"Cal Vanize" wrote

I've had a thrown rod in a VW,

What can you say about that one. VW (if it was a beetle) engines were over
stressed, even in a car, IMHO, and I would not trust one further than I
could throw it. I owned one, too.

a broken distributor in a Corvair

I don't know what to say about that one. Would more complete inspection (as
a airplane engine would get) have caught it? I can't comment further,
without knowing more about the type of failure.

jumped timing chain in a Ford.

How many K miles? Timing chains are a maintainance item. They (and
sprockets) wear out, and need to be replaced. Almost always, they fail at
well over 100 K miles.

In all cases the result was getting towed.

I wonder how many hours that comes up to, in driving hours, and more
importantly, how many hours toral, the failed units had on them. My guuess
is that the total would make your 900 flying hours look like a tiny
fraction.
--
Jim in NC