shelf life dragon wing RFD

Richard31

Newbie
Joined
May 1, 2020
Messages
26
Location
Toulouse, France
Aircraft
Trike AirCreation GTE 582 ES with iFun16
Total Flight Time
500
Hi,

i am french homebuilder and have great interest in Dominator single seat design, i am new in this domain, currently trike pilot. i have one question concerning the shelf life of dragon wing aluminum blades. if i well understand these blade are made from aluminium and epoxy. i have the possibility to buy a pair of old dragon wing blade from 1986 which have never been flown (seams to be 23 foot). these blades have got rivet all along the trailing edge. Is there a shelf life about these blade ? Does it exist a simple test before flying with them ? thanks for your help :)
 
You have some of the very first DW rotorblades Richard. They used an adhesive made by American Cyanamid that required a much higher curing temperature than later blades. But the blades should still be airworthy.
 
Borrow a 25 cent American Coin from a Robinson helicopter pilot and tap the blades to listen for hollow spots.

HUMOR !!!!! sorry I couldn't help it .... haaaa

Welcome Richard31 ... best wishes.

ps: that coin-tap proceedure was actual Robinson factory instructions when they were having all the blade delamination problems
 
You have some of the very first DW rotorblades Richard. They used an adhesive made by American Cyanamid that required a much higher curing temperature than later blades. But the blades should still be airworthy.
Thanks for the info! Blade and rotor was imported by an Italian importator in the 80’. Try to found the company name but difficult.
 
I loved my Dragon wings and saw them flight tested by Ernie.

They could flap quite quickly at low RRPS were almost impossible to pat up but flew beautifully and performed well.

I saw two instances where a friend in a cricket got airborne but then remained just above the runway. We all expected a zoom climb at the end but instead he disappeared over the hedge. We all then got extremely concerned but then saw him climb away from lower ground. When he got back he described being unable to accelerate the rotor and only when he barely made it over the hedge had been able to dip into the valley where the rotor began accelerating normally.

Another was an Instructor/Examiner friend. We had gone to do a flight test on a single seat tall Commander. The owner lived in Holland and wasn’t there, but had asked for it to be done for permit renewal. The friend began with a hop which did not last long at all, and then began taxiing back. He began in Inspecting the rotor blades and remarked that as soon as he got airborne things had felt extremely abnormal. There seemed to have been quite bad delamination and even though riveted the airfoil shape had altered. There were then inspection recommended and I believe a couple of other cases found. This also involved another type of rotor blades.

I believe there had been more than one type of adhesive used in the history of DW's
 
Production of Dragon Wings did not begin until 1991. There were a few built as proof of concept but they were built in 1990. If this is the same set in the picture they were made in May of 1991. Original design but there were improvements to the blades over the years.
 
Production of Dragon Wings did not begin until 1991. There were a few built as proof of concept but they were built in 1990. If this is the same set in the picture they were made in May of 1991. Original design but there were improvements to the blades over the years.
Thanks a lot Mike for the answer, and yes it is the blade set that i have access. Could you help me also for the rotorhead, it doesn't look like all rotorhead that i saw in the web. Is it also first version from 1991 with the blade ? if yes what are the main difference with the last version for the rotorhead and the blade ?
 

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Thanks a lot Mike for the answer, and yes it is the blade set that i have access. Could you help me also for the rotorhead, it doesn't look like all rotorhead that i saw in the web. Is it also first version from 1991 with the blade ? if yes what are the main difference with the last version for the rotorhead and the blade ?
That is one of Dad’s early rotorheads. Probably same year as the blades. 1991.
 
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