Light Sport Aircraft survey

In article , Lakeview Bill wrote:
Just out of curiosity, why do you dislike the Rotax?

I would suspect lack of support from local GA facilities - the 4 stroke
Rotaxes and the Jabiru are not particularly common in the US so few
mechanics will be familiar with them. Other than that, they are decent
reliable engines.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

Dylan Smith wrote:

In article , Lakeview Bill wrote:

Just out of curiosity, why do you dislike the Rotax?


I would suspect lack of support from local GA facilities - the 4 stroke
Rotaxes and the Jabiru are not particularly common in the US so few
mechanics will be familiar with them. Other than that, they are decent
reliable engines.


Those engines seem to have a bad reputation in the U.S. They are seen
as cheapo engines for people who can't afford "real" engines from cont
or lyc. One flight school I know of had diamond katanas with Rotax
engines and only got 900 hours out of them despite regular use. I don't
know how typical that is, but you often hear stories like that. Maybe
it's the Avgas we use over here (it certainly isn't good for small
continentals either, but like you said those can be fixed by just about
anyone). Not having owned or maintained an engine myself I don't know
but I do know their reputation is not good here. For example one of the
new companies (I think it was Liberty) was initially going to use a
Rotax and got no interest, changed to a Continental and now are taken
more seriously.

Those engines seem to have a bad reputation in the U.S. They are seen as
cheapo engines for people who can't afford "real" engines from cont or
lyc. One flight school I know of had diamond katanas with Rotax engines
and only got 900 hours out of them despite regular use. I don't know how
typical that is, but you often hear stories like that. Maybe it's the
Avgas we use over here (it certainly isn't good for small continentals
either, but like you said those can be fixed by just about anyone). Not
having owned or maintained an engine myself I don't know but I do know
their reputation is not good here. For example one of the new companies
(I think it was Liberty) was initially going to use a Rotax and got no
interest, changed to a Continental and now are taken more seriously.


I am fairly familiar with the Diamond/Rotax issues. The engines are not
bad. Whoever said that there are support issues was spot on. Whether this
will change with Sport Pilot remains to be seen.

There are several aspects of the Rotax engines that the average Lyc/con AP
will set precisely backwards without proper training and support. Neither
of which has been forthcoming from Bombardier.