NEWS FLASH: ROTAX 912 – THE ENGINE THAT CHANGED LIGHT AVIATION
Gunskirchen, Austria, February 14, 2014 – ROTAX celebrates the 25th Anniversary of its 912 engine. The company started the production of aircraft engines in the year 1973. The first certified aircraft engine was delivered in 1975.
CONTEST: ROTAX TO DONATE 912 iS ENGINE
ROTAX will donate a brand new 912 iS engine to the flight school that achieves
the first time between overhauls (TBO) of 2,000 hours on a ROTAX 912 iS.
Congratulations to the winner of our 2013 prize giveaway:
George Pohlman of Arizona, USA.
George has been a pilot since 1958, and started flying gliders and motor gliders in 2011.
Here he is beside his Rotax-powered Katana Xtreme motor glider.
To mark the 25th anniversary of the Rotax 912 engine family, BRP is organizing the second annual Rotax Fly-In taking place from June 5 to 7, 2014 at the airport in Wels, Upper Austria, in cooperation with the Aero Club Weisse Moewe Wels.
To mark the 25th anniversary of the Rotax 912 engine family
– the engine that changed light aviation –
BRP is organizing the second Rotax Fly-In.
Rotax introduces a brand new flight school locator,
a simple online service that allows customers to find the nearest flight school to their hometown.
I would like to take a moment and talk about good versus poor logbook entries and how they may affect you. I don’t know how to make this a short article because the subject has so many ramifications and implications for owners and mechanics...
Part 2
For those who have decided that they will do a Rotax 5 year rubber replacement we need to look at what it covers and how we can utilize good sterile maintenance practices to keep debris from our hose lines. I will admit that there is more than one way to accomplish this procedure and what will be discussed in this article is, but one way.
The Rotax 5 year rubber replacement covers all fuel, oil and coolant lines. It covers any V-belt, carburetor diaphragm and carburetor rubber intake sockets and any other air intake rubber hose or tubing. With the new maintenance manual just out the fuel pump has been added as a replacement item too. So now you need to decide what brand hose you are going to use. Should it be fuel injection hose or standard carburetor hose? Since we are dealing with a worldwide distribution for engines the hose selection can be vast, but by all means should be thought out. We need to decide what tools we are going to use to cut the hose and how we are going to secure it in place. These again will vary depending on your geographical location.
Part 1
This discussion is going to focus on a topic that will undoubtedly have Rotax engine owners on both sides of the fence, both for and against in a major discussion, but I hope to instill a sense of “Doing things right and for the right reason” and without all the worry some seem to have over this solid and sound maintenance practice. As you can see from the last few words in the last sentence this article will focus on the positives and good maintenance practice and hopefully get away from the all encompassing “Don’t fix it if it isn’t broke” concept. I do believe that some items are fine to be on a condition inspection or even wait until it wears out, but those are not flight safety issues or will they present a hazard when they fail. Planes in general and the hose change cost money , I’ll be the first to admit that, but you decided to fly and now you need to ask yourself what your life and your passenger’s life is worth and do you want to spend a little money now and keep safe and flying or spend a lot later and be grounded?
The prudent answer is YES and absolutely !
At the same time you pick up a screwdriver or wrench and get ready to perform some work on your trusty Rotax engine, be it a 2 or 4 stroke, you should also be reaching for your engine manual. Let’s face it a manual is as important as your wrench. Your neighbor is not a walking Wikipedia and won’t always provide the correct advice or at least perhaps not in correct sequence.
Engine Stumbles on Takeoff!
In my many years of flying I always like to think I’m prepared for a pilots worst nightmare, engine failure on take-off. Until it happens to you, one never knows just how prepared you really are! In this particular case, the engine came back and the pilot made a successful landing, but that momentary sputter really got his heart beating. The real question was, why did the engine stumble, then come back to life?
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