As a PPL with quite a few hours but never an engine failure, it puzzles me why aircraft engines are prone to failing after all the controls and servicing when car engines with all their gadgets never seem to stop of their own accord these days. When did you last have the engine on your car stop dead - I havn't and I do about 30,000 miles a year?
Some posters on here seem to have had dozens of engine outs
So someone please explain why aircraft engines have higher failure rates than car engines.
Have to recall that SNS3Guppy has had his engine failures to nothing less complex than an IO540 if I recall his last couple posts correctly... If someone put an R2600 in a C172 I wouldn't want to fly it. How often have you heard of an O320, O360 or IO360 packing up when it wasn't due to fuel starvation or carburettor ice? Happens, but it's
rare as hell...
One would need to add some
real statistics to this thread in order to discuss reliability of traditional light GA engines, Rotax lawn mowers, Thielert gizmos, and modern car engines... Such as the number of forum posts spawned by a failure in each category, and hence the
perceived reliability...
I think the ones who
really wouldn't want you to see reliability statistics are the car engine manufacturers...