Kitplanes magazine covered alternative engines in an article that was released a few days ago. Dan and Rachel Weseman asked that I clarify a misunderstanding from the article. As it appears, some people thought I was implying that I had developed all the things I mentioned. My intention was only to highlight developments in the Corvair movement in general. Although anyone reading my Web site knows the following, I will just say it here plainly:
I had nothing to do with the development of the Weseman billet crankshaft. Dan and Rachel have kept the manufacturer’s ID private, and I do not even know who they are.
I had nothing to do with the design nor development of the Panther either.
I have assembled engines with the billet crank, and can attest they are great pieces. I helped Dan with some small tasks on the Panther, but nothing more than anyone would do for a friend building a plane, nothing he couldn’t have done himself. Really, my sole contribution in either of the above was to say positive things about the work of friends.
Dan also pointed out that I have a long history of illustrating out how LLCs are used by bad people in our industry to evade responsiblity. He thought it would be fair if I pointed out that LLCs also serve the function of protecting good people from frivolous legal action. Dan and Rachel have their work under a LLC, and would like people to hear about the positive side, that many good, successful firms in our industry are organized this way. My goal was not to demonize LLCs, but to get builders to develop their own “buyer beware” attitude. In the end, smart people already knew this, and bargain hunters who didn’t care who they dealt with were not swayed by anything I wrote, so the writing probably had little or no effect anyway.
To avoid future misunderstandings of this sort, builders should just get their information directly from Dan and Rachel. It is their hard work, and it’s obviously best explained by them. I am still a big fan, it’s great stuff, but we can just read about it on their own site, http://flypanther.net/
