Jared,
Are we able to post short videos in these threads?
Or, is it only pictures.

The photo below was taken at one of our Western States Fly-ins back in the early 1990's at the Orland County airport in northern California. Sheila and I are flying our Exec 152 past friends checking out a Scorpion II while Dan Vandusen was doing aerial photo shoots from his Exec 152. About this time Rotorway came out with their latest model the Exec 90. The 90 had landing gear that was around 6" taller than those on the 152, A taller main rotor shaft by 6" and the doghouse did not have the air intake hole in the front that the 152s all had. 





I wanted to modify my doghouse to make it look like the new Exec 90, who needs a hole in the front of the doghouse anyway? With a couple of late evenings worth of work I covered the hole with fiberglass and painted it to match the rest of the doghouse and I was really proud of my handiwork. I hovered the helicopter and monitored the temps and all appeared normal after the modification. 

Some friends invited us to join them for lunch in Lower Lake on the shore of Clear Lake in northern California and I was excited to show off my dog house modification to them. We set a time for Sheila and I to meet them and called just prior to lifting off. It was about a 60 mile flight which we could easily accomplish in about an hour. We left our home around 11am and began transitioning our route from the Sacramento valley over the coastal range mountains. Our route had us climb several thousand feet and as we climbed over the highest mountain on our route Sheila told be to land because she was getting burned on her thigh. 

The Execs did not have an enclosed collective slot for the middle collective, the slot was open to the tub and engine compartment. My modification of closing off the hole in the front of the doghouse had dramatically changed the air flow in the engine compartment and now hot air off the exhaust pipes was entering the cabin through the center slot, right below the passengers thigh. As we climbed over the mountain at full power and slower airspeed, the intense exhaust heat was literally blistering my wife"s thigh. She told me "Land now or I will land it!".

Near the top of the mountain there was a small grass covered meadow so I entered an auto, flared and landed on the flat grassy "meadow". As I lowered the collective the surface gave way and the skids began to sink as grey mud oozed up over both skids. This was not a meadow but a grass covered mud bog with about an inch of dry cracked soil covering the mud. As I lifted the collective to keep from sinking the pilot side skid broke free of the
mud's suction but the passenger side skid held firm and as I added collective input the helicopter tilted dangerously to the passenger side...what to do??

Sheila was hurting and our helicopter was trapped in a mud bog on top of a isolated mountain at a serious right tilt. I did not dare to lower the collective because we would just sink more into the bog. I then recalled a previous flight instructor telling me about getting a skid stuck on the ice of a frozen lake. He had told me that he was able to break free by using the anti-torque pedals to wiggle the helicopter back and forth with upward collective and it broke free of the ice so that is what I did. As I wiggled the helicopter back and forth with just enough collective to keep from sinking the right skid came up out of the mud and I was then able to skid the helicopter lightly across the dry surface to the shore line where there were some rocks so I assumed it was solid there, it was. At that altitude above sea level the little Exec did not have the power to totally break the ground and hover so skidding it was all I could do.

I shut the helicopter down once we were resting on solid ground and sheila jumped out and checked her burns, sure enough she had several large burn blisters on the side of her left thigh. I realized that my dog house hole covering modification had drastically changed the airflow through the engine bay and was the reason for the burns to my wife's leg. I always fly with my Leatherman multi-tool and I used it to cut out the fiberglass cover over the hole in the doghouse, it wasn't pretty but it would do. Our present altitude on top of the mountain was well above our near sea level hover performance and I had to get airborne to depart this desolate bog. 

With the low-powered Execs it was not uncommon to run the main rotor RPM up to the red line then increase collective to jump the helicopter off the ground so that is what I did. As we jumped off the surface I made a left turn letting the torque turn the nose of the helicopter as a right turn would require anti-torque and rob the engine power to the main rotor and I needed every bit of that power to accelerate through ETL. Once through ETL we continued our flight and as we approached the Lower Lake gang anxiously waiting for us we could see that they were relieved that we had made it although we were over due. 

When we landed we were told that they knew there was a story to tell by the long clumps of grass and mud still hanging from the helicopter skids. We had a great visit, a good lunch, and shared lessons learned. One of the guys there to meet us was Nathan Fronsman with his wife Elaine. The other was Len Chriysler. I have an interesting story of one of Nathan's modifications that did not fare well either, for another time. 

Christopher Kiss of Kiss the Wind aviation is now offering flight instruction in your Rotorway as well as his own R22. He can take you all the way to CFI if you desire. I have been mentoring him in all the ways of the Rotorway helicopters. Give him a call at 1-310-779-5477. He is located near me in West Plains Missouri. He will travel to you or you can bring your Rotorway to him or come to him and receive training in his R22.

I would like to introduce everyone to Christopher Kiss if Kiss The Wind aviation. I have been giving Christopher Rotorway transition training in both turbo and non turbo Rotorway’s both with and without governors. Christopher has an R22 Bll that he provides training in from basic private pilot all the way through CFI helicopter. He also has a DPE to give you your check ride. Christopher will instruct you in your Rotorway here in Missouri or will travel to your location to provide flight instruction.

You can contact Christopher at +1 (310) 779-5477

Bill was a really nice man who was always willing to help out his fellow Sierra Rotorcraft Club members. When I was building my first Exec 152 Bill was flying his jet black Exec 152 regularly. When I completed my build I went to get me hover training at the Rotorway factory in the late 1980s and received my solo hover endorsement after only 5 hours on the controls. I was not ready but that is all the time that they allowed at the factory training center for the week that they held class. 

When I got home I followed the factory advice to tie the helicopter down with ropes and try lifting off solo. All I achieved by doing that was to have the helicopter slide sideways and hang precariously by the rope and with one skid in the air and one on the ground. This was not what I was comfortable with. I called Bill and he told me to bring my Exec up to Lake Beryessa and he would help me out. I hauled it up to the large asphalt parking lot near the boat ramp and unloaded it from my trailer and about that time Bill flew in with his Exec 152 and landed. 

Once the helicopter was ready to fly Bill got into the passenger seat and was there to assist me if I needed him. I was able to perform a very nice lift off with Bill just sitting there and realized that all I had needed was for the helicopter to be properly balanced/balasted like it was in flight training and then I could hover it. We hovered together for about an hour then Bill asked me if I would like to go from a ride in his Exec over the lake. That sounded great to me so  we got into his ship and lifted off. Remember that these Execs had single ignition one plug per cylinder fed by an upside down distributor powered by a Malory coil that was prone to failure (but I did not know that at the time). 

The lake was at a historic low due to the drought and Bill wanted to show me an old flooded town that was now beginning to be visible as the water level dropped. We flew way out over the lake at around 50 feet over the water and waved at some boaters as we enjoyed the flight. I was oblivious to the danger of flying so low over the water with no place to land in an emergency but ignorance is bliss, so they say. 
Here is a photo that I took of Bill flying at one of our gatherings.






As we approached the sunken town Bill slowed the helicopter below ETL for us to get a good look and as he did so the helicopter began to descend toward the water. I saw the rotor RPM decreasing as Bill applied full throttle but we were going down. There was a very small island with steep gravel banks next to us so Bill was able to just make it to a landing on that slope with the nose pointing up the steep hill and the tail rotor just inches above the water. At least we did not crash into the lake. 

Bill shut the helicopter down and we got out to assess the situation. Bill asked me what I would do to get us off the island safely. I told him that he was the trained pilot and he responded that he had a couple of hours in an R22 then then began flying his Exec with no further flight training. I had no other helicopter experience than my hover training at Rotorway and the one hour of hover with Bill so I told him that it seemed like our only option was to get in, run the rotor RPM up to red line, then jump the helicopter off the steep slope otherwise if we just got light it would slide into the water. Bill thought that might work so we got in and fired up the engine. Bill ran the RPM up to red line as this ignorant conspirator suggested and then yanked the collective up popping us up and backwards out over the water without the tail rotor contacting the lake. He dumped the nose, gained airspeed and we actually were able to pass through ETL before contacting the water. 

We made it back to the parking lot and landed and at that time I learned a very valuable lesson. Do not assume that just because a person is flying their own helicopter, they are well trained and experienced. There were several dangerous things that Bill did on that flight. First he flew at low altitude over the water with no escape plan should the helicopter experience an emergency. Second he slowed to below ETL over water which provides little or no ground effect to help with lift, third is he trusted the advice of his passenger that had virtually no flight experience in helicopters. The Lord was good to us and we made it back safely. 

As I completed my flight training at the Rotorway factory and earned my private pilot Rotorcraft Helicopter certificate I got heavily involved with the Sierra Rotorcraft club. Most of our members were from California including Jeff Dunham the ventriloquist who always brought Peanut, Arthur, and Jose to our meets in northern California. At the time that I earned my rotorcraft rating, there were only about three members of the club that had their helicopter ratings. Others had beautiful helicopters but would bring them to the gathering, polish them, start the engines and run them on the ground but they did not know how to fly them. I began flying with those members that wanted to learn. 

One of our members Len C. was a CFI but had been in an accident and had his legs crushed so he wore heavy metal braces. He could not operate the anti-torque pedals so I would fly with the student pilot and Len would direct us on the radio as he sat and watched us go through the maneuvers. We ended up getting most of the club members trained in their helicopters by this method. More to come.

Several of years ago one of my students was in need of an engine overhaul and Joe Huff had not yet offered his engine overhaul services at that time. My students contacted a guy named Kasey in Montana who advertised that he was an engine expert and for a mere $34k he would rebuild the engine.

After two years at the Montana shop my students contacted finally had his engine back and we installed it into his 162f turbo ship. We put 25 hours of hover time on the helicopter to insure that the rebuilt engine would be reliable. At that point we began his altitude training and headed to the local airport for some pattern work.

The wind had increased to around 20 knots and it was time for fuel. The wind was out of the west so we hovered up to the pumps from the east facing west. After fueling I went into great detail on how we should depart the pumps and rejoin the pattern. We had hangars to our south, the FBO building to our west, and a large maintenance hangar to the north east. I explained that we would pick up into a hover and continue to keep the nose into the wind as we began moving to the north and gaining altitude.


I explained to my student that if we followed that course we would have the best option to land the helicopter should we experience an in-flight emergency. I noted that there was a wooded area several hundred yards to our north and should we experience an emergency over those trees we could veer off to our right toward the clear area of the taxiway and runway.


We lifted off, made our radio calls and followed our planned takeoff profile. As we gained speed and altitude we were about 300 feet over the trees when the engine suddenly quit. I immediately dropped the collective and turned the helicopter to a hard right toward the runway. The stiff wind caught us and accelerated us toward the runway. I did not wish to attempt a downwind landing so I applied right pedal and cyclic to turn the ship back into the stiff west wind.


As we quickly approached the runway from the northeast I realized that if I landed on the north-south runway facing west, the airport would be shut down until we could retrieve the ground handling wheels and that would incur a lot of red tape that preferred to avoid. I had just enough rotor inertia left to set the helicopter down in the grass between the runway and taxiway preventing an airport shutdown.


We walked to the FBO, borrowed a courtesy car, and went back to my training center for the truck, trailer and ground handling wheels. On inspection we found that the builder had installed hydraulic lifters in the engine which failed breaking the cam shaft in the process. When I called the engine builder his response was “that’s interesting”. We never heard from him again.

who's got a list of temp sticker locations and temps?

i know the belt pulleys are 170/180 so a 160-170-180-190 sticker is what i'll run,

i'll have bearing temp gauges for secondary, main, and tail rotorbrearings aswell. but want stickers here at these locations too.

anyone have any other recommendations?

im replacing mine due to age... these dont last forever and i dont think should be trusted beyond 10 years.

This is my latest design to remove the hot air that the engine produces, It is controlled by a temperature sensor that I mount on the rear of the engine case where the 2 crankcases meet, the idea is to keep the rising hot air to evacuate the engine bay area. As I fully enclose the top of the radiator so only outside air can get to the radiator, no hot air is evacuated. Hence the current belt driven fan sucks that hot air into it and pushes it through the radiator,  ( hot air trying to cool hot water???). I remove most of the dog box flap so the upward facing fan simply pushes that hot air out via the openings in the flap, The fan itself is automatic via its adjustable temperature relay and an override switch on the consul.
The top of the fan is inline with the top of the flap opening. 

Long shot, but does anyone know the story behind the unfinished Exec 90 pictured? The current owner, Roman "Vio" Lazar in NJ says he bought it about 20 years ago through an advertisement. He thinks the builder was in the midwest, but he doesn't remember, and there were no builder's logs.

Weird story, sort of. Sadly, the general arc of "unfinished and neglected" does seem like a rather common story for Rotorway projects. I figured I'd reach out in case it stirred anyone's memories.

He never did anything with it, it's been overrun by rats, and he'd like to get rid of it. I'd like to build an Exec, and I'm interested in using this one essentially as a base kit, to be fully rebuilt.

Here is the final report on a student pilot who kept flying over two years after his solo flight endorsement expired. He was a great guy and took meticulous care of his helicopter but did not complete his training and most likely allowed his airplane habits transfer one time into his helicopter inputs. Rest in peace Vince.

N51017 Rotorway Scorpion 133 Andale, Kansas

July 5, 2024, 08:01 Local

1 Fatal Injury

Pilot Flight Time:
PPL - 128 hours (Total, all aircraft), 61.4 hours (Total, this make and model)

The pilot departed from his residence on a local area flight to practice maneuvers in the experimental helicopter. A witness heard a loud “bang” and observed debris separating from the helicopter as it descended to the ground. Surveillance camera audio captured the sound of the helicopter’s experimental engine at a constant high-power setting, followed by a momentary reduction in power. Shortly thereafter, the audio captured multiple impacts and the helicopter came into view inverted, then descended to the ground. A postimpact fire consumed the wreckage.

Postaccident examination of the wreckage found that the aft tailboom had separated from the helicopter and was located about 150 yards from the main wreckage. An impact mark consistent with the shape of a main rotor blade was noted at the right side of the tubular structure at the separation area, consistent with a main rotor blade impact.

While no mechanical anomalies were found during the airframe and engine examination, the examination was limited due to extensive fire damage.

The throttle control cable was found thermally separated from the collective control and the snap-out ball joint was not in the safety position; it was found separated from the carburetor. However, the surveillance audio of the engine’s reduction and increase of rpm before the main rotor’s impact with the tailboom are consistent with an intact throttle control and indicate that the throttle cable likely separated from the carburetor during the impact with terrain.

The pilot did not hold a helicopter rating. His last solo endorsement was October 07, 2022, and was valid until January 05, 2023. The accident occurred 18 months after the expiration of the last solo endorsement, and the pilot was not authorized to conduct solo flight operations at the time of the accident.

The pilot previously reported that he felt uncomfortable performing autorotations and requested additional training from a flight instructor; however, it was unknown what maneuvers he was performing during the accident flight.

Teetering main rotor systems, such as the one on the accident helicopter, are particularly susceptible to main rotor mast bumping during the low-G conditions that result from abrupt forward (nose-down) cyclic inputs. Based on the available evidence the pilot likely applied abrupt control inputs while performing an unknown maneuver, which resulted in main rotor mast bumping during a low-G condition and subsequent main rotor blade contact with and subsequent separation of the tailboom.

Probable Cause and Findings:
Abrupt control inputs, which resulted in a low-G condition, main rotor mast bumping, and subsequent severing of the tailboom by the main rotor blades.