ATI to Add Understanding of Rotax Engines?

bydanjohnson

Tuesday, May 30, 2006 at 03:14 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The Rotax 912 engine, common in Light Sport Aircraft (LSA), suffers from a poor reputation among general aviation mechanics and flight schools due to historical lack of proper maintenance training for American technicians.
This negative perception largely stems from early issues where mechanics, unfamiliar with the Rotax, handled the engine incorrectly, leading to reliability problems.
To address this, the Aero Technical Institute (ATI), founded by Dean Vogel and Phil Lockwood, is launching specialized training sessions on Rotax powerplants.
ATI aims to educate general aviation mechanics on proper Rotax maintenance, hoping to change attitudes and improve the engine's perception and reliability within the GA community.

See a mistake? Contact us.

The ubiquitous Rotax 912 or 912S powers the majority of LSA (Jabiru and Continental have smaller slices of the market). But many general aviation mechanics and flight school operators have given the powerplant a bad rap. With education they may come to love the efficient engine as do many sport pilots.

As I’ve traveled for EAA approaching major flight schools to interest them in pursuing Sport Pilot training and using LSA, I’ve often heard one retort. These large general aviation schools — using Cessna, Piper, Diamond — say, “We’ve gotten poor reports about Rotax.” The problem appears to stem from Diamond’s original Katana powered by a 912 Rotax. While European A&P mechanics knew the engine, American maintenance people did not. Diamond didn’t fully train mechanics so they handled the engine incorrectly. Eventually, engine reliability suffered. Now, one of the country’s top sellers of Rotax engines aims to change that unfortunate perception through education. Former Cirrus executive, Dean Vogel, has teamed up with Phil Lockwood to form the Aero Technical Institute (ATI). They’ll start May 25-26 offering training sessions on Rotax powerplants. Courses will be at Lockwood‘s sprawling operation at the Sebring airport and perhaps ATI will travel to A&Ps later. As the GA community learns more about Rotax maintenance, I hope their attitude will change. Hopefully it’ll be ATI to the rescue!