Aero-News Editor-in-Chief Jim Campbell had a chance to get the last word in Rotax maintenance and operation from Dean Vogel, Technical Director of Lockwood Aviation Repair.
Vogel said that the Rotax 916 has only picked up speed in its quest to corner the lightweight, high-performance aero engine market, supplanting classics like Lycoming’s 320 or 360. While those are fine engines, the 160-horsepower Rotax 916 offers a few decades of modern improvements in a smaller, lighter footprint, which can be a problem on its own. Vogel said that it takes some finessing to replace an old Lycoming with a Rotax 200 pounds lighter while retaining aircraft balance, so it may take a little while to see it trickle down and show up on option sheets across the industry.
With MOSAIC on the way, Vogel said it’s a great little powerplant, and those manufacturers who get the jump on integrating it in compliant versions will find a lot of success from the get-go. For builders, Vogel highlighted Lockwood Aviation Repair’s courses as the best way to establish a base of knowledge in how to install and maintain the turbocharged Rotax mills. While there’s no class that can teach everything across the whole spectrum of engine installation in the world’s fleet of kit aircraft, having a foundation of essentials helps those whose build takes them off the beaten path.
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