Fatal Exec 162F Crash

[Rando]

1 Fatal – N428JT/Experimental helicopter, VFR, crashed under unknown circumstances 2 miles northeast of Winamac, IN. Weather not reported, no ATC services.

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNumSQL.asp?NNumbertxt=428JT

[enewbold]

So very saddening. =Ed=



(WSBT) Federal Aviation Administration officials are investigating what caused a helicopter to go down in Pulaski County, killing a man from Demotte, Ind.

James R. Terpstra, 55, died when his aircraft crashed in a cornfield near County Roads 750 North and 125 East in Pulaski County. That's west of Monterey.

Some men working on a tree stand 50 yards from the crash site say they heard the crash but he didn't see it because of the dense foliage.

Police say they wouldn't have found the helicopter if the property owner hadn't been watching the helicopter when it crashed. The property owner says the helicopter was heading west when it started making a lot of noise. He says he saw it lose part of its tail just before it crashed.

Police found the helicopter partially submerged in mud.

The coroner says Terpstra was dead when rescue crews arrived. An autopsy will be performed to determine the exact cause of death.

WSBT learned Terpstra flew his Rotorcraft EXEC 162-F to Rochester Saturday to attend the Mentone Flying Club's 50th anniversary Fly-in Hog Roast.

[craigjackson]

Jim was an aquaintence of mine. Although we never did any flying together, I knew of Jim's exceptional skills in aircraft building. He started out in powered parachutes, then ultralight fixed wing, and most recently helicopters. He had previous experience in Scorpions, the Mini 500 and received formal helicopter training in an R22 in Lansing, IL. He purchased a partially assembled Rotorway and finished it within the last year.

Preliminary causes of this tragic accident are focusing on the tail rotor guard and possible fatigue in the bracket according to an aircraft specialist who examined the wreckage.

Jim was a gentleman and family man who donated many hours to mission work in central America and will be missed by many friends, his wife and 5 grown children. Unfortunately, I will be directing his funeral (http://www.jacksonfuneral.com/obituaries_details.asp?ArticleId=863) on Thursday.

[GyroRon]

At Mentone this year, on one of the days we flew over for Breakfast, there was a Rotorway Exec parked near the place we had breakfast at. I watched him start up and takeoff. Seemed to take several attempts to get the engine started, but once it fired up it seemed to run smooth. I wonder if this is the same person

[Brent Drake]

Ive heard of alot of trouble with the tail assemblies of the Exec. I know of one that had several belts come off and another the tail boom fell off on takeoff.
Very sorry to hear of Jim's death. I think I met him a few times at fly-ins

[Chopper Reid]

I happened to see a Rotorway Exec at an airshow and it had 30 hours on the clock, I asked the owner how long had he had it and his reply was 3 years. The trip to the airshow would have taken around 3 hours. 27 hours over 3 years says there is something badly wrong with the machine or the owner.

Since then I reckon around 3 rotorways have killed their owners that I know of. I'm not in the helicopter market but I would avoid a rotorway at all costs !!

[gyroplanes]

Jim, the Rotorway owner, was at Mentone this year. I saw him, but I didn't notice his helicopter.

[PW_Plack]

I've always wondered why most Execs I see for sale in classified ads have very few hours.

Rotorway is manufacturing in South Africa now, and the company says it will seek certification for the the Talon, which is the replacement for the Exec.

[Jtravis1]

The exec is actually a quite docile helicopter and mostly reliable, when built and maintained properly. It does suffer from being underpowered and it takes a good deal of continual maintenance to keep it going.

I built a turbine rotorway several years ago and I am still involved in the rotorway community.

The part that failed (so we think) is the vert stab attachment bracket. This is something that the builder fabricates out of 4130. It is suspected that the bracket failed due to fatigue. You have to watch when you make the bracket to not stress the metal at the bend. This is done by ensuring proper min radius of the bend and not overworking the metal. (work hardening). This is what is suspect at the moment....but it is too early to tell. This is not an area that is known to have failed in the past....but almost anything can be the weak link in the chain in a helicopter as they are so complex mechanically

As far as seeing many ships for sale with low time.....my theory is that many people fall in love with the idea of flying a helicopter. Many buy this kit without ever having flown one. They then spend 1-5 years building a ship and spend $70-$80,000. They then start learning to fly and realise that they are not cut out to fly a helicopter. The Rotorway also is not as capable as a certified ship....So they may have trained in a R22 but the Rotorway can get you in more trouble if you are not careful......So they figure before they roll it over and make it worth nothing....they put it up for sale.

A quick glance of the NTSB will see that dynamic rollovers are pretty much the most common accident.

[Brent Drake]

The tail boom in a Exec is one big belt. being the tail rotor is belt driven. IMO
It's way to long of a belt drive. Yes, it has I think two belts. But if one comes off I'm certin it will take the second one with it.

[Jtravis1]

Actually it has three belts in the tailboom. They run from pulley to pulley. I am not a big fan of the system BUT it has proven to be VERY reliable when assembled and maintained properly. The belts are a Kevlar belt and very robust. Checking for proper belt tension is a mandatory preflight item.

[GyroRon]

How often are these belts supposed to be used before replacement?

[Jtravis1]

I think they get changed out at 200 hrs or 5 years. I am not 100% on that but that is what comes to mind.

We have hard evidence that the rear bracket that holds on the stabilizer was the point of failure. This caused the stab to go into the tail rotor and that is what brought the ship down. There was a eye witness who saw it come off the ship. When the stab was recovered, the broken bracket was easily seen.

This bracket has not been something known to be a weak point....but is critical that it is fabricated correctly.

[Timchick]

It's a shame his life was lost because a bracket failed. It sounds like it would've been hard to detect on a preflight.

[automan1223]

A local neurosurgeon built one, he has done a ton of updates. Seems like he works on it more than he flies it.

It seems there are a lot of updates to make this machine up to snuff.

Jonathan

[Hognose]

I was going to weigh in here before but thought better of it. Maybe I still should.

My brother wants to build an Exec (or, now, a Talon) and has set it as his 50th Birthday project for many years (so it's 7-8 years out). I personally think that some other kit helicopters are better sorted and less compromised (notably the Safari).

The Exec is weight sensitive. As others have remarked it is maintenance intensive. Here (http://groups.google.com/group/rec.aviation.homebuilt/browse_thread/thread/d0e615c1adb8fe90/6faa36b55f6de090?lnk=st&q=%22Dave+Morss%22+Rotorway&rnum=2#6faa36b55f6de090) is Dave Morss in 1998 in rec.aviation.homebuilt.

...bought a used rotorway. It had 135 hours on it and I felt this should be a pretty debugged ship. I kept it for forty hours but then sold it as a
helicopter that can only be flown to a place where you can get the
trailer to bring it home is not very useful.

I kept trying but could not
get three flight [sic] in a row without something going wrong. I spent 40 hours in sight of my hangar....

There's also a lot of disagreement in the Rotorway community about belt and chain drive systems.

Now, two things to keep in mind: that was a decade ago, and Rotorway and its products have changed; and Grant Norwitz seems to have a lot of promising ideas.

But any helicopter is innately more complex and more maintenance-dependent that other light aircraft.

cheers

-=K=-