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For over a year now I’ve been assuming that I’ll be putting the Viking Aircraft Engine<\/a> on the end of my plane. For the most part it seems like the proven Honda technology at a great price (for aviation). <\/p>\n There are a lot of people who don’t much like the owner of this Company, and there sure seem to be a lot of reasons why. He burned a lot of people with his previous auto conversion (read this tragedy<\/a> for instance), and even with the Viking there are people who already feel burned this time around.<\/p>\n But I had always thought that so long as the technology was there, I could deal with an ass-hole salesman. I work with Oracle, how bad can it be? There’s a Yahoo group for the engine which seems to be where most of the support happens – new instructions appear, promises of new ECUs etc – and I found it a very useful resource as I got more comfortable with the purchase. However, there’s also much innuendo that the forum is heavily moderated, nothing negative is tolerated, even in the form of an honest question and so there are several alternative forums where people can talk freely. I joined one of these and really it was pretty much what I expected, and I still thought that this was the engine for me.<\/p>\n Then I got kicked out of the official Yahoo group. No message, no warning, no explanation, just gone. And so it hit me that I can’t do business with anyone who treats people in this manner. I’m not giving up $15k+ without doing my due diligence, and if that is forbidden by the Company then hell no am I going to buy their product no matter what it does, or promises to do.<\/p>\n I do think the engine looks great and with the right person behind it I think it could be a great thing for the industry but as currently organised I am staying far away from it. I worry a bit for those who have already purchased but my fingers are tightly crossed that they will all end up with a great flying machine.<\/p>\n Where does that leave me? I’m back to taking a long hard look at the Corvair conversion<\/a>. This had been my first thought before I discovered the Viking. It has a great proven track record and, most importantly, the owner of the Company seems deeply committed to his customers, something that puts him leaps ahead of his competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For over a year now I’ve been assuming that I’ll be putting the Viking Aircraft Engine on the end of my plane. For the most part it seems like the proven Honda technology at a great price (for aviation). There…<\/p>\n