From Camel...many moons ago !
“Your opinion ! How much variation in temps on cylinder heads and exhaust occur ? Which is the hottest pot ? I do not have individual sensors and always runs cool because I don't give it a reason to run hot, cruise climb, level off every 500ft to cool, climb out never below 80knts usual 90knts ! I have observed many that ignore engine management and agree that carefully monitoring and operating is important but individual cylinder monitoring is good but no way essential ! Good engine management and maintenance is the key to long engine life. Knowing my aircraft I would happily fly with no cht or egt and don't think that is being too reckless”
I’m sure it’s not an easy task to design and produce an all new light aircraft engine from scratch and expect it to perform reliably (and with a reasonable TBO) right from day one. However at the five figure prices that are being asked in today’s market place for these engines, a pilot should not have to be a full time nanny or wet nurse to get a reasonable service life from these expensive engines (as outlined by Camel’s post quoted above)
Eg... the DH Gipsy Major air cooled four cylinder engine (first run in 1932) had a total production run of more than 14,000 units with a TBO of 1,500 hours. This engine was frequently “hammered” to death by countless trainee military pilots (and their instructors) all over the world, in Tiger Moths and Chipmunks, right through the 1930’s/40’s/50’s and 60’s.
I learnt to fly in the Chipmunk in 1967, sitting behind a Gypsy Major engine with an Military instructor who “cruelly abused” the poor old engine with countless aerobatics/tail slides/spins/practice forced landings and formation flying. He encouraged (in fact demanded) that I do likewise ! In later years I clocked up a further 600 or more Chipmunk hours towing gliders. I have no recollection whatsoever of any CHT gauges or similar indicators in the cockpit, only an oil pressure and oil temperature gauge, neither of which seemed to move much from start-up to shut-down !
I do remember countless tug pilots towing old Sedburgh T21 gliders up to their release height with just 65 knots on the Chipmunk's ASI, followed by rapid steep dives back to the airfield to launch a constant queue of waiting gliders (throttle fully closed-massive shock cooling)...all day long....year in, year out. In my (limited) experience, these engines rarely “broke” and never overheated, and invariably reached their TBO. (Comments/corrections from engineers/overhaul workshops who found this not to be the case are welcomed !!)
Similar small pistons engines made in countries such as Germany/Poland/Czechslovakia/Russia suffered similar “abuse” at the hands of their military and trainee pilots and achieved similar reliability and TBO’s.
Our track record in this our own country, for reliable design, high quality manufacturing, AND reliable in-service operation is not exactly illustrious. The Nomad, the Leyland P76, the Collins Class Submarines, The West Gate Bridge, and various Australian made Naval ships tell their own story.
We do not seem to be an introspective culture that freely and generously shares information with our fellow man. We admire our sporting (and other) heroes and routinely ignore or cruelly denigrate those who fail. We seem determined to want to "reinvent" the wheel, rather than have the humility to learn from our far away cousins in the Northern hemisphere.
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/RiskManagement/nomadic.html
http://airpower.airforce.gov.au/HistoryRecord/HistoryRecordDetail.aspx?rid=224
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2011/s3157437.htm
