Lufthans
Well Known Member
Gents,
Just a little trivia - my recent communication with the mothership:
Our authorities allow us a fair bit of freedom in what we do with our aircraft, provided that they can find someone else to blame when things go wrong. (Sorry, I am being cynical here. They are in fact good people).
And so my planned “major modification” of an engine swap from Lycoming to Subaru on my RV-3B does require either a zillion pages of calculations and months of going back and forth with them, OR a “no objections” from the designer/ kit manufacturer. Easy choice which one to try first….
Having understood that our friends in Oregon are not the first ones to cheer up alternative engine projects, it was not without apprehension that I contacted them. And I must say, kudos to the mothership! After explaining my plans, and giving some resume of my previous Subaru builds, there was a very swift (and I am paraphrasing) “Yeah, sure. Looks good to us. Please understand that we cannot help you with parts, but by all means go ahead. Good luck with your build”.
That went smoothly. Tick off one hurdle. 999 more to go….
Now if only I could figure out how to make room for a big enough radiator in a belly pod to cool 280 hp without having to pull the radiator up into the fuselage itself like the P51 did….
Just a little trivia - my recent communication with the mothership:
Our authorities allow us a fair bit of freedom in what we do with our aircraft, provided that they can find someone else to blame when things go wrong. (Sorry, I am being cynical here. They are in fact good people).
And so my planned “major modification” of an engine swap from Lycoming to Subaru on my RV-3B does require either a zillion pages of calculations and months of going back and forth with them, OR a “no objections” from the designer/ kit manufacturer. Easy choice which one to try first….
Having understood that our friends in Oregon are not the first ones to cheer up alternative engine projects, it was not without apprehension that I contacted them. And I must say, kudos to the mothership! After explaining my plans, and giving some resume of my previous Subaru builds, there was a very swift (and I am paraphrasing) “Yeah, sure. Looks good to us. Please understand that we cannot help you with parts, but by all means go ahead. Good luck with your build”.
That went smoothly. Tick off one hurdle. 999 more to go….
Now if only I could figure out how to make room for a big enough radiator in a belly pod to cool 280 hp without having to pull the radiator up into the fuselage itself like the P51 did….