Gallery, Projects and General > Gallery

Mini-500 Helicopter

<< < (3/4) > >>

bogstandard:
Rog,

You might think the engine was an afterthought, but yank a couple of panels off and you can get it off and a new one in it's place in no time, and the Astazou engine was the perfect choice for the airframe, the pilots loved 'em. Loads of power and very maneuverable. I remember the first time we saw the fenestron t/r, we couldn't believe how quiet the back end was compared to a standard tail rotor. We were fighting between ourselves to get onto the servicing teams, they were so easy to work on.

I came up with a few mods of my own for that aircraft, it cut the turnaround service time in half. But what it lacked was its own wheeled gear. It was a real PITA to move it around on the ground. It took twice as long to move it around than it did a wheeled heli of three times the size.

I remember the first time I lifted off in a heli to the hover, and then a very gentle climb, it was the most unnatural feeling you could ever have, a feeling you can't really describe.

Long time ago now, but loved every minute of it.

Bogs

SPiN Racing:
Yes.. I will never forget my first flight in a helicopter.

I had already gotten my pilots license.. was in college, and had around 75 hours. I was working on my commercial at that time.

We went on a sightseeing heli flight.. and my dad the Colonel was all juiced up cause the pilot was a ex Nam helicopter pilot. SO after they talked about Kunsan and places... we walked across a LONGGGG rope bridge to a little round spit of a island that stuck up around 30 feet out of the water. And perched BARELY on top of it was the helicopter.

I dont honestly remember if it was a recip or turbine. It had an enclosed cockpit.. and wasnt a 47, Ranger, or 500. Or Huey. It was something else.. one of those helicopters the average fixed wing pilot has no idea what it is.

THe thing is..... He fired it up.. we were sitting there humming and vibrating and sorta bouncing in place as he spun the thing up... and then he asked if we were ready.. and my Dad was grinning huge... and I had a bad feeling... the pilot looked at my dad in back.. winked.. then grinned at me and PUSHED THE NOSE OVER!!!

Granted I had flown fixed wing, and R/C aircraft.. but had never been in a helicopter!!!  So here we were tipping forward onto the nose.. scrape along the pad a foot or so, then FALL off the island towards the water!!!!!
I came closer to peeing that day than ever doing anything else I think...
At that point he pulled the collective.. and up we went skimming the water nose down and picking up speeed. Then he pulled back a touch and we started climbing... still facing the water.

COMPLETELY freaked me out.

After 5 or 10 minutes I had caught up to my breathing.. and was able to "enjoy" the view.

Oh and MAN was it the bumpiest thing I ever rode on..

Rog02:


Spin, a helicopter will either make a fixed wing driver a smoother pilot or scare him into submission!

My first instruction came aboout a week after doing an airobatic course and I was still in the "Put the stick THERE (full stop)" mode.  Needless to say my first couple of hours were pretty ragged.  After a couple of hours of entertaining the "coffee drinkers" with my first attempts at hover flight, I finally came to the realisation that helicopters require a smooth hand and some sort of finesse to master.

All in all my fixed wing flying smoothed out as I progressed to the rotorwing ticket.  Make no mistake, I still enjoy a handful of stick in the gut from time to time, just the helicopter taught me to be even more sensitive to the aircraft and make small reactionary corrections before larger more drastic inputs become needed.

Bog:

I can appreciate the rapid turn around on the Gazelle and yes indeed everyone I have ever spoken with relates the same fondness for the ease of maintenance.  Ground handling a skidded helicopter can be a challenge but since I almost always fly it off the dolly and back onto the dolly it really isn't much of a problem.  We spent some effort designing the ground handling wheels on the Minis to be as easy to attach and use as possible.  Most pilots just carried them in the floor board under the seat and could pop them in place and raise the aircraft in seconds.  It was an easy one person job to ground handle such a small aircraft.

Darren:

Yep, 67 HP does limit the service take off attitude somewhat but since most of our sales were to lower altitude owners it only became a serious issue with a few aircraft in use as game park census aircraft in SA. 

BTW<  The trick to doing all this stuff is finding a stupid emplorer to pay you for doing what you would gladly pay him to let you do! :lol:

SPiN Racing:
Oh yes.. I had smoothness down pat.
I had been flying radio controlled stuff for years and years. So a delicate pair of thumbs, and being able to anticipate things were helpful.
That plus a lot of car and motorcycle riding gave a sense of balance to cross reference.

My biggest problem.. My father was 35 years in the airforce. So I grew up around full on Military aircraft.

Cessna 152.
5 Hours into my Private Pilots License.
Short field takeoff.. first time.

Instructor says... OK.. so here is what we do...
Full brakes.
1 notch of flaps.
Full throttle.
2500 RPM, let off on the brakes..
When the airspeed hits 54(I think) knots, pull that yoke back fully FAST. And we will rotate crisply, and leap into the air.
Maintain 60 Knots, and we will climb on up.


Soo
Full brakes.. 1 notch of flaps.. throttle... 2500 RPM.. release brakes.. little right rudder.. here we goooo

54 Knots, I BRISKLY pulled/yanked the yoke to my tummy.
The cessna rotated.. there was a scrape from the tail hitting the ground, and then we went vertical.. I released the pressure on the yoke since we were climbing vertical... :thumbup:

My instructor went white as a ghost.. made a gurgling gasping noise, and screamed MY PLANE!!! :jaw:
Tears in his eyes he Violently bashed the yoke forward out of my hands, to make the nose go over.. and whimpering incoherently pointed us at the ground.
We were at 200 or so feet at this point, and the airspeed went from the steady 60, down almost instantly to essentially zero as we nosed over.

with a half wail he smacked the flap lever to full as the plane fell towards the runway, and then yanked back on the yoke as we got scarily closer, but had some airspeed.

The plane rotated and gave a solid, but not hard bump off the runway, he kicked it into a hard slip, killed power and PLANTED it on the runway, and veered off onto a taxiway.

I then was screamed at for 10 minutes about the difference between a F-4, F-16 and the Cessna 152.

Was fun!

Darren:
Thanks Spin, I enjoyed reading that, made me chuckle as it painted quite a clear picture of the events  :)

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page