy engines, and the more powerful Rotax engines . . .all
of these are water cooled.

So, the question is not "why use a water-cooled engine" but instead it's
"why use THIS water-cooled engine?"  The dry demo gives a pretty big
answer to that question, one which can't be explained away by expensive,
custom components or snake-oil chemical treatments.  You will get a
better end result when you start with a superior design, and that's what
people will be thinking about after seeing this.  NOBODY will go away
saying "I TOLD you those Wankels wouldn't hold up!"

Keith

Actually, Keith, that is exactly what people will say when they walk
away from a destructive (not comparative) demonstration such as you
propose.  I was once involved with a group of Basic Law Enforcement
instructors who were using a building I supervised for Defensive Tactics
classes.  They had an expensive set of videos that depicted typical
mistakes that law enforcement personnel make during the process of
arresting suspects.  The videos were made from the perspective of
showing the trainees what NOT to do in various situations.  We found,
during the practice sessions, that the students who had seen the videos
were much more likely to act out what they had seen and exhibit the
WRONG  behaviors that had been depicted in the videos.  In this case,
the sights, sounds, and smells of a DYING rotary will be indelibly
embedded in the sub-conscious of everyone who sees your demonstration.
They will "know" that it smoked, squeaked and DIED.  They will not
remember that you said it ran longer than a piston engine might run.

If you want to stage some demonstrations here are three that come
quickly to mind:
1)  Build a trailer mounted dynomometer and rotary engine.  Run it at
least four times per day and document the horsepower,  BSFC and other
data.  Post the measured results on a large chart day by day throughout
the show.  If you want to add suspense, solicit guesses from the
audience for a set of parameters that will give the lowest BSFC.  Choose
one and "dial it in" for each demonstration.  Post the results with the
name of who guessed those parameters.  At the end of the show, give a
prize to the person whose guess gave the lowest BSFC.  Let's dispel the
myth that the rotary is a fuel hog.

2)  Have a display that clearly educates members of  the flying
community that power and not torque is what propels an airplane.  In the
process, show the power to weight ratio chart for all available aircraft
engines.  Let's dispel the myth that a low power, but high torque,
engine is a better choice.

And, finally, the most important demonstration the "rotary community"
needs to perform:
3)  Build a trailer mounted firewall-forward functional mock up of  one
of the RV series planes.  Use only off-the-shelf, readily available
components that anyone can buy.  Run the engine every two hours during
the show.  Give everyone who visits the demonstration an exploded view
diagram of the installation along with a parts list that shows the part
number, a possible vendor, and an estimated price for each component in
the installation.  This is a tall order.  But, let's dispel the myth
(and part truism) that one must be a "motorhead" with a machine shop and
a TIG welder to install a rotary engine on an "RV".

Respectfully submitted,
Aubrey





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