How not to fly a copter

D

DJ Carroll

Member
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DJ Carroll said:
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Click to expand...

Holy crap!

Here's a guy's first flight in an ultralight just like the one I had. If you're bored skip to 2:00 and listen carefully at the audio.

BTW the guy test flying mine crash landed it 25 feet before the runway on the test run. These are PULL START just like a lawn mower. You can't start them in the air, you just have to ride it down.

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Hope nobody in that helicopter was hurt. That is a shame, they could have been seriously hurt or killed there if it had turned a little more or a little higher up.

There was a similar crash on that new TV show "Destroyed In Seconds" where the pilot had worked with the TV Show years ago "Magnum P.I." and was that chopper pilot. The thing went out of control and when the investigation was done by the NTSB, they found metal shavings in the controls and that there was nothing the pilot could do but hold on tight until it is on the ground.

These are bad accidents, glad nobody was seriously hurt or killed.





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When i was in the navy i flew as an aircrew man in the MH-53 man am i glad that never happened.
 
That guy flying that R-44 hit the open hanger door withthe main blade:

On August 5, 2004, at 1200 central daylight time, a Robinson R44, N7036J, piloted by a commercial pilot, was substantially damaged when the main rotor contacted an open hangar door during takeoff and the helicopter subsequently impacted the ground at Spirit of St. Louis Airport (SUS), Chesterfield, Missouri. The flight was being conducted under 14 CFR Part 91 and was not on a flight plan. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The pilot and 2 passengers reported no injuries. A third passenger reported minor injuries. The local flight was originating at the time of the accident.

In his written statement, the pilot reported that the flight was to be a local sightseeing flight for the 3 passengers. He added that the left side flight controls had been removed. The pilot stated that the helicopter was parked on the ramp approximately 35 feet from the hangar. He reported that the bi-fold hangar door was open and extended about 10 feet out over the ramp.

The pilot stated that after completing the normal start-up and pre-flight procedures, he established that the area was clear and picked up into a 6 - 8 foot hover. He reported that he began to move away from the hangar. He stated that as he did so the passenger in the left front seat turned to his right and "accidentally and inadvertently hit or bumped the counterweight portion of the cyclic as he turned."

The pilot stated that the helicopter drifted toward the open hangar door and before he could correct the drift the main rotor clipped the bottom edge of the door. He recalled: "I quickly maneuvered away from the hangar building and began to level the aircraft." The helicopter descended to the ramp. The subsequent hard landing caused the skids to collapse and the main rotor to sever the tail boom.

A ground witness to the accident submitted a video recording of the accident flight. Review of the recording revealed that after the helicopter lifted-off, it paused in a hover for a few seconds and then began to climb out, subsequently contacting the door. No drift toward the hangar building was observed prior to rotor blade contact with the door.
 
Good goal to have in life.
 
DJ Carroll said:
Tony what kinda of ultra light did you have? I want to get one eventually . . . did you have to get your pilots license to fly it?
Click to expand...

I had a mini-max 1500R identical to the one in that video except red.

They made changes in January 2008. If the ultralight complies with FAR 103 you don't have to have a license. BUT to comply it can only weigh 254 lbs and have 1 five gallon gas tank. (no big deal, you can go 120 or more miles on 5 gallons)



Mine weighed in at around 310 because it had an extra large engine and I had 2 five gallon tanks.
The 2008 changes now classify it as a "sport plane" and requires that you have a "sport pilot" license. The change also classifies all two-seaters as "sport planes".
I sold it prior to the Jan 2008 changes because it would have become a big paperweight without a sport pilot license and I would have had to pay a lot of money and hassle to get it certified.
DJ, ultralights are not easy to fly. If you can fly an ultralight, I think you can fly anything. The UL airport here shuts down when the wind reaches 15mph. The slightest wind on landing will make your butt pucker.

Further, that one of mine was even worse because it was a "tail dragger" meaning it had one rudder wheel on the tail like the old fashioned plans. On little slipup on a hard surface and you'll be whipped off the runway and into the dirt in a second. We did it two times and it sucked!

I've flown a lot of different kinds. The most enjoyable was a two seater Quicksilver. But since two-seaters are out now, a one-seater will have to do. Quicksilvers have a great reputation and are some of the safest aircraft out there. Here's one that just sold for less than 8 grand. Click on the link to see it in filght.

You don't need a license to fly this, but you DO NEED TO TAKE ULTRALIGHT LESSONS. IT'S NOT EASY TO LEARN TO FLY. It took me 14 lessons to solo.

http://www.quicksilverultralight.com/for_sale/plane_for_sale_blue_single_seat.htm
 
There used to be all kinds of ultralights flying around back in the 70's and 80's but not in the 90's and not but a few recently.

We are in a very windy city so that is probably a lot of it right there.

I had always wanted to have one but all of a sudden not too much now. hahahaha





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I forgot about this thread. DJ, this is the ultralight I had. I sold it when I got tired of paying $150/mo to keep it jammed in a hanger with three other planes in each slot. I had to get there before sunrise and by the time I got mine out and all the other ones moved back into place the wind was already starting up. You can't fly these in much more than 15mph winds. (At least I can't and most guys can't) Las Vegas is too windy and since you can't fly them over the city it just wasn't worth keeping anymore.

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I don't have any video flying it. Shelly would not come with me for lessons and only saw me fly once. That was another reason I got rid of it. I'm not a "solo" type person, I enjoy good company.

If I lived back in the south again and could take off from my own yard I'd get another one (2 seater- keep it below 3000ft) and disregard the FAA and their new stupid rules. The rules are just a money grab. They saw the ultralights as another opportunity to regulate something they didn't control. They don't usually irritate a guy flying out of his own backyard, but because I was flying out of an ultralight airport right next to larger airport they were always hassling us about weight classification restrictions and other stuff like that.

Here is a good video that give a little better indication of what it was like to actually fly it. It was loud like this too. But it was fun. (This guy has a 40 hp Rotax 447. I had a 50 hp 503. That 20 hp makes a lot of difference. The test pilot was able to get mine airborne in less than 30 yards.

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