SonexBuilders.net

The viking website lists 7 engines on order for sonex/waiex builders. If any of you that plan on installing a viking engine are around, we would love to hear about your experience with the engine when you get it.

It's an interesting engine, the same weight as the Jabiru 3300 (178lb) with 10 less horsepower but about $5k cheaper. Honda reliability plus I think it's all electronic fuel injection, which is nice. The downside is it's made by Jan Eiggenfelter (sp?), and he has screwed airplane owners on some of his previous aviation projects. I like the concept, but I would not order one until this engine was off the ground and well-established.

Oh, and bonus that it fits the existing Jabiru 3300 engine mount!

Andy Walker wrote:...The downside is it's made by Jan Eiggenfelter (sp?), and he has screwed airplane owners on some of his previous aviation projects. I like the concept, but I would not order one until this engine was off the ground and well-established.

I have also read the horror stories about him so I am with you about seeing how the first few work out.

You can look at it two ways. 1 People learn from experience and maybe he has everything sorted out the second time around. Or 2 People never change so do not touch anything from him.

I'm inclined to hope it's number 1 because an engine like that in that price range would be a huge financial advantage to a lot of airplane builders with few alternatives to a rotax. I am a fan of anything that makes flying cheaper without degrading performance and is safe and reliable. I hope it is succesful and can't wait to hear non biased reports as they get flying.

chris wrote:I have also read the horror stories about him so I am with you about seeing how the first few work out.

You can look at it two ways. 1 People learn from experience and maybe he has everything sorted out the second time around. Or 2 People never change so do not touch anything from him.

I'm inclined to hope it's number 1 because an engine like that in that price range would be a huge financial advantage to a lot of airplane builders with few alternatives to a rotax. I am a fan of anything that makes flying cheaper without degrading performance and is safe and reliable. I hope it is succesful and can't wait to hear non biased reports as they get flying.

I tend to agree. It may be that Jan is a good engineer and a lousy businessman, which is not uncommon. I think what really ticked people off last time was that he accepted deposits and then folded up shop and kept the money. This engine looks good, especially since it's basically a modified Honda crate motor, but that does not prevent unscrupulous people from harming others (financially). I hope this motor turns out to be a big hit and everybody is happy, but based on the past I'm not going to jump in line at this point. It's a shame really, because if it were marketed by someone else I'm sure myself and many others would be looking much more seriously at the Viking.

A friend went through a hot deep hole on a project a few years back. Watching his experience and seeing how poorly it was handled at the other end made me vow to never deal with anyone like that.

Andy Walker wrote:This engine looks good, especially since it's basically a modified Honda crate motor.

Eggenfelder's problems have most often involved the PSRU and cooling issues. Having a good core engine doesn't help this much.

Jan just announced on his yahoo group he won't be selling the Viking for the RV-12's anymore:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Vikingair ... essage/795

This after all this effort:
http://www.vikingaircraftengines.com/RV-12.html

I suspect it's because of this thread on Vans Airforce at the end of which he was banned from the forum:
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/s ... 624&page=8

I was considering the Viking as an option but this sudden 180 degree change in business strategy of Jan

He later put that he wasn't being serious. In my opinion that type of sarcasm is not helpful for his business venture in terms of the way prospective customers view the stability of the company. That makes potential customers feel like if a group of people on a forum don't like viking then he will just discontinue support for that airframe.

What happens if the engine is purchased but not intstalled when he decides to say I wil no longer sell vikings to people with sonex aircraft?

He may not have meant to come across that way, but that's what I was thinking when I read it. I still hope the engine is succesful.

One man's experience with an Eggenfellner engine: http://www.meyette.us/RV-7Ahome.htm
He said,
"My engine is a supercharged Subaru WRX STi engine. I bought it as a FWF kit from Eggenfellner Aircraft, but it contains few remaining Eggenfellner parts. I started off with great enthusiasm about the Eggenfellner Subaru engine, as you can read about in my engine pages.

The Eggenfellner STi engine turned out to be a nightmare for all the people who bought into the single batch of them produced by Eggenfellner Aircraft. The package turned out to be very poorly thought out and executed, with many severe workmanship and design problems, and most of its R&D left to the customers. Each STi customer's overall building time was extended more than 4 years because of this engine and all its problems.

Nearly all the original 25 STi customers have quit the Eggenfellner FWF. There is also a group of early H6 owners that the notoriously prickly, temperamental Eggenfellner factory has lost interest in supporting. Many other H6 owners have announced they are abandoning their Eggenfellner engine. I've lost count of the number of Eggenfellner customers who either sold their plane or engine, or just wrote off the $40K cost of the FWF and abandoned it in favor of a Lycoming. Stories also abound of props paid for years ago and never delivered. The Eggenfellner factory always blames all problems on its R&D Department; the customers."

chris wrote:He later put that he wasn't being serious. In my opinion that type of sarcasm is not helpful for his business venture in terms of the way prospective customers view the stability of the company. That makes potential customers feel like if a group of people on a forum don't like viking then he will just discontinue support for that airframe.

What happens if the engine is purchased but not intstalled when he decides to say I wil no longer sell vikings to people with sonex aircraft?

He may not have meant to come across that way, but that's what I was thinking when I read it. I still hope the engine is succesful.

I must agree it is concerning but at least it's not for real. I would have hated to have been one of those RV-12 builders who have already ordered their Viking if it were true.

I will keep monitoring the Viking progress though, it might still prove to be a liable alternative after all.
Let's be honest, Jabiru is now a great engine manufacturer but it's had it's problems too over the years and also many early customers were left in the dark with parts of the engines not supported anymore (see http://jabirucrash.com)

I will need to see way more flying Viking customers, in particular Sonex customers to be convinced.
Jan has a lot to prove and impulsive reactions like the one we've just seen does not do his reputation any good.