Helithruster UFO down

[banaari]

Found this:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10329972

And the Helithruster site is here:
http://www.ufo-helithruster.com/

[Brian Jackson]

From the report:
Two people escaped serious injury when the Helithruster Gyrocopter they were in crashed near Feilding yesterday afternoon.
Fire, police and ambulance officers rushed to the Tainui Aerodrome just after 1.30pm to find one person with moderate back injuries and another with minor injuries following the crash.
They were taken to Palmerston North Hospital.

Man that's a shame. I hope they recover quickly. Do you know if this was a test-run of the designer or are these UFOs in production and this was a patron? I was following their site with some interest lately, but neglected to note where they're based.

[banaari]

That machine appears to be RDP, which as I understand it is the prototype/test-bed aircraft. I had the pleasure of watching that cause a one-aircraft traffic jam, as they towed it over the Auckland harbour bridge on their way to a flyin. Hope the needed fixes (human and machine) aren't too serious... last year they "landed" it on it's tail on a fence; was airborne again soon after.

[PTKay]

"Pair survive helicopter crash"

Nice title, when will they learn what's a gyro ?

[KenSandyEggo]

The author got it right in the story (gyrocopter), but a lot of times the headline is written by an editor in a rush.

[KenSandyEggo]

I will give them credit for the largest amount of bulls**t ever on a website.

"It is capable of flying 600 miles on one fill at the "regular" petrol pump and that is with a 1 hour fuel safety margin.The UFO-HeliThruster can climb at 1500 foot per minute while maintaining a forward speed (TAS) of 90 miles per hour."

They state that their performance figures are based on the EJ-22, although they now recommend the EJ-25. One hour reserve would mean another hundred miles based on their speed figures, so they're claiming 700 miles on a tank of gas. Their tank must hold 50 gallons at least. Yeah, right.....and I'm Mickey Mouse in disguise.

[PTKay]

So is UFO just another gyro-humbug ??? :(

It's a pity, it looks so nice... ;)

[Chopper Reid]

Ken, pleased to see that you are questioning the UFO's performance figures as we here in Australia have questioned the figures as well but they are still sticking to their guns !!

[pwendell]

If I could climb at 1500' per minute at 90mph with enough fuel on board to travel 600 miles plus reserve with an EJ-22, why would I need to spend the extra money for an EJ-25? It sounds like a load of hooyee to me.

[Doug Riley]

The technical discussions on their promotional Web site are riddled with half-truths, although they are not the worst I've seen.

Body drag (or lack of it) has nothing to do with the fundamental issue of pitch stability as a function of the location of the rotor thrust line.

[Canadian Rhino]

Not only does that thing have an amazing climb rate. It would seem it has an amazing fall rate as well! :eek: Ill bet when that pilot gets out of the hospital he will be quoted as saying " Well I Only had 400 Miles On That Tank Of Gas!" :D

[EI-GYRO]

The fuel tank on a UFO is BIG.

[KenSandyEggo]

Not 700 miles big. They state their tank holds 28.5 U.S. gallons which comes to a burn rate of 4 gallons per hour. With a 2.2, you'd have to be at full throttle to maintain 100 m.p.h. and the burn would be double that. :rolleyes:

[EI-GYRO]

Welllllll, Maybe as they are on the bottom of the planet its easier to get off the ground.
Whatever else the UFO is, it is aerodynamically as clean as a gyro gets, so maybe.
On the other hand, salesmen speak in strange tongues.

Cheers

EI-GYRO (now EI-CVW).

[Brent_Brown]

Been emailed this explanation of the UFO incident.


Student with 4000 hrs fixed wing and 2500 helicopter was supposed to get a rating in the machine last Thursday and then fly the UFO back to Auckland. No dual control, no intercom, Instructor had never flown the UFO from the right hand seat, and student did not get his hand onto the control until attempting to take off. Instructor did fly 3 circuits with him and did 3 hop/landings before putting student in the left hand seat. Got into the air, all over the place with student trying to work out the right place for the control column, full power, it looked like it bounced, then pitched up in the air, no forward speed to speak of into a torque roll. It wasn't pretty."

Brian

[mceagle]

Something does not add up here.

How could the student "not get his hand on the control until attempting to take off" if there was no dual control?
If both could operate the control then why did not the Instructor take over?
A student with 6500 hrs including 2500 hrs rotary wing would normally have no problem flying a gyroplane.
Is it true that such an expensive Gyroplane does not have dual controls or an intercom?
With the quoted power and performance of this gyro it should have had no trouble flying away fron behind the power curve.

It almost sounds as though something has not been fully detailed here.

[PW_Plack]

Tim,

He couldn't get his hand on the controls because there are none on that side...he could only reach the controls after he switched places with the instructor, and attempted his first takeoff.

Here in the states, the regs limit instruction to aircraft with dual controls.

[banaari]

...
Student with 4000 hrs fixed wing and 2500 helicopter was supposed to get a rating in the machine last Thursday and then fly the UFO back to Auckland.
...


If I read that correctly - this is utterly bizarre. I can't work out what would have possessed the owner(s) to think they could just hand the machine over to an ab-initio gyro pilot for a (very long) cross-country.
Something doesn't quite add up.

[KenSandyEggo]

It adds up as much as their performance and endurance claims......pure bulls**t.

[EI-GYRO]

The control stick is centrally mounted between the seats.
Cant remember what the throttle arrangement is.
Can easily understand the confusion of a pilot trying to get
to grips with the machine (wrong-handed, so to speak).
Dont think it has the R-22 t-bar. (maybe it should).

You can always tell a fixed-wing pilot........, but you cant tell him much. ;-)

[KenSandyEggo]

Yeah, I guess you're right. If they could get their specs printed in some newspaper somewhere, then we'd know positively that they have to be true.

[mceagle]

after a heated discusion during the takeoff in which neither the student nor instructor could decide who should take the single available stick, they decided to change seats.The plot gets thicker all the time. Imagine attempting to change seats during the take off phase. I'm starting to get quite a kick out of this.

[Canadian Rhino]

Well with that 700 mile range of fuel they would have to be quite heavy! :D

[Hognose]

If they could get their specs printed in some newspaper somewhere, then we'd know positively that they have to be true.

They were gonna be on 60 Minutes Wednesday, but as part of the systematic targeting of journalists by the Army, that show was cancelled.

cheers

-=K=-