Chinese rotax 912?
http://www.ticeri.com/newsshow5.asp?D_id=6641

You know.....it was only matter of time before they "reverse engineered" the Rotax.
They WILL find a way to produce them for 4000 bux. They will be making a lot of "engine out" accidents.
I am sure the Unmanned Aircraft category will change to light sport engine after working out the kinks.
It's about time someone giving Rotax a real competition.
Competition is good for the consumers. They haven't had a real one that was a serious company.
Of course there were fly by companies but not one has given them a serious challenge.
They all stop somehow in the development phase and never really get to the point of distribution and real-life usage and testing in different applications.
I am happy that the Chinese are doing this..... Good for them.

Yes there have been dozens of engines in development for light sport that have looked promising, and then "poof" all gone.
The Chinese are capable of building good products as long as the quality control is closely monitored. But most of the time not so much.

I think a very important thing when choosing any engine for an aircraft is hours of service documented, and the ongoing documentation, service updates, advisories etc, etc. This is the one thing that separates aircraft engines like Rotax, Lycoming etc from any other type of engine and this is included in the price of any aircraft engine. For example, Yamaha and Honda Fit, and Subaru engines may be just as good as Rotax, but you have no real concept of how often they fail, and no way to track any service or parts changes that may be appropriate. Even the non-certified Rotax engines one is always getting service advisories etc, just like the certified engines.
I'd like to see some competition for Rotax, I just doubt you are going to get any serious price competition where the engine comes with all the same support.
I know gyro people often don't seem to care because gyros can often be put done more easily than a FW when an engine out happens, but I'm still amazed that guys choose engines like Vikings etc to save a buck when the kinks are clearly not all worked out. Speaking of which, I wonder what Joe Pires is up to after his 3rd Viking engine out - the last of which landed up bending the aircraft some.

I can't argue with you there Lofty.
I know that rotax has a good product no doubt, the thing that gets me upset is that they
know they are the only game in town, and they make you pay if you want to play,

Example....on the 2stroke stuff, smowmobile parts, same rotax PN are 1/2 the price of the aircraft stuff or less.
Crank seals @ $40.00 each, same seal $6.00 Cageless wrist pin bearings $103.00 vs 50.00 for the same PN....
on and on,
But the 912 has NO equivalent in the snow world, so Rotax can charge whatever they want..

My HKS has the same carbs as the 912, gasket set (float bowl gasket, a few o-rings and a diaphragm) is $155.00 pair. I got the same gasket kit for a BMW motorcycle
(Bing 64 carbs) for $27.00... So you can obviously tell they are inflating the prices way beyond what they should be.

But it is their game, that is the way it is....You will never get an American company to compete, way too risky with all the low life lawyers ...Oh by the way that is why Rotax North America is headquartered in the Bahamas, Can't be sued by liability lawsuits there...They are smart.

Yeah but just like Fetters experimented and gained knowledge on other peoples misfortune of flying his death traps these guys will be selling this shit dirt cheap and will always find suckers to fly them. Every crash will be reported and they will eventually build a MINI 500 .... errr... I mean a working Rotax clone. Hey maybe Fetters is behind this project! He is in China after all and into the UAV shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Plenty of experience with killing people there. No worries.

I havent heard anything of fisters lately? Is there any mention of him on the other forum? Or.... has he killed them all?

He has been working on those UAV's for ages now? Surely he has finished one> I havent heard anything about them?

Speaking of mini 500's, where is John from Milenium these days???

Yeah, no argument there. I am used to the same shit in medical supplies and equipment. Say it medical and jack up the price 1000%

Yeah.....where is you John?
I don't know. He fell off the edge of the Earth or something.

I hope China does make those engines available to the USA. Their engineering and part quality has improved tremendously where American goods have declined. Taiwan and Japan goods have always been top quality. South Korea goods are also excellent.

I bought a Made In America separate matching refrigerator and freezer by Whirlpool Crap and both of them failed after one year. Broken fans, bad thermostat, un-drilled drain holes and slow leaking of Freon, noisy banging things and they cost me over $2000 to purchase. I pitched them and bought a Korean LG unit that has been wonderful and very quiet with no banging or fan noise.

So yes....I hope China does make those engines for a reasonable cost.