Quote:
Originally posted by MarXVS
Well wadya know ... an urban legend not. It is an awesome engine fer sure.
The only direct experience I have with the light aircraft crowd was a coworker whose plane crashed when the engine failed. It was not a good outcome. So when I hear things that involve potential life threatening issues, safety comes to my mind first. Maybe that's the reason the engines are considered for this purpose. That's cool.
|
Current small-aircraft engines from Lycoming and such are based on 40-50 year old technology. Subaru engines are basically the same format (flat) and use current technology. Still, converting any automobile engine to be used in an aircraft sounds risky, and it probably is.
Here's one guy's auto engine conversion manifesto:
http://www.geocities.com/plmjohnson/auto_engines.htm
Subaru engines in small aircraft are apparently common enough that there's an aftermarket industry for them:
http://www.rotorcraft.com/ads/nhc.html