ARTICLES
A Great Summer of Flying
|
As I sit down to write this article Sheila and I are in the motorhome
on our way California where I will be providing flight instruction for
Jan Mensink in his Rotorway 162F. We made a stop in Lake Havasu City,
Arizona to visit some old friends before making the final leg of the trip
to Jan’s home in Tehachepi, Ca. This is my second trip to Jan’s
home and at the completion of this flight training segment, he should
be soloed to altitude in his helicopter. This will be just the next step
in a lifelong dream that Jan has had to build and fly his own helicopter.
Last night we camped next to a couple from Louisiana. The husband is
a former helicopter pilot. He told me that he at one time owned a brand
new Jet Ranger. One day he decided to fly a friend to a favorite restaurant
that was located down town in a major Louisiana city. When they landed
in the empty portion of the parking lot they were soon surrounded by police
vehicles and the Jet Ranger was impounded by the city. It took several
weeks to recover the helicopter. The owner was forced to dismantle it
and have the pieces trucked away. He also lost his FAA pilots certificate
and was fined several thousand dollars. Make sure that you have permission
from the proper authorities before landing your helicopter within the
city limits of it may not go well with you.
This summer has been quite busy with helicopter flight instructing, attending
the Central Sierra Rotorcraft flyin near Yosemite National Park, and both
Homer Bell’s fly-in and then onto the Oshkosh event. I have also
spent a good deal of time working with Andrew Burr on his new VP engine
for the Rotorway Helicopters. When Andrew purchased his helicopter he
hired me to inspect it and to give him a list of items that needed fixing.
When we discussed the engine, Andrew told me that the technology was available
to make this engine both reliable and to have a TBO in the neighborhood
of 1500 to 2000 hours of flight. We decided to partner on developing a
new engine for the Rotorway helicopters that would give the owners an
option to improve their utility.
While at the Central Sierra Rotorcraft meet I met Karen Damiata who was
Rotorway’s representative there. She spoke with Tony Colbert and
I about our concerns with the Rotorway product for over two hours. She
was a tremendous asset for Rotorway.
At the air shows, Andrew did a lot of show and tell to Rotorway owners
to bring them up to speed on the many improvements that are now available
for their engines. We also met with nine of Rotorway’s representatives
to show them SOME of what we have developed. They seemed to be impressed
with what we showed them and indicated that they would love to see everything
that we have developed when we are finished with all of the systems that
we are working on. It was encouraging to see that the Factory was open
to looking at and possibly incorporating new ideas on the ships that they
plan on producing.
I would like to state that this year I have had fewer in-flight failures
than in any of the past 10 years. It shows me that builders are listening
to the advice given by others and on web sites such as the Rotorway Owners
Group and my own web site https://flywithorv.com. If every experimental
helicopter owner would take the time to insure that every system on their
ships is built to the highest standard possible, the rate of failures
and accidents should be drastically reduced.
As the ships that we fly are built to a standard that approaches or even
exceeds the standards for certified aircraft, they prove to be more and
more reliable. Issues that have been problems in the past are being dealt
with and corrected. On the Rotorway helicopters, the chain drive is history.
The factory is now offering the greatly improved AP cog drive system.
We have learned the importance of checking the tail belt tension prior
to every flight and to make adjustments as they are needed. We have also
made great strides in developing a state of the art engine for the Rotorway
Helicopters that should provide a great increase in reliability and longevity.
The future is looking brighter and I can see that we will soon have a
way to make our experimental helicopters the fun and reliable machines
that we have always wanted them to be.
It is always a joy to attend a fly-in and see many of my former students
flying and enjoying their helicopters. I know that in some small way I
have had something to do with their achieving their dream of rotor wing
flight. It is also a great time to sit down with my friend and fellow
flight instructor Mark Peterson and share experiences.
Just prior to Homer’s fly-in I traveled to the Charlotte area to
provide basic flight training to a proud new owner of a nice Rotorway
162F. It took several hours of tweeking and adjusting his newly purchased
helicopter before we began his flight training but once we had it in shape,
we began.
While I was there, Justin Travis and Pat Swank asked Rolin and me if
we would like to fly out to lunch with them. We agreed on a time and right
on cue Justin arrived in his Hughes 500 followed by Pat in his R22 BII.
I assisted Rolin in getting strapped into Pat’s ship and then I
climbed into Justin’s ship. The 500 had just completed a very extensive
overhaul and is just beautiful.
We flew several miles to field behind an IHOP restaurant where we landed.
Justin had obtained prior approval before he landed there as it is inside
the city limits. We had a great lunch and then launched for a little fun
flying. Justin allowed me to shoot some approaches, autos, and quick stops
in his ship, what a blast I had!! It was soon time to get back to Rolin’s
flight instruction so we headed back to our training field and bid Pat
and Justin goodbye. This was just one more example that reminded me that
I have the best job in the world, flying helicopters and teaching others
to do so.
Following Rolin’s training, I arrived home at around 1am the following
day. After a few hours of sleep, it was time to get the motor home out
and pack it for Homer’s annual helicopter meet. By the time that
I got the bus ready, Andrew Burr pulled in with his Rotorway 162F aka:
Frankenstein (named for the conglomeration of unique parts and systems
that Andrew has designed and added to his ship). We hooked Andrew’s
trailer to the back of the motor home and headed for Homers meet.
At the fly-in Andrew demonstrated the new VP engine for the Rotorway
helicopters that we have been working on for over 2 years now. We have
only recently disclosed our project publicly since it’s development
is nearly complete. This engine is designed to give true reliability to
the RW helicopters that they will be installed in. The design will give
much longer intervals between overhauls and fix once and for all the issues
of: cylinder to sleeve corrosion, improper rocker arm geometry, shaft
mounted valve rocker arms that cannot fall off the valve stem ( an issue
that has caused problems in the stock configuration), and nearly every
part of the engine replaced with state of the art components built to
give reliability for over 1500 hours of operation.
The engine was still in hover testing so we did not take Frankenstein
to altitude during the shows. There were so many people walking around
that we limited the hover time to keep the moving parts away from the
crowds.
The Rotorway factory sent two representatives to meet everyone at Homer’s
fly-in. Both Darrin and Larry spent a great deal of time with anyone who
wanted to speak with them. I was saddened to find out recently that Larry
is no longer employed by the factory.
At Oshkosh, the Rotorway factory set up a hospitality tent where they
provided cold drinks 24/7 and also served breakfast, lunch, and dinner
to anyone who was either a rotorcraft owner or an ultralight owner. They
must have served 100 persons for every meal. The Rotorway factory also
paid the entry fees and event passes for anyone who brought a ship to
the Oshkosh air show. Karen Damiata of Rotorway and her team did an incredible
job of taking care of the Rotorway community at the air show. I am also
saddened to find out that following the air show, Karen is no longer employed
by the factory.
Following the air shows, it was back to work. Andrew is continuing to
test the new engine and the first customer unit is being built for beta
testing as I write this article. I am looking forward to great improvements
in the Rotorway helicopters over the next year as new systems are tested
and incorporated into the Rotorway fleet. I anticipate that we will begin
to see more owners keeping their helicopters and flying them more as they
become even more safe and reliable.
If you are the owner of a Rotorway helicopter and have been debating
whether or not to keep or sell it, be patient, good things are in the
works and it may just be worth waiting a few more months before you make
the final decision.
I am looking forward to flying with the students that I still have scheduled
for the rest of the year. Next year should be even better for the experimental
helicopter community with all of the great new products that are in the
works.
Fly safe and enjoy these wonderful flying machines, I certainly plan
to.
|