IAHL Corporation (IAHL)

[mysterymeat]

Safety in numbers? Mr Watson disagrees.

CHAIR—Has it got a good glide path?

Mr Watson—You have to look at the statistics. The engine life in this aeroplane is between 8,000 and 9,000 hours. An ordinary standard piston engine aeroplane has 2,000 hours. Some of them have less. At mid-time, you have to do what is called a ‘top overhaul’, which is extensive, so you do not have the reliability in a piston engine that you have in a jet. Immediately you are four or five times safer. With the fact that you have one engine as opposed to twin engines you have reduced the chances of having engine failure by 50 per cent because you have deleted that one engine, so you do not have what is called ‘double trouble’.(should have been triple trouble since his plane originally had 3 engines)

http://www.aph.gov.au/HANSARD/reps/commttee/R6448.pdf