John Christensen of FTE was good enough to call me with his version of events and they are as follows:

The T-500 IS a RAM 500 X with changes allowed under AMA rules which did not require an engine re-certification. Seems fair enough and if FTE played within the rules good luck to them BUT I received an email this morning from one of the most respected names in model gas turbine engineering and he says :


In a recent mail Joe Amato said “I talked with Ilona at AMA, and the XX will have to go through the entire process for acceptance. Since the engine is coming from a new/different manufacturer/distributor, a new "file" is created, and all pertinent info has to be included in the file.”

As the T-500 is not manufactured or distributed by the original RAM company this policy was clearly not applied to the T-500 but WAS applied to another engine which is very well known and highly respected simply because the manufacturers wished to change distributor without ANY changes to an engine which had been certified !

To be polite, there is very serious inconsistency here.

John Tells me that the PST approval has been delayed because initial paperwork was incomplete and the burst test video was very late. He explained the workings of the AMA committee explaining that it meets only a few times a year so there can be delays in certification until the results come before the volunteer committee even though all tests are complete. I do hope PST approval is dealt with expeditiously to clear the air on this matter and give PST and their many US customers a fair chance at FJ.

I think it time the AMA explained this inconsistency described in para 3.

At 160 ml per minute at 12 pounds of thrust I questioned the extraordinaryily good SFC of the T-500. John told me that this figure was copied from the original RAM specs. They will test the engine next week to check the figures. If the engine can repeat that fuel burn then it is exceptionally good and the 500X is clearly a brilliant design.

However, judging by the facts before me, I vcan only conclude that the AMA does not apply its own rules with fairness and consistency. That is wrong.

BRG,

David Gladwin.