TBO : as Mike Bush put it simply in a webinar, there is no point in changing or overhauling an engine just because it reached a given number of hours. If the engine puts out expected power, AND does not have any sign of aggravating wear (like shrapnel in the oil), just let it be.
Whether Rotax sells to military or not, the reason for the high prices is greed. So replace the bastards. Teach them a lesson. It's a failure of our community when people have to put in a lot of work for custom solutions to circumvent massive greed and that has been a standing situation for many decades. And it's getting rapidly worse. 912 at 19k$ was massively overpriced, now it's 50k for a 916. I heard from a charter operator that if you wanted a replacement I think it was an IO540 it's 100k. A WW2 engine. That fails often. You could make your own piston engines from scratch but the real way to kill them is making a small turbofan jet engine. Surprisingly Turbofan engines can be fuel efficient if only hte plane is pressurized so it can go high. Eclipse 550 twin jet is twice as fast as a Baron and has better fuel economy. Ponder that. A jet engine for 2-4 seater personal planes could be 15kg with an opening the size of a CD. It's basically a complicated turbocharger for a car, same materials and principle so that should tell you how simple it can be to make. Simpler than a piston engine, much lighter, faster, cooler and natural dual engine config and redundancy. And in principle could run on any type of fuel.
It's not a good look to say negative things about your competition or your customers. I certainly prefer the positive approach. If I ever do buy a Zenith kit, I'd probably buy the Viking but it doesn't help to hear about criticisms leveled by others that I had never heard about before. The truth is that this type of defensive speech introduces doubt to a person like me who wouldn't even have known Viking had been attacked in the first place
May I suggest you look into the eyes of the Zenith employees when you buy your kit and ask them what engine they'd install. There is a LONG history here that most commenters on this video don't know. Stay safe out there.
We all learn from history including Viking, they will be the first to tell you this. They have come a long way and have a great product today. You can dwell in yesterday’s auto conversions or today’s it’s completely your choice. Even Zenith will say that the majority of the people that buy their 750 Cruisers have powered it with a Viking 130 engine. That’s fact not fiction.
It’s two*, but this is an off the cuff discussion on multiple planned topics for over 6 hours. Our only goal is to get as much information out there as possible. We had almost 100 people in attendance from all over the world and I assure you they were satisfied, sorry you found the negative out of all the positive.
Sorry you had to spell check to try to try to one up prove some point. You “two” were not in sync and that probably doesn’t start and end on the stage.
Was giving you the benefit of the doubt, but turns out you are just rude in every way. Sorry you feel the need to put others down. Just another keyboard warrior 👌🏻. We didn’t gain success by not being in sync and having a great product with awesome customers.
Hey Darty get up there with your wife (if she hasn’t already left you for being a “tool”) for a few hours and try to give an educational demonstration on auto conversion engines without script from the top of your head. We weren’t there for a movie presentation we were there to see the product and were even served breakfast, lunch and dinner. STFU and be happy Brian made a video for you…..🤦♂️
Reliability and miles driven does not translate to an aircraft engine. Aircraft have very different demands of an engine relative to an automotive application. This was not addressed. While I applaud the effort.....this presentation did not help with my distrust of auto conversions. It probably helped me to distrust the concept even more.
How about aircraft engines are the MOST underdeveloped, technologically ancient engine in the engine world. Its not because old school is a good school, its because people are afraid of change. When is the last time you drove to work and all of a sudden it just stopped working? And yet aviation engines do quit...how about the biggest threat you have is just infrequent use. Do that to any engine and it will have issues.
