Postby Morph » Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:47 pm
I don't believe that the enforcement of the 300 hour crank replacement issue by CAA had anything to do with or was secretly motivated by Mike Blythe and Aviation Engines except for the possibility of Mike as chairman at Misasa not being able to react quickly enough to the promulgation of the new part 24 and the implications thereof.
I believe it is in fact AE who stand to loose the most out of this complete mess. We individually are suffering to the value of an engine overhaul, but AE stand to loose a significant amount of business moving forward due to the move away from the 2-stroke rotax motors. They still have the 912 sales, but once the bottom of the market goes somewhere else, then their natural progression to 4 stroke will be to that other engine rather than back to Rotax.
The persons wielding the big sticks at the moment are not in any way linked to either Mike/Misasa or AE.
The crank issue is a combination of CAA saying you WILL strictly maintain your aircraft according to the MANUFACTURER'S maintenance schedule and the Rotax Manuals specifying a TBO of 300 hours which involves a CRANK REPLACEMENT for the 582
The fact that Rotax spares are so expensive could be a point in discussion, but go look on international websites and work it out, spares are expensive anywhere.
Right now ROTAX are the de-facto standard, purely because they have the most installated. It's time that they are toppled from the throne.
But we are a little country on the tip of Africa, and are a mere drop in their total business. So do you think we are going to get them to change theri minds, no way.