Light Sport Aircraft

[Ted]

Nah--what happens in a thread--generally remains in that thread. This community wouldn't be any fun if we didn't have heated discussions every now and then.

Screw you, hippie!

Oh wait, I'm the one with the ponytail...

What Jesse said.

 

[jmaynard]

Well put, Jay, as someone who clearly has researched the options and has an understanding of what's out there.

Thanks. I did do a fair amount of research...since I doubt I'll ever again be able to spend a six-figure sum on anything except a house.

 

[Trapper John]

I like the Rotax four-strokes, but they can't tolerate ethanol...
Ron Wanttaja

Is that a carburetor/external fuel plumbing issue, or something in the engine itself that excludes ethanol use?

Seems to me that a Rotax able to run on ethanol-blend mogas would be a really useful setup, since straight gasoline mogas is getting hard to find in some places...


Trapper John

 

[jmaynard]

Seems to me that a Rotax able to run on ethanol-blend mogas would be a really useful setup, since straight gasoline mogas is getting hard to find in some places...

That goes for any mogas-approved engine, for that matter. I have yet to run mogas in my O-200, largely over that issue.

 

[tonycondon]

jay is there ethanol free car gas in MN? if not its not far across the border. iowa has ethanol free at pretty much every pump. easy to test for too.

 

[Henning]

Nah--what happens in a thread--generally remains in that thread. This community wouldn't be any fun if we didn't have heated discussions every now and then.

If you use a Rotax engine to power a treadmill, will a Lycoming powered plane take off?

 

[jmaynard]

jay is there ethanol free car gas in MN? if not its not far across the border. iowa has ethanol free at pretty much every pump. easy to test for too.

You can get ethanol free mogas in Minnesota, but only for off-road use or collectors' cars - which means you have to get it from a fuel distributor directly, for the most part.

There's a group at KFRM that has a communal mogas tank; I've been thinking about buying into it, but haven't yet. There are political issues involved I'm not sure I want any part of. I do plan to run my O-200 on mogas for some part of the time.

 

[Henning]

You can get ethanol free mogas in Minnesota, but only for off-road use or collectors' cars - which means you have to get it from a fuel distributor directly, for the most part.

There's a group at KFRM that has a communal mogas tank; I've been thinking about buying into it, but haven't yet. There are political issues involved I'm not sure I want any part of. I do plan to run my O-200 on mogas for some part of the time.

You really want to run on UL Mogas all the time you can. Lead does nothing good for your engine.

 

[flyersfan31]

If you use a Rotax engine to power a treadmill, will a Lycoming powered plane take off?

It depends. What headset are you wearing?

 

[wanttaja]

On the other hand...maybe there were. My database is from BEFORE the January 30th 2008 deadline for conversion of "fat" ultralights to E-LSAs. I doubt the FAA dumped all the registrations in after the deadline passed, but they may have been just holding them as reserved (with no engine designation) prior to that date.

Coo-el. Looks like that is exactly what happened.

When I ran my January 4th 2008 database, I got 9,745 Rotax-Powered aircraft.

When I ran the same set of search criteria on the November 19th database, I got 12,658...just 50 different from Jesse's.

There were 3,817 converted ultralights registered as E-LSA in my January database, about three weeks prior to the deadline for conversion. The November database had 6,475!

Ron Wanttaja

 

[t0r0nad0]

easy to test for too.

Especially if you use the Tony Condon patented deluxe mogas ethanol tester!

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Coo-el. Looks like that is exactly what happened.

When I ran my January 4th 2008 database, I got 9,745 Rotax-Powered aircraft.

When I ran the same set of search criteria on the November 19th database, I got 12,658...just 50 different from Jesse's.

There were 3,817 converted ultralights registered as E-LSA in my January database, about three weeks prior to the deadline for conversion. The November database had 6,475!

I was kinda guessin' that might be the case. Plus, the Rotax market share has clearly increased in the last couple of years with the LSA revolution, from next-to-nothing up to almost-something.