Mini-500 Helicopter

[Rog02]

I am posting a couple of web pictures of "my" little helicopter project.  I was one of the original group of idiots that thought we could design and build a practical, personal helicopter for the masses.  WE DID IT.

My function was Chief Technician, parts scrounger, tech writer, tech trainer, and general all around shop rat. 

Three Mini 500s.  The paint jobs are familar but for the life of me I do not remember the owners of these.


The Voyager Two Place.  This is the factory prototype, as the aircraft was in development at the time of the factory closing.

[Bernd]

Rog,

Neat. To bad personal flying transportation never took off (pun intended  ) Boy, if it had. I just couldn't see people having to deal with a three dimensional space navigating versus two dimenesional that we are used to in our cars. People have a hard enough time in cars. Can you imagine adding up/down to driving on a flat plain.

Now the million dollar question. What kind of power plant did these have in them?

Bernd

[bogstandard]

After eight years in the rotary wing side of the RAF (six on the fixed winged side), I have a great affinity for helicopters.

But not quite as up to date as your little beauties (ancient in fact).

Mainly Bell 47G, Whirlwind and later the Gazelle, and almost everything else in between, I was in charge of a first line crew and had to deal with all the visitors from around the world, keeping them happy, getting them running, and safely on their way.

I can also understand all about what your duties were, I was the flightside scrounger, with everyone coming to me with the same question. 'Any chance of getting me?', the storemen used to go into hiding when I was spied coming up the road. I always left with more than what was on the official list, and I could never keep all the promises I made to the storemen.

Those really are lovely looking flying machines.

John

[Darren]

Wow Rog, some achievement there mate....

We sure do attract a large diversity of talents on here 

[sbwhart]

Now thats what I call a progect, where do stoke the coal 

Cheers
 
Stew

[SPiN Racing]

Ok.. well let me just say....

OMG OMG OMG


Is it a bad thing that I am a complete drooling fan of the Mini 500s? And have been since the original info was leaked WAY back when they were just an idea I think that I saw in Popular Mechanics.. or possibly Flying?

My degree is in Aviation, and my father was a 35 Year career Airforce Pilot. (Colonel, and originally in the Army Air Corps until the Air Force was formed)

Yeah.. STILL would love to have one of those babies.

[Divided he ad]

They're just cool!!! 



Obviously I'd crash and burn in about the first 3 seconds..... But I want a go!!! 



Pity you didn't sneak one out in your pocket Rog'   




The things that members have done in their careers is great to see and hear about 



Ralph.

[Brass_Machine]

I have seen those before. Well, in a magazine. I used to be an avid reader of Kit Plane... I think that is the I saw them in. Very cool Rog!

Eric

[Rog02]

OK Sorry to take so long to reply,

The power plant was a Bombadier/Rotax 582 UL.  With addition of our custom exhaust the HP was an honest 67 HP on the facory dyno.  Some of the later mods would boost the HP to around 70, but the results, though always an improvement, were somewhat iffy.

I know of several aircraft that have been owner modified to the 613 UL engine and there are a few flying with a small 100 HP APU turbine.  We evaluated the turbine at the factory as possible powerplant but due to the limited original production numbers ( fewer than 1,000) and the lack of service parts available we opted to go with the less powerful but more user friendly Rotax.

As for sneaking one out in my lunch bucket.  Why?  I had full access to the factory demonstrators and flew 500 FD at airshows for demonstration purposes.  Rarely would a day go by that I did not have the opertunnity to hoist my carcass off the ground for at least a few minutes. 

No degree in aviation,  I tried to join the Army towards the end of VietNam and was rejected for health reasons ( I was a cancer survivor and there fore defective in the yes of the US Army).  I went to my local small airport and plunked down the ungoddly sum of $975 USD dollars and proceeded to get my Private Pilots Certificazte in a 3 week span in Januaryt and Feburary.  BTW, I took all my dual and solo triner in an Aronica Champ (cause REAL pilots fly taildraggers).  We like to never found anyone to give me my checkridem as tyhe only taildragger check pilot was my instuctor and the Feds had to get a guy out of another office because none of their check pilots were taildragger qualified.  I went from that straighht back to my drop zone and got checked out in a C-185 and went on to build time as a skydiver driver in between jumping and teaching jumping.  I finally got a nosewheel check out after 300 hours of heavy tail wheel time.  My multi engine ticket came in a D-18-E Beechcraft.  REAL PILOTS fly BIG TAILDRAGGERS with TWO round motors.  I got my Ag ticket in an Ag-Truck and went on the fly an AG-Cat for a couple of seasons , spraying row crop and a winter spent spraying coffee in Costa Rica.  My A&P ticket was earned by pracical experience because as 1/2 share owner of a Beech 18 will bankrupt a person if you have to pay for a Mechanic to pull all the maintenance.  The rest as they say is history. 

The decline to the "Airport Bum" staus is swift.  It takes more than a wee bit of practice to perfect the ability it tell the "No ****!" stories with the flare they are due and then again there are always the "And there I was at 5,000 feet, skydiving hard.............." stories.

Hey Bog?  Am I the only person in the world that thinks they included the engine on a Gazelle as an after thought?   Great high altitude aircraft.  I bagged some time in one in South Africa and got some dual in one in Australia when they were trying to show me how to herd cattle with a helicopter.  Ozzies call it "stock CRUNCHING".

[Darren]

Rog, you make me feel so humble, that's some life you've had.....sounds like a lot of fun for you over the years....

On that little chopper, only 67HP that sounds so little for getting off the ground an' all, 

[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!

[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...

My instructor went white as a ghost.. made a gurgling gasping noise, and screamed MY PLANE!!!
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 

[Bernd]

Good one Spin. I could picture the whole thing in my mind. Still chuckling. 

Bernd