daleandee wrote:1) The surveillance video of the flight showed what the investigator called "white smoke" appearing a couple of times from the aircraft. They tried to duplicate this with fuel changes and even water. Did they consider that this had to be oil burning as it is light blue and would appear nearly white?
This was discussed during the investigation. Nothing that was found would indicate that there were any oil leaks of any kind in or on the turbo.
daleandee wrote: There was a cracked bearing housing found in the turbo. There is no way for them to know if this was a pre or post impact crack.
Wrong. The NTSB lab verified that the broken turbo housing was due to impact damage. It was broken around the circumference where the compressor housing is held to the central bearing block. There were no cracks in any location that would have allowed oil to enter the exhaust or intake. There were no pre-existing cracks of any kind.
daleandee wrote:Could it be that the turbo was cracked and the smoke was seen because of oil entering the turbo and being burnt? Could this be the cause for a turbo seizure and power loss? Power output without a turbo would be very low considering the restriction and the large prop for the 100 hp set-up.
Again, as I have stated earlier in this thread, there was no evidence of a turbo seizure, either partial or full. I verified this personally during the investigation.
2) It was noted that the turbo had 25 hours in the plane after install.[/quote]
That is incorrect. The airplane had recently returned from a 25 hour cross-country to Florida and back. The engine had considerably more time on it than that, first in the test cell and then on the airframe. I personally witnessed all the testing on this engine, and I flew the cross-country to Florida and back. The engine performed flawlessly throughout the entire program.
daleandee wrote:3) How many passegers had been flown in this aircraft?
The airplane was flown with passengers several times, both by myself and by Jeremy.
daleandee wrote: Did the factory do any gross weight testing with the turbo installed?
Yes, I did this testing personally.
daleandee wrote: How many passengers did Jeremy himself fly in this aircraft or was Mike his first passenger?
Jeremy had given a number of rides in the airplane, to several different people.
daleandee wrote:There is no question that this has been very difficult for those much closer to him & Mike than we are. Keep this in mind and please remember these in your prayers.
And don't read more into the report than is there, or try to guess at what is not. And certainly do not for a minute think that Sonex has withheld information from the customers. That is just ludicrous and offensive. (This last comment is referring to a previous post in this thread, not to this post from Dale than I am replying to.)