CICARÉ new tandem helico CH-14

[quadrirotor]

A good candidate for homebuilding!...

http://todalaaviacion.blogspot.com/

[Hognose]

A bit pricey for the homebuilder with its RR250-C20B.

Also, looks like it was developed as a light reconnaissance copter for the Argentine Army. Here's the exact link to the blog post about this copter.

http://todalaaviacion.blogspot.com/2007/11/presentacion-del-aguilucho-cicare-ch-14.html

This is my hasty translation (WITHOUT looking anything up!) of the graphic describing the helicopter parts. It probably has real clinkers of errors in it, but I am without a Spanish-speaking long-haired dictionary right now (grin).


For all y'all who don't habla....


Cicare CG-14
Light two-seat Tandem Helicopter

Two-Bladed Tail Rotor
Velocity 2500 RPM. Push-pull control, Composite case for crown and pinion gears. Actuated by a shaft mounted in the tail boom.

Main Rotor
2-bladed, of the semi-rigid type. Rotational Speed 380 RPM. Controls hydraulically boosted.

Turbine Rolls-Royce Allison 250-C20B
Provides power through a freewheeling system.

Main Transmission Case
2 Stages of reduction. The first by ring and crown gears and the second via an epicyclic train. The lubrication for both components of the case and also the freewheeling system -- a gear-driven pump which lubricates by injectors.


Interior
Composite monocoque, with a spatial configuration derived from the ergonomics of pilots.

Fuselage:
Aeronautical quality, 4130 steel tube welded in space-frame mode. Supports and contains all the main elements of the aircraft, including the cockpit for the pilots.

Fuselage skin:
Composite materials of sandwich construction, vacuum laminated


It seems at once to be advanced and simple. My very quick comments: 1. a lot of composites (I'm not sure about my translation of "compuesta" for the main and t/r gearboxes though). 2. A new main-rotor control system for Cicare. 3. A lot of the enthusiasm for it in the Argentine military seems to be due to it being home-grown. 4. I bet they can buy a lot of these if they want. It should perform like a raped ape with that C-20 if they don't overload it with mission equipment (the usual fate of military copters). If they do, and the gearbox will take it, higher-powered RR250s are an easy bolt in. (YEAH! A helicopter for hotrodders).

Hope this helps, and hope some of the better speakers of Spanish check and correct my work. I speak just enough to have Ecuadoran chicks remind me of Ecuador's most famous female emigrant (Lorena Bobbitt).

cheers

-=K=-

[Hognose]

Here's my equally crude translation of the article and press release.


The presentation of the new Reconnaissance Helicopter to the Argentine Army took place today, November 23rd, at the Army installation in Campo de Mayo.

It was the AGUILUCHO, based on the Cicare CH-14 helicopter, in which the Ejercito Argentino has demonstrated interest for one or two years, [this interest] motivated the development of the military version of it.

In January, 2006, CICARE began the design and production of the prototype, which continued until March, 2007, when the first test flights began.

The technical department of the Aviation Command of the Army, and the 601st Aviation Logistics and Maintenance Basttalion, the Aeronautical Engineering faculty at the National University of La Plata, and the CITEFA (Center for Scientific and Technical Research of the Armed Forces) all participated in this development.


As an objective of the project, the Argentine Army seeks to develop local aeronautical industry and seeks to transfer technology to manufacturers and specialists in related areas, as well as provide national solutions for the security requirements of our Armed Forces.

The Argentine Army issued the following communiqué:



ARGENTINE ARMY
MINISTRY OF DEFENSE
PRESIDENCY OF THE NATION


The Army presents the first light helicopter of national development, CH –14 “CICARÉ – AGUILUCHO”

23 de noviembre de 2007

The Army presents the first military helicopter developed and constructed in Argentina.

This afternoon, el The Chief of the Army, Lieutenant General Roberto Fernando Bendini led a ceremony commemorating the 49th anniversary of Army Aviation, at the installation of the Aviation Command, in Campo de Mayo.

Lieutenant General Bendini was joined by Secretary of Military Affairs of the Ministry of Defense, Sr. Alfredo Forti; Secretary of International Affairs in the MOD, Lic. José Vásquez Ocampo, the President of the Commission for Technical Troops in Army Aviation, Brigadier General(R) Arturo Grandinetti, the Commander of Army Aviation, Colonel Gustavo Seraín, and other military, civil, religious and invited authorities.

In the ceremony, the first nationally produced military helicopter, the CH-14, developed in Argentina by Augusto Cicare, was introduced.



The original article is by Gustavo Lepez and the photos at the site are by Juan Carlos Cicalesi. I hope they don't mind me putting it into crummy English for the hunk of the world that's deaf to Spanish. (Argentine Spanish is the most musical of all, I think. It has the rhythms of Italian, probably because there have been so many Italian immigrants to Argentina over the years).

Comments: it sounds like the aircraft was developed as a bootstrap project. There's no word indicating that the Army will actually buy them. It could be a very cost-effective training helicopter for a proud, but always cash-poor, regional power like Argentina. I'm not sure that this can pack the stores to be an effective recon copter, especially in Argentina's rugged (and high) mountains.

Still, it is great to see Sr. Cicare recognized by his own country's military after so many decades of work on helicopters.

Another comment -- given Cicare's previous results exporting his designs, I reckon he isn't going to be trying again. He believes that he was cheated by his American and Italian partners (Dennis Fetters has told his side of the Cicare-Fetters issue here on this site. Glenn Ryerson has recounted parts of Cicare's story on his own (Glenn's) site).

[DennisFetters]

Cobra copies do look nice, but there is more to this helicopter that meets the eye.

First, it has the main transmission and mast, tail rotor transmission, rotorhead and controls, hydraulic controls, and tail rotor out of a Bell 206. All the RPM's and diameters are the same as the 206.

95% of all the hard parts to develop come out of the Bell 206, but only with a new body built around them. So, this is not a new designed helicopter, it's a 206 with a different shape. How else could it have been built in one year, especially in Argentina?


This is nothing new. In fact around 5 years ago at Sun & Fun, Mr. Cicare was looking hard at the Load Ranger made by Tom Navickas back in 1998, which was exactly the same; a Bell 206 with a deferent body. Unfortunately Tom and passenger were killed in the Load Ranger in 2005 when running out of fuel. By strange coincidence, Mr. Cicare started his Bell 206 conversion in 2006 only months after Toms death.

It's a good idea! A country like Argentina would benefit from building a "Gaucho" version of a Bell 206. But, let's not forget to give Bell their credit for their part too.

[Rotor Rooter]

Any idea why the tail on the Load Ranger is so short?

It would appear that the large number of small vertical stabilizers were later add-ons.

[brett s]

It's not that the tail is short, it's that they stuck a very long nose on an existing drivetrain - also probably why they ended up adding the vertical stabilizers, with all that surface area in front of the cg.

[DennisFetters]

Any idea why the tail on the Load Ranger is so short?

It would appear that the large number of small vertical stabilizers were later add-ons.

It's the angle of the picture. The big difference is the Load Ranger had a large cargo area in the belly. I'll post more;

[Rotor Rooter]

Thanks guys for the info.

The initially thought was that the cheap plastic glasses on my nose had warped. :)