At approximately 1305 Pacific time, a Coot amateur-built airplane crashed after losing power on takeoff near Creswell. The pilot was killed. Records show the pilot had recently bought the airplane and replaced the IO-360 aviation engine with a Mazda 13B rotary automotive engine. The accident was the owners first flight in the airplane. The engine failed 1 minute, 15 seconds into the flight. Examination of the engine showed it had been installed without a drive on its metering oil pump and that the oil injection nozzles associated with the metering pump were missing from the combustion chambers. The nozzle holes were plugged with a non-metallic substance.
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