After 40 years of building and working on Rotorway helicopters, this week I discovered something that I had never experienced before. I have a client who had a shop rebuild his engine and I told him that I required at least 5 hours of trouble free hovering before we would take the helicopter to altitude. This precaution is to prove that the newly rebuilt engine and all re-installed components were working properly before risking our lives in the air. 

My client was getting bored with just hovering and so began doing quick stops from one end of my grass strip to the other. At the 3 hour mark he noticed what seemed like a slight miss in the engine and he set it down for me to take a look at it. I advised that we change the fuel filter and check the fuel screen to insure sufficient fuel flow as a first check. We installed a new fuel filter and the screen was clean. On start-up the engine ran well but in hover there was an occasional miss. 

We checked every connection, wire, and hose to try to find something that would cause the miss to no avail. The next time we started the engine it was running very roughly and would die after a few seconds of running. At that point I thought that perhaps we had some bad fuel so we drained the fuel system and added fresh 91 octane. With fresh fuel in the tanks we now could not even get the engine to fire or even backfire. What could be the problem?

We were both thankful for my 5 hours of testing near the ground before altitude flight rule. After 19 real autorotations due to engine or system failures in my career I am not wanting to make it 20. 

We spent several days trouble shooting every system and could not find a reason why we now had no spark or fuel injection. The Fadec computers seemed fine but the engine would not fire on either fadec. Tuesday evening ended with both of us frustrated and brain fried so I called a buddy who has just retired from his auto service and engine shop and he agreed to come out yesterday morning to give the engine his expert opinion. 

Before Jeff arrived we removed the main drive belts from the engine pulley so that the engine start could be attempted inside of our air conditioned workshop instead of out in the 110 heat index humid air outside. Jeff verified no spark and no fuel injection signals and yet the computer fired up and checked out ready to provide those signals. The computer was not getting the crank position signals from either of the crank sensors. I have heard of a crank sensor going bad but have not had one happen on any of the helicopters that I have flown or worked on. 

How could both crank sensors go bad at the same time? Jeff told us that was nearly impossible so there was another reason why they were not sending the required signal to the computers. He had us remove the drive pulley and flywheel so that we could inspect the trigger wheel that activates the crank sensors. Jeff checked the gap between the trigger wheel teeth and the crank sensor and one gap was too wide and one was too tight. He next used an large screw driver to pry the crank hub to the side and it shifted .080" in either direction. 

Problem discovered. The top crank bearing is allowing the crankshaft and attached trigger wheel to wobble back and forth preventing the crank sensors from receiving the 360 degrees of data that the computer needs to fire the spark plugs and fuel injectors. It was as if the crank sensors had failed but it was actually the top engine crank bearing that failed after only 3 hours, that is if the engine builder had even installed a new bearing and now I am doubtful of that. 

My client is not going to have the same engine builder even touch his engine. We removed it and called Joe Huff who agreed to do a full tear down and blueprint of the engine with installation of any needed components. It is on its way to Texas to Joe's shop as I write this.

I have a client here with a 162f with Joe Huff’s turbo engine. We have replaced the water pump seal 4 times in 2 years due to leakage of coolant around the pump shaft. We decided to eliminate the pump leak problem altogether by installing an electric water pump to replace the belt driven pump. If anyone is going to do this, please e found that we did not have a port on the inlet side of the new pump plumbing to connect the thermostat bypass tube to. Our solution was to cap off the bypass hose and then we drilled four 1/4” holes in the flange of the thermostat to allow enough coolant to bypass the thermostat which allows us to prime the electric pump.

Here are before and after pictures of the installation.

Posted something on OshKosh, can’t even find it!!

Hi all,
Slightly off-topic but figured someone here might have been through similar looking for advice on importing a UK-registered vehicle to Ireland for utility use (mainly hangar runs and towing a small trailer for the A600 build parts).
Context: my old Nissan Navara is on its last legs and the UK market has better deals on light diesels than the Irish market right now (post-Brexit pricing and fleet turnover). I’m looking at a 2021 Ford Ranger from a UK dealer, around £18k.
I’m trying to get a realistic picture of total import cost. From what I understand, the main items are:
- VRT, based on OMSP and vehicle category
-VAT and possibly customs duty for GB imports
-NOx levy for diesel vehicles
On VRT specifically, I initially thought a pickup registered as N1 might qualify for a low flat rate, but it looks like most light commercial vehicles are actually taxed as a percentage of OMSP unless they meet stricter criteria. So the final amount may be significantly higher depending on how Revenue classifies the vehicle.
I know the official figure only comes after inspection, so any estimates should be taken cautiously.
Questions for anyone who's imported a UK vehicle to Ireland (or elsewhere in the EU):

1. Did you use a customs broker or handle it yourself? The post-Brexit paperwork looks like the main complexity.
   
2. How long did it take to get a VRT inspection appointment?
   
3. Any pitfalls with getting (or keeping) N1 classification on a pickup like a Ranger? Does Revenue scrutinise seating/configuration closely?
   

When you back the power off for an approach or practice auto the main belts will oscillate wildly and will slap against the frame tube. Check your frame tubes for black rubber transfer from the belts. Adding a back side idler will keep the belts running true without contacting the frame. Here are some examples.

Dave Armando took Sheila and I up several times for lunch runs in North Carolina. What fun.



Here is a photo of John, Tony and Dave at John’s meet many years after their flight training by me in Rhode Island.

I instructed three great guys in Rhode Island back in 2015 all at the same time.


This year we were all 4 of us in North Carolina; John Garabedian with his Bell 47, Tony Evans in his 162f and Dave Armando in his R44.

I had a client who installed Safari main rotor blades onto his Rotorway 162f. We were at hover height just beginning our takeoff when the helicopter instantly flipped up side down and we landed inverted on the top of the rotor hub before the helicopter fell onto its side. The full story is at the top of the page, green button, Rotor system second page. Notice the sod and dirt in the top of the main rotor hub, we actually hit the ground totally inverted then the helicopter fell over onto it's side, 

I had a client who installed Safari main rotor blades onto his Rotorway 162f. We were at hover height just beginning our takeoff when the helicopter instantly flipped up side down and we landed inverted on the top of the rotor hub before the helicopter fell onto its side. The full story is at the top of the page, green button, Rotor system second page.


Notice the dirt and sod in the top of the rotor hub.

I expect at last one person to take issue with this but I am posting a modification that I have done on my own Rotorway helicopters and it has worked out wonderfully for me. Many years ago I became frustrated with the inability to get wrenches or my hand into the tail boom just forward of the tail rotor slider assembly.

I measured the distance between the bottom slider rails to be just over 4” so I used a 4” hole saw and installed an access hole between the slider rails on the bottom of the tail boom. This mod has worked out great for me and I have trailered my ship to many meets over thousands of miles of bumpy roads with absolutely no issues. I am not recommending this for you, I am just telling you what I did and would do again.