BME durability?
 

First of all...no flames:D
Any thoughts or real life experiences of "crash durability" on the BME 100-ish twins? Now before you get excited, I'm not looking for a "crash proof" engine. They will all break if the impact is strong enough. Nothing is crash-proof. My big concern is this....if I dumb thumb it, dork it, or the engine quits in a hover down low (relatively low impact), is the extremely lightweight BME gonna turn into scrap metal as both cylinders depart the crank and turn into mush? Just in case you're wondering, I very rarely stick one in the dirt, and when I do it's because " I can get lower than that" [X(][X(][X(]

RE: BME durability?
 

WEll, the 105 used the exact same crankcase as the 110X and Josh had a mid-air last spring with his Extra, turning it into a lawn dart. The ground was slightly softer than usual (spring rain the previous week), and when we dug the engine out of the foot deep hole, it was dirty, but undamaged.

RE: BME durability?
 

NO engine is meant to be crashed!!! I've seen 3W and DA150's bend the crank snout from a ground strike with a CF prop, yet I've also put a 3W100 through a tree in a crash so violent that the mufflers were RIPPED off the bolts (still threaded into the cylinders) and the prop and spinner were disintegrated, yet no damage was done to the engine itself.

Best bet. . do NOT expect an engine. .ANY engine, to have "crash survivability" built into it. It's like trying to make a plane crash-worthy. Just is NOT going to happen.

I've been using BME's for over 4 years now. . never bent a crank, damaged a bearing, or had a mechanical problem. But then, I've never run one into a brick wall, either :D

RE: BME durability?
 

I had a bird strike with a 102 conversion.

Bent the crank..............because of throwing a blade after impact on the 3blade Mej...........

$300 for a replacement...........great engine no complaints and I think this would have happened with ANY motor................did take 3months to get it back tho.

IanB