With OSH behind us our focus has turned back to the only flying Viggen left and the loss of oil and engine failure enroute to Oshkosh a few weeks ago.
Sadly, the news is not good. Lots of metal, everywhere. Lady Vi's engine did not survive:
Now the challenge is how do we proceed from here? RAFE is a small 501c3 that exists on volunteers and donations. There wouldn't have been a VariViggen at AirVenture last year for the 50th anniversary of Burt Rutan’s debut of his first canard design if we had not had an engine donated to us. The angle-valve 200 hp IO-360 was not the “right” engine for a VariViggen, but we were grateful for it and we made it work. That engine could be rebuilt but what would be best now is acquire the appropriate engine for Lady Vi. We’re looking for a Lycoming IO-360-B1 series engine. These are some of the lightest IO-360’s Lycoming produced and are in the 180 hp range, plenty of power for Lady Vi. This will help reduce the gross weight by also allowing us to remove a lot of the ballast in the nose of the Viggen needed to offset the heavier engine on it now. All positive changes.
The only thing left to do is find this engine and somehow acquire it. Ideally, as a small 501c3 non-profit as we’d love to find one that could be donated to RAFE or generate enough donations to purchase one.
Getting Lady Vi flying for the 50th anniversary was not a “one shot deal”. We’re in this for the long haul. It is part of of our mission to preserve, promote and educate those in the future about Burt Rutan's designs. All this is only made possible because of volunteers and donations dedicated our mission. Please help keep these dreams alive.
Sincerely,
Ryszard Zadow
President, RAFE.