Well, this is the end of the road for my interest in these guys, I think...
Just posted this morning by Pierre Smith on VAF. Pierre is not the owner, but is in contact with Jim Benson, who is the owner.
From Jim-
quickly, we have flown it since the new intakes and they were the
ticket. However we were doing some ground testing with the governor
system and over heated the engine. We were kinda pushing it to see what
she could do and we found the limit. The engine still ran and seemed to
have plenty of power but it had a new sound that we did not like. So
off it came and back to the factory. As it turns out we lost an inch
off the turbine wheel (what exactly that means I am not sure) and the
bearing were slightly warped. So they are rebuilding her for us and it
looks like we will be trying a new prop when they send our engine back.
Thinking about building another 8 to keep ourselves busy. What do you
know about this new fast back conversion? check out http://showplanes.com/index_1024.htm And check out his cowling. Let
me know your thoughts.
The fact that he cooked the engine isnt a huge concern, people fry turbine engines all the time. I've seen photos of a Bell 407 that had a governor malfunction, started pouring unmetered fuel in, EGT got to 2000deg C in under 3 seconds... needless to say his turbine section was nothing more than a puddle, and that was a CERTIFIED 250-C40P.
Besides that, the innodyne engine is a dirt simple, centrifigal affair. If its run within the normal operating range, there is pretty much nothing in it that can fail, its just too simple an engine.
If you start doing "Ground testing with the governor system..." and "we were kindof pushing it to see what she could do" of course it was going to Chernobyl.
What did they expect would happen?
Personally, im not going to rubbish Innodyn just yet....
I agree totally with Leighton. However, I will rubish them somewhat cause its taken them so long and so many promises to get to where they are. Speaking of which, does anyone know where they are?
http://www.rivetbangers.com - Now integrating web and mail!
Current Build: 2 years into a beautiful little girl
Even as a supporter, it still breaks my balls somewhat that they keep pushing their dates to the right, and then to top it off, they started showing people this "twin pac" idea.
As far as im aware, they still havent started shipping engines.
It certainly is shiney though, and i do like shiney things.
CJ, Don't give up on them. You should simply READ what they SAY thay were doing
However we were doing some ground testing with the governor
system and over heated the engine. We were kinda pushing it to see what
she could do and we found the limit.
When a person is looking for limits chances are they will find them.