Quote:
Originally Posted by RV7Guy
Take a read on the article in the current Sport Aviation featuring the Glastar, N600FY. Interesting experience with an alternative engine, not good.
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Darwin, in all fairness to Jan Eggenfellner, here is the other side of the story as posted on his forum today in response to an inquiry about it. (sorry about the screwed up wrap around, I don't know how to fix it)
In a message dated 10/26/2008 2:18:17 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
mdolson21@... writes:
I read the article in the current Sport Aviation featuring the Glastar,
N600FY. Does anyone have any more information on the engine problem?
Thanks Darrell
(response from Jan)
Sure, I am tired of being treated poorly by 1% of our customers so here
goes:
This is a perfect example of a foreigner using the American system to
their advantage. The entire article is a scam, no significant flights or
participation by any disabled or other child took place with this
airplane. This is an individual that knows how to register an airplane in Delaware to avoid tax, register it as a corporation due to foreign status and use free labor in exchanged for promised (but not delivered) flight time to build the airplane, raise money by promoting the "Children" topic and push everyone around as though they somehow work for him. He is very skilled at manipulation and if given the opportunity would talk your head around on any topic.
The article has NOTHING to do with children and EVERYTHING to do with the personal records and financing of an all around the world trip. It is sad that it was printed without any checks and balances.
The engine was a discontinued STI model, no longer available for
sale, but sitting in the corner of our shop while the floor was loaded with 6
cylinders engines. The individual lives very close to our hangar and came back repeatedly, stating that, even though we no longer sold this model, it
was, from his calculations, the only engine that could take his airplane around the world, considering it was 4 cylinder and supercharged. I told him the engine was not for sale and we agreed to build a six cylinder instead for him.
All along he tried to approach the subject of our company donating the
engine for the "children" but we had no capital for anything like
that. I thought about what I could do to help and descided I would donate one day of my time to hang the engine on the firewall when it was time.
Next was the time crunch. The six cylinder did not go together fast enough
according to his schedule and he again approached the subject of the STI
engine that looked complete, over in the corner, but needed major upgrades, as all STI engines needed. At this time, his pressure was increased daily and we were supposedly the reason for why children would not have any of the benefits of his year long planning to attempt the around the world flight. Early on I had told him through email I thought this engine had gone through the STI upgrade program but later found it had not. Also, we had made a decision not to sell any more of these relatively complex engines, now when we could get equal HP from the less complex, non supercharged six cylinder unit.
When I told him I found that the engine had not been upgraded after
all, he explained to me what an excellent mechanic he was and rattled off a
whole list of British credentials that I did not understand. Next, since I was
not yet giving in to his continued pressure, he started to send money to our
secretary through Pay Pal, that she recorded towards his invoice, thinking it was for the 6 cylinder engine. Eventually, after several $5000 payments, he approached me and said he could not wait any more and that he was
aware of the STI's upgrade requirements, that he was an expert mechanic, that he had all kinds of expert help to make the engine work and that the engine had been paid. All this to finally get the engine that he wanted in the first place.
I was there for one day, as promised, to hang the engine on the firewall. I
was in disbelief at the unbelievable poor workmanship and complexity/overweight of the entire airplane. There were fittings on top of
fitting on top of fittings, multiple fuel and fuel transfer systems and just a
complete mess of hoses, wires and clamps. It was not my airplane, I thought to myself, driving home, thinking that this did not look safe. I mentioned these feelings next time he called. I was also, first hand victim to his commanding and bossy personality, while hanging the engine on the firewall.
He now, based on his around the world "efficiency" needs, installed a very
tight fitting cowling with smaller than needed air inlets/exits. The engine
overheated several times on the first few flights and me, Bill and
Robert, all got our share of calls from him. The biggest problem was always
the time clock, the never ending pressure to get the airplane airborne, for the children, the never ending pressure to get to Oshkosh, in order to
display the airplane at AeroShell Square for the purpose of marketing and
collecting on the sponsorships. And the lie, that supposedly Oshkosh was the start of his journey around the world, when in fact the plan was to bring the airplane back to Florida. All a facade for one man to have everyone else jump through hoops to satisfy his dream of flying around the world.
Well, after the rushed engine installation, about 10 hours of flight time,
with serious safety issues at every flight, he left for Oshkosh and
landed at FonDuLack Wisconsin for the last stop prior to the big arrival at
AeroShell square. We were at Oshkosh already and had our display going. I was very sick with a cold, Tom was there with his airplane, Gary was there Bill Godwin was there, etc. I believe on the second day of the show, he shows up, in the middle of our crowd, and slams his briefcase into our display table. Demanding that we all leave the display immediately and get to his airplane. He had heard a noise from the engine, taxiing in to parking. He was still 20 minutes south of Oshkosh.
We went down to the airplane that evening and listened to the engine. It
was easy to tell that there was something wrong. We found that one of the cam sprockets had come loose and that it had caused internal engine
damage. The new sprockets are part of the STI update list. I told him the engine needed to be brought back to FL for a complete rebuild. He insisted we inspect it further to try to find the exact parts that might be broke. A
compression check indicated that there was valve damage. I insisted this was too big of a job to undertake without the right equipment, the right facilities, no manuals, not the right tools, etc. He insisted and said he wanted to give it a try. He decided he would need valves, ordered them from Subaru and had Tom drive to get them.
He then demanded we stay around for him to try to get the engine back
together. I again warned him, telling him he did not have a manual, no valve compressor, no torque wrenches, no way to test integrity of the rest
of the engine, no oil sample, nothing. At this point, nobody was hurt,
there was no damage to the airframe and the engine was repairable with the right equipment.
Long story short, he was able to remove the cylinder head, replace
the valves and get the engine restarted. It was then late at night and the
engine was leaking oil. Me and Gary pointed this out but he was not concerned. The next morning the airplane flew to Oshkosh. Then from Oshkosh towards Florida and landed in a field due an internal engine failure. No airframe or personal damage.
We were then sued.
Jan
Sport Aviation Article
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