The good news is that I made it to the Rotax factory (and yes, Martin, the scenery in Austria is beautiful). The bad news is that the assembly line was down for the European holiday period so I did not see the 912 engines being assembled
Here is what I did observe in general conversation with the engineers.
I was very impressed with the talent and capabilities of the engineering staff. Even though these are recreational products, they face similar design challenges to the automotive engine designers I deal with on a regular basis.
Their testing facilities in some ways are even better than some of the Automotive OEM's with which I interact.
So in terms of who is creating the designs I have high confindence in their ability to create a good design and product
Other interesting items to note.
They have fuel injection on their other (non-aircraft) engines and they are interested in fuel injection on their aircraft engines , however, one of the road blocks to quicker development is product liability. As soon as they talk "aircraft" their suppliers (right on down to as simple a part as an o'ring) get nervous. Here is a point that would be subject to a long opinionated debate. People die using other consumer products such as snowmobiles, ATV's, watercraft, motorcycles, etc but why is aviation singled out as "the one to sue" in the case of an accident? Anyway, we are very fortunate that that any company would even consider producing an aviation product at all!
Here is another topic that would trigger a long emotional debate. Why are aircraft products more expensive than non-aviation? From a business point of view its product liability again as the number one item. This drives up manufacturing costs because of higher intergrity materials and inspection used in the process as well as the product liability insureance cost. It also drives up cost because of the low volumes. Austria's regulations are very tight and therefore prevent significant sales of light aircraft. In others words their own rules work against marketing a product designed and produced in their own county
Until we fix product liability we are going to continue to struggle with businesses making sense out of producing aviation products.
OK, enough rant about the woes of aviation product liability. Personally I would never take a litagation lawyer for an airplane ride. Let them suffer the consequences of the "risk of liability".
Here is another interesting note. Rotax sales (all products) are about 80% USA. Are we a fortunate country or what to be able to afford the luxurary of recreational products?
I asked about overhaul and TBO and although we did not get into specific numbers the engineer said it is common to rebuild the 912's. They are not "throw away engines" but mimic Lycoming and Continental in being able to be remanufactured.
Lets wrap this up. I didn't go to Rotax as a spy to seek out a reason to bad mouth their product as I beleive that would be unethical. However, what I did observe was so positive in nature that it did raise my confidence considerably that these are highly skilled engineers capable of producing a quality design and product. I'm even more comfortable today at the thought of flying with my family behind a Rotax engine.
Not a lot of specific numbers I know but after speaking with the people responsible for designing and producing the Rotax engine its a product that I would fly with my family.
Frank
