I can vouch for MSelbys ability and knowledge of gas engines. I also know him to be a very resonable, stand up guy. I also was at Top gun and saw the incedents leading up to this thread. Mike is no fly-by-night, just-picked-up-his-first-gas-engine type of guy but rather he is an experienced modeler that has more gas engine experience than some who may be considered "experts" in certain circles.

I would bet that perhaps if he, (MSleby) had been able to communicate more freely with BME during, and since the engines failure, that he would have never posted a single word. I have built and flown models with gas engines for quite a while and I gotta be honest, you have to work really hard to fry a gas engine that is proven and default free. By this I mean you have to ignore oil content, or minimal cooling requirements or a host of other things that by themselves will not completly seize and engine in one flight. If Mike had done this he would accept responsibilty for it and just go on. I saw the model, and the motor installation and subsequent flights with the 102 which by the way used the same fuel in the same environment, in the same cowl and did so flawlessly for at least four flights that I saw. So why didn't the 102 fry also?
If it were me, I too would be a little miffed at BME for at least not considering that there may have been a problem with the engine. I too am a manufacture and I know what it is like to get a tech call and immeadiately begin to think that perhaps the customer just can't read instructions but the fact is, it is better to listen and try to work through any issues and let the customer know you want to make it right.

Good luck Mike.