In this months issue of EAA's Sport Aviation mag Mike Busch speeks of Mag failures. My question is does the Mag failures he speak of happen to new mags or low hr mags or just any mag at any given time.

I ask this because like myself I am sure a lot of others are flying in experimental homebuilts that do no have this redundancy that is found in certified airplanes.

I can only speak for myself but I bet others think the way I do. Meaning we use mags because they are more reliable then a distributor and because I do not use a redundent system I keep my equipment in very good condition. Things like mags get replaced at the time of airplane purchase " I do not build " with new. I am very picky when it comes to mag replacement. Because of this I use the best mag shop I can find.

So doing this I hope to reduce the chance of a mag going bad. But when I read articles like this and do other research, the impression I get is that if I am not using a redundent ignition system I am going to fall out of the sky.

Now after reading and learning a little about aviation and the pit falls of it...is the mag any better..or is it that a part has been left in service to long and that is why we see gears fail and other things go wrong with a mag, or is it bad luck?

Maybe the title should have been.....Are we all doomed to crash flying with single ignition......


Thoughts from everyone would be great.......


H.A.S.