heli_headcase
Key Veteran
Location: Hovering around Atlanta
| Whirlybird crasher here...Hey guys,
Yeah, it was me. Let's get the record straight.
JCZankl is the owner of the 'bird I crashed. The week prior to IRCHA, I did a complete rebuild on the main rotor of his Du-Bro Whirlybird 505 so that way we both would know it was good to go. I shipped the head to him and JC reassembled the heli, awaiting my final inspection before flying it. I made a number of adjustments to the control system to be sure all parts were moving as required and in the correct direction.
I have quite a bit of experience flying my Whirly, enough to know you can't just fire it up and fly around without some (brain) adjustment period. I made the suggestion that I do the maiden flight to check it out and trim the controls.
On Thursday (or Wed, can't remember) and with Scott Stouffer of SKS Video Productions breathing down my back, I fired up the engine and safely lifted the heli into a wobbly hover. The most obvious problem was the tail neutral needing trimming and since there's NO gyro on the tail, correct trim is very important.
At about 4ft high, a light breeze swung the nose around 180deg and the heli decided to go on a little trip. Normally this isn't a big deal and I didn't think it would be this time either BUT - the nose was down a little and that's where it wanted to stay, down. All the aft elevator available wasn't enough and the heli picked up speed as it went into the dirt.
You want to talk about feeling bad? Here I am, the person that knows these heli's, requested that I fly it instead of JC so it has a fighting chance to live out its first flight. Isn't that ironic? Of course Scott got the crash on tape...
To prove I really CAN fly these caveman helicopters, I ran back to my table and grabbed my 505, the white with red and blue stripes, and promptly put in a successful flight. And yes, it did have a minor tip-over one evening because I failed to shut the engine off while it was sitting on the ground. If it's running, the slightest puff of air can knock it over. I have to force myself to remember to kill it, right now, on ground contact.
Sat night, right after the prize handouts, I wanted to get in one last flight before the light went away. That was a nice one. Did anyone happen to see how many people were hanging around watching? I was too busy to notice 
Oh, as to the fate of the broken bird, It's home with me getting its wings mended. The damage was pretty extensive but far from fatal. I'll be testing it again and expect that I'll find the cause of the crash was the week precessing springs that tie the servos to the swashplate. The springs are slightly stiffer on my heli and that gives mine a control authority advantage. It's never been in an uncontrollable dive, but has come close. The springs are an absolute necessity for the cyclic system to function, but how stiff or loose can they be is subject to experimentation.
HHC
So many heli's - too little time... |
