2 hours ago
After Bill had supposedly upgraded his hoses and belts we decided to take a group flight up the coast of California. The plan was that we would all meet at the Petaluma airport at around 10am to top off our tanks and then continue from there. Sheila and I flew our Exec to the Nut Tree airport in Vacaville and topped it off. Remember that this was in the early 90s and our Execs had very marginal power. When our little Exec was full of fuel and two aboard it could not maintain a hover on a warm day. I had stainless steel skid shoes so I would get it light on the skids and then slide it across the asphalt/concrete/grass until it reached ETL and would become airborne. This was just a normal procedure in those days.
We met up with the group in Petaluma and topped off our tanks then proceeded to fly out over Bodega Bay turning north to follow the coastline up to Fort Ross. It was a beautiful flight but about half way to Ft. Ross Bill had to set down on a grassy bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I don't recall the reason but between the 4 pilots there were were able to solve the issue with Bill's Exec and continue the flight. We landed on the top of a cliff near Ft. Ross and enjoyed a picnic lunch that we had packed. Following lunch we lifted off and followed the Russian River up to the Healdsburg airport for fuel. After fueling we each headed our own ways back to our home bases.
At a Sierra Rotorcraft meet at the Ranch Marietta airport in CA. we all had our motor homes and helicopters ready for a great time. This particular morning we had planned a group fly out and as the rest of us were doing our pre-flights, Bill and his wife took off in their Exec anxious to get airborne. Next to the parking ramp where we were inspecting our helicopters was a 4 foot deep drainage ditch and on the other side of the ditch was a bean field with soybean plants that were several feet tall. Bill decided to wait for us to lift off so he made an approach over the beans to a hover. He had not been taught that tall vegetation will negate the ground effect needed to hover and as a result his helicopter began to sink into the bean plants. He made a valiant effort to reach the asphalt ramp but he ran out of rotor RPM just as he was crossing the 4 foot deep drainage ditch and crashed into the ditch. The main rotor blades severed the tail boom and the landing gear collapsed.
We all helped Bill load his wreck onto his trailer to take it home and rebuild it.
Several months later Bill showed up with is rebuilt Exec with new fiberglass main rotor blades. He asked me if I wanted to try hovering it which I did and I found that the blades performed very differently than any of the Rotorways that I had previously flown. As I added collective the helicopter got light on the skids then suddenly launched into a 3 foot hover. As I slowly lowered the collective the helicopter dropped hard onto the asphalt. I had no idea why it performed that way at the time but now I know that Bill had set his Lead Lag center of pressure incorrectly allowing the more flexible fiberglass rotor blades to twist enough to launch the helicopter. I declined to fly it any more but Bill told me that it was just a matter of getting accustomed to the blades.
One issue with Bill's rebuild that we all noticed and mentioned to him was that he had cut his main rotor blade teeter stops way too short so that when parked he could lash the main rotor blade against the side of the tail boom, the shortened teeter stops allowed the rotor system to teeter that much. One day on wind down after a flight one of the main rotor blades was caught bu a gust of wind and actually hit the top of his tail boom leaving a sizable dent in the tail skin. Bill continued to fly his Exec in that condition UNTIL....
We were now at the 1996 Sierra Rotorcraft Western States Fly-in being held at the decommissioned Mather Air Force Base east of Sacramento. We had a great time with about 10 Rotorways flying and participating in the helicopter games that we all enjoyed. We had done the Helicopter Bartender where the passenger has a pitcher of water and while the pilot hovers via verbal cues from the passenger, they lean out and pour as much water into another pitcher with all of the rotor wash making it quite challenging. The winner was the team that got the most water transferred.
Another favorite was the bomb drop. We would fly at 60mph and 100 feet over a target surrounded by concentric rings, each team would get 3 water balloons and make 3 passes. The winner was the one who gained the most points, it is harder than one thinks. The last game we played was helicopter soccer. We set up two cones about 10 feet apart and another two about 50 yards away and 10 feet apart. The ground crew would place a large beach ball with a quart of water in it to keep it on the ground between the first two cones, the helicopter team would then approach the beach ball and herd it down the field and between the other two traffic cones. The winning team did it in the least amount of time.
We were all finished with the games, helicopters parked for the day, when Bill flew in from Napa to say hello. He had been working at a Boy Club event all day but wanted to see all of his helicopter friends before we left the next day. After about an hour of visiting Bill said that he was going to fly out to get fuel and then head back to Napa. Before he got into his helicopter he grabbed two water balloons, a yellow one and an orange one. I asked him what he planned on doing with them and he stated that he was going to do the balloon drop just for fun before heading out. I cautioned his about doing and asked him just how he planned on executing the process. He stuck the stems of the two balloons into his mouth and held them in his teeth demonstrating how he planned on carrying and launching them.
We all watch as Bill lifted off with the two water balloons behind his heels on the floor, we waved goodby and saw him turn down wind to line up for the balloon toss. He was flying solo and as he reached down for a water balloon he inadvertently moved the cyclic forward and the tail of the helicopter rose as the nose dropped. Noticing the downward pitch of the nose we speculate that Bill made a sudden aft cyclic over correction followed by a rapid forward cyclic input. We watched the nose of the helicopter pitch down, then up then down again at which time there was a huge bang and the aft portion of his tail boom was seen spiraling to the ground. At the same time the helicopter rotated about 90 degrees to the side and dropped like a rock into the field 200 feet below and erupted into a huge ball of flames.
We all grabbed fire extinguishers and rushed to the crash, jumped through the flames of the growing grass fire to put out the fire on the helicopter. At first we could not find Bill. Hope against hope that somehow he had been thrown clear and survived. I found his wire rimmed glasses in the charred grass and it wasn't until I returned to the burnt wreckage that I found Bill, obviously he did not survive.
Bill had minimal flight instruction but he flew anyway. He disregarded the advice of his fellow pilots, and he attempted a maneuver that I personally told him was unsafe to try. Rest in peace Bill and may we all learn from your mistakes my friend.
We met up with the group in Petaluma and topped off our tanks then proceeded to fly out over Bodega Bay turning north to follow the coastline up to Fort Ross. It was a beautiful flight but about half way to Ft. Ross Bill had to set down on a grassy bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I don't recall the reason but between the 4 pilots there were were able to solve the issue with Bill's Exec and continue the flight. We landed on the top of a cliff near Ft. Ross and enjoyed a picnic lunch that we had packed. Following lunch we lifted off and followed the Russian River up to the Healdsburg airport for fuel. After fueling we each headed our own ways back to our home bases.
At a Sierra Rotorcraft meet at the Ranch Marietta airport in CA. we all had our motor homes and helicopters ready for a great time. This particular morning we had planned a group fly out and as the rest of us were doing our pre-flights, Bill and his wife took off in their Exec anxious to get airborne. Next to the parking ramp where we were inspecting our helicopters was a 4 foot deep drainage ditch and on the other side of the ditch was a bean field with soybean plants that were several feet tall. Bill decided to wait for us to lift off so he made an approach over the beans to a hover. He had not been taught that tall vegetation will negate the ground effect needed to hover and as a result his helicopter began to sink into the bean plants. He made a valiant effort to reach the asphalt ramp but he ran out of rotor RPM just as he was crossing the 4 foot deep drainage ditch and crashed into the ditch. The main rotor blades severed the tail boom and the landing gear collapsed.
We all helped Bill load his wreck onto his trailer to take it home and rebuild it.
Several months later Bill showed up with is rebuilt Exec with new fiberglass main rotor blades. He asked me if I wanted to try hovering it which I did and I found that the blades performed very differently than any of the Rotorways that I had previously flown. As I added collective the helicopter got light on the skids then suddenly launched into a 3 foot hover. As I slowly lowered the collective the helicopter dropped hard onto the asphalt. I had no idea why it performed that way at the time but now I know that Bill had set his Lead Lag center of pressure incorrectly allowing the more flexible fiberglass rotor blades to twist enough to launch the helicopter. I declined to fly it any more but Bill told me that it was just a matter of getting accustomed to the blades.
One issue with Bill's rebuild that we all noticed and mentioned to him was that he had cut his main rotor blade teeter stops way too short so that when parked he could lash the main rotor blade against the side of the tail boom, the shortened teeter stops allowed the rotor system to teeter that much. One day on wind down after a flight one of the main rotor blades was caught bu a gust of wind and actually hit the top of his tail boom leaving a sizable dent in the tail skin. Bill continued to fly his Exec in that condition UNTIL....
We were now at the 1996 Sierra Rotorcraft Western States Fly-in being held at the decommissioned Mather Air Force Base east of Sacramento. We had a great time with about 10 Rotorways flying and participating in the helicopter games that we all enjoyed. We had done the Helicopter Bartender where the passenger has a pitcher of water and while the pilot hovers via verbal cues from the passenger, they lean out and pour as much water into another pitcher with all of the rotor wash making it quite challenging. The winner was the team that got the most water transferred.
Another favorite was the bomb drop. We would fly at 60mph and 100 feet over a target surrounded by concentric rings, each team would get 3 water balloons and make 3 passes. The winner was the one who gained the most points, it is harder than one thinks. The last game we played was helicopter soccer. We set up two cones about 10 feet apart and another two about 50 yards away and 10 feet apart. The ground crew would place a large beach ball with a quart of water in it to keep it on the ground between the first two cones, the helicopter team would then approach the beach ball and herd it down the field and between the other two traffic cones. The winning team did it in the least amount of time.
We were all finished with the games, helicopters parked for the day, when Bill flew in from Napa to say hello. He had been working at a Boy Club event all day but wanted to see all of his helicopter friends before we left the next day. After about an hour of visiting Bill said that he was going to fly out to get fuel and then head back to Napa. Before he got into his helicopter he grabbed two water balloons, a yellow one and an orange one. I asked him what he planned on doing with them and he stated that he was going to do the balloon drop just for fun before heading out. I cautioned his about doing and asked him just how he planned on executing the process. He stuck the stems of the two balloons into his mouth and held them in his teeth demonstrating how he planned on carrying and launching them.
We all watch as Bill lifted off with the two water balloons behind his heels on the floor, we waved goodby and saw him turn down wind to line up for the balloon toss. He was flying solo and as he reached down for a water balloon he inadvertently moved the cyclic forward and the tail of the helicopter rose as the nose dropped. Noticing the downward pitch of the nose we speculate that Bill made a sudden aft cyclic over correction followed by a rapid forward cyclic input. We watched the nose of the helicopter pitch down, then up then down again at which time there was a huge bang and the aft portion of his tail boom was seen spiraling to the ground. At the same time the helicopter rotated about 90 degrees to the side and dropped like a rock into the field 200 feet below and erupted into a huge ball of flames.
We all grabbed fire extinguishers and rushed to the crash, jumped through the flames of the growing grass fire to put out the fire on the helicopter. At first we could not find Bill. Hope against hope that somehow he had been thrown clear and survived. I found his wire rimmed glasses in the charred grass and it wasn't until I returned to the burnt wreckage that I found Bill, obviously he did not survive.
Bill had minimal flight instruction but he flew anyway. He disregarded the advice of his fellow pilots, and he attempted a maneuver that I personally told him was unsafe to try. Rest in peace Bill and may we all learn from your mistakes my friend.