Dan Duncan had gotten up past 13,000. He said he was balancing his
engines quite a bit tighter than the factory did it.
Dave Klingler
Consider the source :-)
The problem is not balance. It is centrifugal load on the rotor
bearing. That is why we run 150 psi oil pressure in the TTC engine.
Paul Lamar
What's the story about Dan Duncan and the doctor in Oklahoma ? Never
heard about it.
Steve Carlisle
I don't have all the details but I think he was convicted of mail
fraud and then disappeared into Mexico I think. Many years ago.
Paul Lamar
Wow! What a sad story about Dan Duncan -- and we thought testing the
rotary engine might be dangerous.
Beto Replay
That's truly sad about what happened to Dan Duncan. I really, REALLY
hope bad karma came back to that Dr, in a truly massive way. He
deserves it.
Dan Gorslins
Dan G, I don't know why you are sticking up for Duncan, but be aware
that convictions are based on evidence. The "sad story" is what he
did to his customers.
Don't feel sorry for Duncan, The Dr. was the good guy. He was not
alone, if I recall, he was working towards a class action lawsuit
since there were many of us that were screwed over by Duncan. It was
fraud. Duncan took thousands (in 1980s dollars) from me and my Dad
and sent us nothing but a brochure before he ran away like the thief
he was. We sent letters to Duncan and had phone conversations, "your
engine will ship next week", or "oh it's on the dyno", it was all BS.
Talked to one customer that was local who went to his place and took
possession of a half-assed engine in a partial state (better than
nothing) before Duncan split, he was glad to get that and did not get
what he was promised. Duncan=pant load. Avoid this guy like AIDS.
Harry Parsons
I got to know Dan pretty well in Santa Fe, and so did several people
I knew. I spent a fair amount of time around Dan and his shop and
visited fairly often. He built an engine for the Seahawk I worked on
for several years, ordered while Dan was in Oklahoma, and it
performed as advertised. He rented an apartment from my family for
about two years after he got out of jail. As it happened, my Dad
and I kept his dog Misty while he was in the can - to this day the
most amazing dog I’ve ever known. It was Dan who convinced me that
there were no better aviation engines available than Mazda rotaries.
During the time I knew him he was forthright, honest and highly
intelligent. He didn’t seem prone to exaggeration or hyperbole.
There are two sides to every story, and I can give you a little bit
more detail of what Dan told me during the time I knew him.
During Duncan Aviation’s heyday, the State of New Mexico implemented
a grant program in the early eighties to encourage high-tech
companies to move to New Mexico. Dan and his wife decided to take
advantage of the incentives and move to Santa Fe, which was getting a
lot of national publicity back then as well.
Dan told me that the process of attempting to shut down his business
in Oklahoma and move it to New Mexico took a long time and really
screwed things up. He’d lost some employees at the same time, and he
said he’d had to contact several customers and tell them their
engines were delayed. Despite the problems, he and his wife elected
to make the move anyway once the process was started, because they
decided the incentives and the new location would make the move worth
it.
They took too long to move. By the time they got to Santa Fe, New
Mexico had just elected a brand new governor. The incoming governor
immediately cancelled the grant, leaving Dan and his wife in debt
with no employees and a lot of angry customers. His wife took a job
at the Sears customer service counter to pay for engine parts and
machining, and Dan took side jobs as a mechanic. They set about
trying to put things back together.
During the entire time I knew them, the two of them basically lived
on eggs and baked potatoes. They rented a small single-wide trailer
in a trailer park and a hangar where Dan worked and kept his
converted Tri-Pacer. They sold off all their vehicles and most of
their possessions other than an old Pacer and an old rotary-powered
Mazda pickup truck. They were extremely focused on delivering
engines.
I don’t know what happened with you and your dad, but I do know that
I watched Dan go right back to work after he got out of jail. He
told me he had three engine orders to fulfill before he could think
about doing anything else, and I watched him (very slowly) build
those engines. He rarely took a day off if he had parts or work that
could be done, and he was in a lot of pain during that time.
Dan’s word was important to him, and he spoke with shame and pain
about the time it was taking him to fulfill those old orders. If
your dad had given him money and was willing to wait for Dan to
finish, Dan would have given him an engine. We had to wait about
three years for ours, but he delivered it.
Dave Klingler
Thanks Dave,
Steve Carlisle
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