The other night I was talking with my dad, who is still flying his 180 HP RV-4 at 85 years old, when he asked me a very basic question about the Rotax 912.
"What's the clutch for?"
"Well...to tell you the truth, I don't know. It's just there on the output shaft of the gearbox", I told him with embarressment.
So can someone help me out here? Is it to dampen torsional vibration at critical harmonic frenquencies? Is it to protect the engine from a prop strike? Or is it just there to remind us to slow the engine way down before turning it off?
"What's the clutch for?"
"Well...to tell you the truth, I don't know. It's just there on the output shaft of the gearbox", I told him with embarressment.
So can someone help me out here? Is it to dampen torsional vibration at critical harmonic frenquencies? Is it to protect the engine from a prop strike? Or is it just there to remind us to slow the engine way down before turning it off?
