https://rotorwayforums.com/ Sun, 13 Sep 2026 04:43:10 +0000 MyBB https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-244.html Thu, 10 Sep 2026 12:52:00 -0500 Jon Davis]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-244.html TESTING THE 720-12R WESTACH ROTOR SHAFT HALL EFFECT SENDER UNIT.

This sender can be simply yet accurately tested either in situ in the helicopter or as a “bench test”.  If in situ then it can be tested whilst connected to the rotortach and I’ll do a separate post for that that also includes testing the rotortach itself.

However this thread is for testing the hall effect sender when it is NOT connected to the rotortach.  It is a simple but important  fundamental test of the sender itself, and I think this is a particularly useful test when there appears to be some problem with the rotor speed display and there is a difficulty identifying whether the problem is actually with the sender, the rotortach, or the wiring.

All you will need is a multimeter, a resistor, a magnet, and a voltage source - anything between 5V – 12V.

NOTE:  the sender unit expects to see the South pole of a magnet.  It won't work with a North pole.

A few comments relating to the alignment of the magnet ring :-
1/  The active part of the hall effect sender is dead centre in the middle of the threaded barrel.  Ensure that your magnet ring is vertically aligned so that the centre of it passes over the centre of the sender. If it is too high or low then the sensor in the sender may not “see” the magnet.  There have been a couple of different styles of magnet rings over the decades, but the same theory holds.
2/  Don’t adjust the sender so that it is almost touching the magnets.  It’s not necessary.  The actual hall effect sensor semiconductor used in the sender is extremely sensitive to shock or any impact. If a magnet hits or touches the epoxy face of the sender it is likely to damage it. Typically 1.5-2.0mm gap should work fine.

Instructions are in the drawing.  Let me know your comments and if anyone has any questions.




  Hall Effect Sender test circuit.pdf (Size: 10.01 KB / Downloads: 6) ]]> TESTING THE 720-12R WESTACH ROTOR SHAFT HALL EFFECT SENDER UNIT.

This sender can be simply yet accurately tested either in situ in the helicopter or as a “bench test”.  If in situ then it can be tested whilst connected to the rotortach and I’ll do a separate post for that that also includes testing the rotortach itself.

However this thread is for testing the hall effect sender when it is NOT connected to the rotortach.  It is a simple but important  fundamental test of the sender itself, and I think this is a particularly useful test when there appears to be some problem with the rotor speed display and there is a difficulty identifying whether the problem is actually with the sender, the rotortach, or the wiring.

All you will need is a multimeter, a resistor, a magnet, and a voltage source - anything between 5V – 12V.

NOTE:  the sender unit expects to see the South pole of a magnet.  It won't work with a North pole.

A few comments relating to the alignment of the magnet ring :-
1/  The active part of the hall effect sender is dead centre in the middle of the threaded barrel.  Ensure that your magnet ring is vertically aligned so that the centre of it passes over the centre of the sender. If it is too high or low then the sensor in the sender may not “see” the magnet.  There have been a couple of different styles of magnet rings over the decades, but the same theory holds.
2/  Don’t adjust the sender so that it is almost touching the magnets.  It’s not necessary.  The actual hall effect sensor semiconductor used in the sender is extremely sensitive to shock or any impact. If a magnet hits or touches the epoxy face of the sender it is likely to damage it. Typically 1.5-2.0mm gap should work fine.

Instructions are in the drawing.  Let me know your comments and if anyone has any questions.




  Hall Effect Sender test circuit.pdf (Size: 10.01 KB / Downloads: 6) ]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-243.html Wed, 09 Sep 2026 21:19:19 -0500 Graeme Smith]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-243.html



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]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-242.html Wed, 09 Sep 2026 21:17:25 -0500 Graeme Smith]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-242.html








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]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-241.html Wed, 09 Sep 2026 18:47:39 -0500 Graeme Smith]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-241.html I am helping a friend who has been adding coolant on a regular basis, not a lot of coolant, but still needs topping up, we use a catch can setup to handle the coolant top up, ie the std RW surge tank is gone and in its place a standard racing catch can is installed where it can be easily seen. The catch can receives any coolant that is released via the radiator cap, then when all cools down that coolant flows back into the radiator, same idea as most cars. The catch can has a coolant level tube that can be seen so the owner knows it has lost some coolant. When he dips the oil tank no water is seen, the oil is visually as it should be. the only place where we see the creamy oil is in the oil catch can (it is connected to the vent tube on the oil tank and its job is to separate any oil in the fumes coming from the oil tank, it has a dip stick and we see about 2 mm of creamy oil when it is removed for inspection. We have pulled off the barrels and checked for cracks between the sleeves at the base of the barrells, no visible crack is seen, and inside the crankcase shows only oil, no creamy at all. So now I have run out of ideas of where the coolant could be getting into the catch can and only there??
Whilst we have the barrels off we plan to machine of the fire ring protrusion and replace with the solid full face gasket and studs, When looking at the talon engine set up it shows the solid head gasket and a base gasket, so I am wondering how much should be machined of the barrels to allow for these instead of the current no base gasket and the fire ring setup, any ideas??]]> I am helping a friend who has been adding coolant on a regular basis, not a lot of coolant, but still needs topping up, we use a catch can setup to handle the coolant top up, ie the std RW surge tank is gone and in its place a standard racing catch can is installed where it can be easily seen. The catch can receives any coolant that is released via the radiator cap, then when all cools down that coolant flows back into the radiator, same idea as most cars. The catch can has a coolant level tube that can be seen so the owner knows it has lost some coolant. When he dips the oil tank no water is seen, the oil is visually as it should be. the only place where we see the creamy oil is in the oil catch can (it is connected to the vent tube on the oil tank and its job is to separate any oil in the fumes coming from the oil tank, it has a dip stick and we see about 2 mm of creamy oil when it is removed for inspection. We have pulled off the barrels and checked for cracks between the sleeves at the base of the barrells, no visible crack is seen, and inside the crankcase shows only oil, no creamy at all. So now I have run out of ideas of where the coolant could be getting into the catch can and only there??
Whilst we have the barrels off we plan to machine of the fire ring protrusion and replace with the solid full face gasket and studs, When looking at the talon engine set up it shows the solid head gasket and a base gasket, so I am wondering how much should be machined of the barrels to allow for these instead of the current no base gasket and the fire ring setup, any ideas??]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-240.html Wed, 09 Sep 2026 18:42:09 -0500 Homer Bell]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-240.html This ship was built in Fla. I hauled it to California over ten years ago where it was finished and I actually did a first hover in his back yard. I don’t think it ever flew much there. Then it went to Texas and did fly a get bit there I think. This ship went thru two owners and this thing had these issues till the end.
Right now , I have a ship that had videos of it doing a short flight and declared ready to go. It actually had bolts in the cyclic control that didn’t have nuts on them.

If you buy a ship and you don’t know for sure what’s in side, especially the controls , better check it out really good.]]> This ship was built in Fla. I hauled it to California over ten years ago where it was finished and I actually did a first hover in his back yard. I don’t think it ever flew much there. Then it went to Texas and did fly a get bit there I think. This ship went thru two owners and this thing had these issues till the end.
Right now , I have a ship that had videos of it doing a short flight and declared ready to go. It actually had bolts in the cyclic control that didn’t have nuts on them.

If you buy a ship and you don’t know for sure what’s in side, especially the controls , better check it out really good.]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-239.html Tue, 08 Sep 2026 04:48:27 -0500 Nick Bachert]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-239.html
Nick]]>
Nick]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-238.html Mon, 07 Sep 2026 18:59:58 -0500 Jim Hardy]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-238.html https://hardy-field.com/  I have to fill my tank soon.  Sure hoping price will drop soon!   


  MGC2026 Brief.pdf (Size: 8.03 MB / Downloads: 4) ]]> https://hardy-field.com/  I have to fill my tank soon.  Sure hoping price will drop soon!   


  MGC2026 Brief.pdf (Size: 8.03 MB / Downloads: 4) ]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-237.html Sun, 06 Sep 2026 12:44:42 -0500 Sam Oliver]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-237.html
 I'm building an A600 from two incomplete kits.   The construction factory videos are made with a much earlier setup so they don't help.   The factory construction manual, specifically Section 15 dated Jan 2017 Page 4, Photo #5 starts the process by asking me to refer to Print E49-8600 and card E49 Card 3T, which I do not have (did not come with my set of documents when I purchased this kit from RotorX prior to them folding.   I appear to have the actual parts, minus the "Tension relief block tool (E49-8681) that are shown in the construction manual.   

Does anybody have a pdf or photo of the construction card and factory drawing the instructions referenced--Print E49-8600 and card E49 Card 3T?
A photo of the tension relief block tool along side a ruler would help.  If it's just an installation tool, Maybe something I could fabricate?

Thanks
Sam]]>
 I'm building an A600 from two incomplete kits.   The construction factory videos are made with a much earlier setup so they don't help.   The factory construction manual, specifically Section 15 dated Jan 2017 Page 4, Photo #5 starts the process by asking me to refer to Print E49-8600 and card E49 Card 3T, which I do not have (did not come with my set of documents when I purchased this kit from RotorX prior to them folding.   I appear to have the actual parts, minus the "Tension relief block tool (E49-8681) that are shown in the construction manual.   

Does anybody have a pdf or photo of the construction card and factory drawing the instructions referenced--Print E49-8600 and card E49 Card 3T?
A photo of the tension relief block tool along side a ruler would help.  If it's just an installation tool, Maybe something I could fabricate?

Thanks
Sam]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-236.html Sat, 05 Sep 2026 08:40:10 -0500 Homer Bell]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-236.html You must probably store parts if you want them to be any good years down the road. Rust and corrosion can destroy new parts that aren’t kept on a good environment.
These blades were so old they needed the doublers glued up and all the rivet mods done. The trading skin had the plastic on them and was perfect under that. The spar had some corrosion, but no use really seeing how bad it was after we found the bad patch near the end.
Properly stored these would be worth over $10k today.
If you have parts, better pull them out and check their conditions. If your buying parts that the seller says are new, better check them out before you determine price. May be worth nothing except junk price. I allowed the owner some money on these for a new set.
I once built up a mock up EXEC that went on Christine Onassis yacht hotel in Rotterdam, Netherlands .
If you go to
Her website you can probably still see sitting on the helipad. So that’s what these may be used for , yard ornaments.]]> You must probably store parts if you want them to be any good years down the road. Rust and corrosion can destroy new parts that aren’t kept on a good environment.
These blades were so old they needed the doublers glued up and all the rivet mods done. The trading skin had the plastic on them and was perfect under that. The spar had some corrosion, but no use really seeing how bad it was after we found the bad patch near the end.
Properly stored these would be worth over $10k today.
If you have parts, better pull them out and check their conditions. If your buying parts that the seller says are new, better check them out before you determine price. May be worth nothing except junk price. I allowed the owner some money on these for a new set.
I once built up a mock up EXEC that went on Christine Onassis yacht hotel in Rotterdam, Netherlands .
If you go to
Her website you can probably still see sitting on the helipad. So that’s what these may be used for , yard ornaments.]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-235.html Fri, 04 Sep 2026 06:18:22 -0500 Graeme Smith]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-235.html

]]>

]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-234.html Sat, 29 Aug 2026 13:09:39 -0500 Lyle Swallows]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-234.html
a few of my Favorites:
1. Chickenhawk
2. 71 Lessons from the sky
3. 9 lives of a bush pilot
4. down to a sunless sea
5. wings over alaska
6. N4 down
7. (a few bell 47 Alaskan/Canadian books) the titles are escaping me...

not all are helicopter related and there's no order of fashion there.
i feel like Orv should write a book at this point with all his amazing posts!]]>
a few of my Favorites:
1. Chickenhawk
2. 71 Lessons from the sky
3. 9 lives of a bush pilot
4. down to a sunless sea
5. wings over alaska
6. N4 down
7. (a few bell 47 Alaskan/Canadian books) the titles are escaping me...

not all are helicopter related and there's no order of fashion there.
i feel like Orv should write a book at this point with all his amazing posts!]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-233.html Sat, 29 Aug 2026 13:09:26 -0500 Orv Neisingh]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-233.html  
We spent the afternoon and following morning there and had a great time visiting with many helicopter-oriented friends. Around noon the following day we pulled out in the motor home and headed for, Tyler Texas, about 100 miles east of Dallas. This area of Eastern Texas is quite beautiful with a number of lakes and trees. My students were a father and his two adult sons who had just completed building their new 162F.
 
We were directed onto the grounds of an incredibly beautiful estate that sits right on the shore of Lake Tyler. We set up the motor home at one of several RV hook-up locations and settled in for the night.
 
The following morning Steve and I began the airworthiness inspection that I always perform prior to flying any home built helicopter. This one was very well built with the help of Darrold Crawford, one of the professional builders that assisted in the construction of new Rotorway kits.

See More photos under Graduates
I was unable to find anything that needed fixing, and that is unusual. Within several hours of entering the hanger, we were firing up the engine and initiating our first training lift-off.
 
This trip was unique in that I was simultaneously instructing 3 students in the same helicopter, none of them had ever had any training in rotorcraft of any type. The training went well but we shortly realized that the water pump seal was developing a leak that made the helicopter unsafe to fly. A call to Robin at the factory and a brand new pump was sent out overnight so that by noon the next day we were able to resume our flight training.
 
The training progressed as planned and on our tenth day, Sunday, Steve, Bret, and Brian all soloed their helicopter.
After our celebration feast Sheila and I packed up the motor home and headed off towards home in the Missouri Ozarks.
We were home for one day while we repacked and then headed off for South Dakota.

Sheila stayed there with her family and I headed off to Michigan to provide several days of Advanced flight training for my student Joe Blair in Saginaw. This would be my third trip to Joe's home, the first was to provide hover training, the second trip was phase II altitude and auto rotation training.
 

See More Joe Blair photo under Cool Rotorway Stuff on my web site (green button at top of page)
 
The airworthiness inspection revealed several airworthiness items that we took care of that first day. Everyone should be sure to do a proper pre-flight inspection before you fly your helicopter. Joe had been flying this 162f for a number of hours and just prior to my arrival he experienced his first emergency auto. While flying at his local airport, the engine quit as the entire electrical system shut down and since the Rotorway engines do not run with magnetos, a power loss will kill the engine. 
 
It turned out that the wire bundle that went up near the inertia switches in front of the main rotor had been rubbing on the sharp edge of the switch bracket causing a dead short. This dead short in the #10 wire from the alternator to the overhead blew the 30 amp fuses and tripped breakers while simultaneously shutting down the electrical to the fuel pumps, both ignitions, and both FADECs resulting in an engine shut-down.

We found the short in the power feed wire and replaced the wire. It was this short that caused me to publish the FATAL FLAW that is present in every factory wire harness. The factory would not address this issue so many Rotorways are still flying with this fatal flaw in their overhead panel. 
 
The items that we discovered on my first inspection of Joe's ship were items that a proper and thorough preflight inspection will find. On the anti-torque pedal linkage viewed from the front inspection panel, we found two of the rod end jamb-nuts had backed off and were no longer locking the steel rod-end threads against the softer aluminum shank that they thread into. If the jamb nut is loose, the steel threads of the rod end can eat away at the sofr aluminum threads of the base causing the rod end to fall out and loss of control of that system. 

There were some wires that had been added since my last visit that needed securing and that took only a few minutes.
 
The horizontal stabilizers were loose and had fore-aft movement that required that the nuts on the spar through-bolts be tightened properly. We also found that the anti-torque pitch control cable that runs through the tail boom was quite loose and was in danger of interfering with the tail rotor power belts.
Once those items were addressed and fixed, we found that the engine adjusting bolt jamb-nut had backed completely off. All of the jamb nuts on your helicopter have the function of locking the steel threads of the bolt or rod end into the threads of the item that the rod end or bolt is threaded into. Without the jamb nut tightly in place, the threads can work against each other causing wear and eventual failure which could be catastrophic should the failure occur in flight.
 
Another issue that we found was with the two steel tangs at the lower end of the slider ball that ride up and down on the main rotor shaft and inside of the doughnut shaped ring (Collective retention ring) that is on the main shaft just above the main thrust bearing . When the collective was in the full up position the tangs came all the way up to the very top of the doughnut ring with none of the tang left inside. If this should come out during flight, most likely while initiating an autorotation recovery, the main rotors could lock in full-up pitch on the main rotor blades with less than desirable results.(See the Control button under hints and tips for my experience with exactly this during flight).
 
The last item that we found was that the male end on the wire that fits into the fuel pump had come out of the socket. It is not visible due to the rubber cap that covers the wire and the fuel pump fitting. We squeezed the connector slightly for a firm secure fit so that the connector would not work it's way loose again. 
 
Once we had the airworthiness items fixed we commenced with Joe's initial flight training.
 
I was at Joe's for the third time and this time we would be doing his cross-country training as well as other advanced maneuvers training. See the Cool Rotorway Stuff area for a photo dialog of this flight under the green button at the top of the page.
 
I had never been to this part of the country in the fall and found that it was quite beautiful, though very chilly. Fortunately Joe
had just finished the doors and we put them to good use.
 
After several days of take-offs, departures, approaches, and flight maneuvers, we planned a 280 mile cross country trip from Saginaw up to Joe’s main residence in Traverse City, Michigan.
 
We had put enough hours on the helicopter that it was now due for the 50 hour maintenance so we got out the manuals and performed all of the items on the check list. It took several hours and we now had a helicopter ready for a serious cross-country trip.
 
The morning was crisp and clear when we departed Saginaw/Brown airport. As we skirted to the East of the city of Saginaw to our right was Saginaw Bay, a part of Lake Huron. The view was breath-taking with the vivid splash of yellows, oranges, and reds that painted the fall landscape below us. I had heard of the must-see fall colors of Michigan but had never expected to see entire forests engulfed in them.
 
We made our mid trip refueling stop in Houghton Lake, Michigan and found out that there is a Rotorway helicopter based there. Taking off we headed north to avoid the restricted areas around Camp Grayling and followed interstate 75 until it intersected with highway 72 heading West. We like to keep emergency landing areas within reach as much as is possible so by staying near roads in heavily forested areas, we kept our options open.
 
As we arrived at Traverse City on the shores of Lake Michigan we were directed to air taxi behind a parked airliner and on to Harbor Air, the local FBO where we were met by Joe's wife Dee. It was a short drive to their absolutely gorgeous Victorian home where Dee broiled Salmon with all of the trimmings for our lunch.
 
With the helicopter and crew adequately fueled we launched to the North and flew along the sandy beach of Lake Michigan. It was another gorgeous flight back to Houghton Lake where we refueled. As we entered the FBO we were met with the distinct odor of smoked salmon. The FBO manager had just pulled two large trays of smoked salmon out of his smoker and of course we enjoyed some free samples.
 
On the last leg of the trip we flew directly out to the shore of Lake Huron and then followed the shoreline just offshore, what a view. As the sun was getting low on the horizon, we did an autorotation back to the runway of Browne airport and put the helicopter to bed for the winter.
 
I am often asked how I can fly in a helicopter that someone else built. The answer is: as long as the maintenance is performed as directed in the manuals, and a proper pre-flight is performed to insure that the helicopter is airworthy and safe to fly, I can have confidence that the helicopter will perform as it was designed to do.
 
Check your helicopter out thoroughly, fly safe, and enjoy those great flying machines]]>  
We spent the afternoon and following morning there and had a great time visiting with many helicopter-oriented friends. Around noon the following day we pulled out in the motor home and headed for, Tyler Texas, about 100 miles east of Dallas. This area of Eastern Texas is quite beautiful with a number of lakes and trees. My students were a father and his two adult sons who had just completed building their new 162F.
 
We were directed onto the grounds of an incredibly beautiful estate that sits right on the shore of Lake Tyler. We set up the motor home at one of several RV hook-up locations and settled in for the night.
 
The following morning Steve and I began the airworthiness inspection that I always perform prior to flying any home built helicopter. This one was very well built with the help of Darrold Crawford, one of the professional builders that assisted in the construction of new Rotorway kits.

See More photos under Graduates
I was unable to find anything that needed fixing, and that is unusual. Within several hours of entering the hanger, we were firing up the engine and initiating our first training lift-off.
 
This trip was unique in that I was simultaneously instructing 3 students in the same helicopter, none of them had ever had any training in rotorcraft of any type. The training went well but we shortly realized that the water pump seal was developing a leak that made the helicopter unsafe to fly. A call to Robin at the factory and a brand new pump was sent out overnight so that by noon the next day we were able to resume our flight training.
 
The training progressed as planned and on our tenth day, Sunday, Steve, Bret, and Brian all soloed their helicopter.
After our celebration feast Sheila and I packed up the motor home and headed off towards home in the Missouri Ozarks.
We were home for one day while we repacked and then headed off for South Dakota.

Sheila stayed there with her family and I headed off to Michigan to provide several days of Advanced flight training for my student Joe Blair in Saginaw. This would be my third trip to Joe's home, the first was to provide hover training, the second trip was phase II altitude and auto rotation training.
 

See More Joe Blair photo under Cool Rotorway Stuff on my web site (green button at top of page)
 
The airworthiness inspection revealed several airworthiness items that we took care of that first day. Everyone should be sure to do a proper pre-flight inspection before you fly your helicopter. Joe had been flying this 162f for a number of hours and just prior to my arrival he experienced his first emergency auto. While flying at his local airport, the engine quit as the entire electrical system shut down and since the Rotorway engines do not run with magnetos, a power loss will kill the engine. 
 
It turned out that the wire bundle that went up near the inertia switches in front of the main rotor had been rubbing on the sharp edge of the switch bracket causing a dead short. This dead short in the #10 wire from the alternator to the overhead blew the 30 amp fuses and tripped breakers while simultaneously shutting down the electrical to the fuel pumps, both ignitions, and both FADECs resulting in an engine shut-down.

We found the short in the power feed wire and replaced the wire. It was this short that caused me to publish the FATAL FLAW that is present in every factory wire harness. The factory would not address this issue so many Rotorways are still flying with this fatal flaw in their overhead panel. 
 
The items that we discovered on my first inspection of Joe's ship were items that a proper and thorough preflight inspection will find. On the anti-torque pedal linkage viewed from the front inspection panel, we found two of the rod end jamb-nuts had backed off and were no longer locking the steel rod-end threads against the softer aluminum shank that they thread into. If the jamb nut is loose, the steel threads of the rod end can eat away at the sofr aluminum threads of the base causing the rod end to fall out and loss of control of that system. 

There were some wires that had been added since my last visit that needed securing and that took only a few minutes.
 
The horizontal stabilizers were loose and had fore-aft movement that required that the nuts on the spar through-bolts be tightened properly. We also found that the anti-torque pitch control cable that runs through the tail boom was quite loose and was in danger of interfering with the tail rotor power belts.
Once those items were addressed and fixed, we found that the engine adjusting bolt jamb-nut had backed completely off. All of the jamb nuts on your helicopter have the function of locking the steel threads of the bolt or rod end into the threads of the item that the rod end or bolt is threaded into. Without the jamb nut tightly in place, the threads can work against each other causing wear and eventual failure which could be catastrophic should the failure occur in flight.
 
Another issue that we found was with the two steel tangs at the lower end of the slider ball that ride up and down on the main rotor shaft and inside of the doughnut shaped ring (Collective retention ring) that is on the main shaft just above the main thrust bearing . When the collective was in the full up position the tangs came all the way up to the very top of the doughnut ring with none of the tang left inside. If this should come out during flight, most likely while initiating an autorotation recovery, the main rotors could lock in full-up pitch on the main rotor blades with less than desirable results.(See the Control button under hints and tips for my experience with exactly this during flight).
 
The last item that we found was that the male end on the wire that fits into the fuel pump had come out of the socket. It is not visible due to the rubber cap that covers the wire and the fuel pump fitting. We squeezed the connector slightly for a firm secure fit so that the connector would not work it's way loose again. 
 
Once we had the airworthiness items fixed we commenced with Joe's initial flight training.
 
I was at Joe's for the third time and this time we would be doing his cross-country training as well as other advanced maneuvers training. See the Cool Rotorway Stuff area for a photo dialog of this flight under the green button at the top of the page.
 
I had never been to this part of the country in the fall and found that it was quite beautiful, though very chilly. Fortunately Joe
had just finished the doors and we put them to good use.
 
After several days of take-offs, departures, approaches, and flight maneuvers, we planned a 280 mile cross country trip from Saginaw up to Joe’s main residence in Traverse City, Michigan.
 
We had put enough hours on the helicopter that it was now due for the 50 hour maintenance so we got out the manuals and performed all of the items on the check list. It took several hours and we now had a helicopter ready for a serious cross-country trip.
 
The morning was crisp and clear when we departed Saginaw/Brown airport. As we skirted to the East of the city of Saginaw to our right was Saginaw Bay, a part of Lake Huron. The view was breath-taking with the vivid splash of yellows, oranges, and reds that painted the fall landscape below us. I had heard of the must-see fall colors of Michigan but had never expected to see entire forests engulfed in them.
 
We made our mid trip refueling stop in Houghton Lake, Michigan and found out that there is a Rotorway helicopter based there. Taking off we headed north to avoid the restricted areas around Camp Grayling and followed interstate 75 until it intersected with highway 72 heading West. We like to keep emergency landing areas within reach as much as is possible so by staying near roads in heavily forested areas, we kept our options open.
 
As we arrived at Traverse City on the shores of Lake Michigan we were directed to air taxi behind a parked airliner and on to Harbor Air, the local FBO where we were met by Joe's wife Dee. It was a short drive to their absolutely gorgeous Victorian home where Dee broiled Salmon with all of the trimmings for our lunch.
 
With the helicopter and crew adequately fueled we launched to the North and flew along the sandy beach of Lake Michigan. It was another gorgeous flight back to Houghton Lake where we refueled. As we entered the FBO we were met with the distinct odor of smoked salmon. The FBO manager had just pulled two large trays of smoked salmon out of his smoker and of course we enjoyed some free samples.
 
On the last leg of the trip we flew directly out to the shore of Lake Huron and then followed the shoreline just offshore, what a view. As the sun was getting low on the horizon, we did an autorotation back to the runway of Browne airport and put the helicopter to bed for the winter.
 
I am often asked how I can fly in a helicopter that someone else built. The answer is: as long as the maintenance is performed as directed in the manuals, and a proper pre-flight is performed to insure that the helicopter is airworthy and safe to fly, I can have confidence that the helicopter will perform as it was designed to do.
 
Check your helicopter out thoroughly, fly safe, and enjoy those great flying machines]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-232.html Sat, 29 Aug 2026 12:43:47 -0500 Orv Neisingh]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-232.html
I learned this lesson early in my flying career during my first solo altitude flight from my backyard helipad in California. I had just returned from Rotorway phase II flight training where I received a total of 7 hours of altitude training and 3 autorotation entries (the RWI flight instructor did the flare and recoveries as per their policy).
 
I had my solo-flight-to-altitude endorsement from the Factory school so why did I feel so ill-prepared to launch my pride and joy, my life long dream, my MAJOR financial investment, into the air for the first time above the 2 foot AGL hover height that had been it's domain since it's FAA Airworthiness Inspection 3 months prior? Perhaps it was the realization that I did not have enough flight experience in helicopters, and no altitude training in my own helicopter.

Just one mistake, one error in judgment, and all of my hard work building the helicopter could be lost. This is all too often the case when a student pilot with insufficient training becomes the initial test pilot of a helicopter that has never been flown either in hover or taken to altitude.
 
For three days straight I would pre-flight the helicopter, bring it into a hover and then chicken out. I would end up spending the entire flight session hovering and at the same time mentally beating myself up for not having the nerve to launch this untested helicopter into the pattern. After another near sleepless night I told myself that it was today or never. Once again I did a thorough pre-flight inspection, brought the little helicopter into a hover, and then slowly began to ease it forward.

There it was, that little shudder of passing into Effective Translational Lift (ETL). A little bit of forward cyclic and I continued to accelerate and climb. Oh yeah, remember the height velocity diagram, stay out of the un-shaded portion to keep everything safe, what were those numbers again?. "Here come the power lines, remember to always head directly for the pole". I could still hear Stretch Wolter(in the old days he was the chief instructor and DPE - Designated Pilot Examiner) remind me as I approached them.
 
After passing directly over the power line support tower and crossing the county road I was now climbing through 200' AGL and starting to relax. My wife Sheila was standing in the bed of our company dump truck with the video camera recording this momentous event. Just as I was starting to feel like I was doing pretty well with this altitude flying, out of the corner of my eye I noticed that the passenger side rear seat cushion (the early Execs had separate back and seat pads) detached from the Velcro attachments and fell face down onto the bottom cushion.

Now that really scared me! I had been warned that if anything left the cabin out the open doorway, it most likely would find it's way into the tail rotor. Should that happen, a very rapid chain of events would most likely take place that would include the loss of one tail rotor blade causing a grossly out of balance tail rotor, resulting in the loss of the rearmost portion of the tail boom. Once that happened the helicopter would become way out of the CG envelope and would become a large lawn dart and the end of one not-so-experienced future wanabe helicopter pilot.
 
With that thought in mind I knew that I had to grab that seat cushion before it blew out the doorway, but how to do that? Obviously both of my hands were fully occupied. I tried to quickly let go of the cyclic with my right hand to snatch the cushion but that didn't work. My experience level was so low that I could not take my hand off the cyclic and grab it with my left hand due to the death grip that held it there. As I was trying to figure out the proper course of action, the seat cushion began to vibrate toward the open doorway.
 
Panic filled my mind and I knew that unless I did something, and it had better be the right thing, I was about to die. I forced myself to momentarily let go of the cyclic with my right hand and grabbed it with my left and just as I was reaching for the cushion, a gust of wind took it out the doorway. I snatched the cyclic back and braced for the inevitable lawn dart scenario. Nothing happened! For some reason the cushion missed the tail rotor and I was still flying, sort of.
 
Now to find the cushion. It had fallen out over a large 800 acre pasture so I circled and looked for it. From 200 feet up I could not locate the cushion in the tall grass. I definitely did not feel at home up there at 200 feet circling and looking at the ground so I descended and brought the helicopter into a hover, now that was more like it, I could do that!

I hovered around the pasture for several minutes and finally found the wayward seat back cushion laying amongst a pile of sheep droppings. After landing, retrieving the cushion, brushing it off, and this time securing it properly under my own seat cushion, I lifted off to head back to my home and hanger, I had experienced enough excitement for the day.
 
The next challenge, how to bring the helicopter into the narrow piece of property that I had never approached before. Let's see, I had been told to always approach into the wind. The wind was blowing across the narrowest dimension of the property from the south. Funny, it had not seemed narrow at all when I was hovering those 20 hours all over every square inch of it. Now it looked like a strip of Christmas ribbon.

I began my approach at 65 mph as I has been taught during my factory training and always landing on a long airport with plenty of room to slow down. Next I passed over the other set of power lines (directly over the pole, of course) and began my descent. Unfortunately there was no where near enough room to bring the helicopter to a hover much less slow it down to ETL before I got to the neighbors house.(Of course I can do it now but with my 7 hours of forward flight training, my skill level just was not there yet).
 
Stretch had told me that the approach was to be made at 65mph and then slowly decrease the airspeed over the RUNWAY as the altitude was decreased. In the 7 hours at Rotorway Phase II training, we had never performed an approach to any landing that was not over the very long runway of Chandler airport. Also, I had never been taught how to do a Quick Stop to rapidly decrease the forward speed of the helicopter.

My wife continued to film my flybys that she assumed were for her benefit, she was so proud of me. Meanwhile I decided that after 2 near misses of the neighbors 2 story house directly in my flight path, I needed to do something to get this helicopter on the ground before I ran it out of fuel. This time I slowed it down prior to crossing the power lines and was able to neatly bring it into a hover directly over the helipad. I learned several lessons from that first solo flight to altitude. The first being to always be 100% certain that all items in the helicopter are secure and that there is no possibility that anything can exit the cabin to be caught in the tail rotor. I was lucky on that first flight and vowed that I would never allow myself to be in that situation again.
 
The second lesson that I learned was that I needed more flight training before I launched into the skies again. I promptly hired a Rotorway-Experienced flight instructor by the name of Jim Sagerser to come to my location and we worked on approaches, departures, quick stops, and autorotations, straight-in, 90 degree, and 180 degree autos until I could do them proficiently every time. Now here it is nearly 35 years later and I find myself doing the same thing, providing flight instruction to a student who realizes that he is not prepared to test fly his new helicopter.
 
As I wrote this article I was on an American Airlines flight to California to dynamically balance, test fly, and then instruct a student who rolled his helicopter after 3 years of intensive construction work followed by 10 hours of Phase I factory training. He had no prior helicopter flight training until he attended the factory school. After 10 hours of factory flight training he received his solo-to-hover endorsement. He returned home to his brand new helicopter. He was now a TEST PILOT on a never-before-flown helicopter, a recipe for disaster.

As he gingerly lifted the helicopter into a hover the helicopter felt completely different than the one he had flown at the factory school. It yawed to the left and the tail rotor contacted the ground resulting in an un-commanded spin to the left followed by a dynamic rollover. As Tony crawled from the wreckage fuel spilled onto the red hot exhaust and ignited. Tony emptied several fire extinguishers onto the flames but they were not enough to extinguish the fire. As he stood back and watched his labor of love burn into a sagging framework of metal tubing and a puddle of bright aluminum that was once his engine, he determined that he would rebuild and then he would get thorough flight training in his own helicopter before flying it himself.
 
Once the fire was out, the only thing salvageable was the stainless steel transponder antenna. Over the last three years he built a new Exec 162 around that original transponder antenna and going to first inspect his helicopter, then help him with the rigging and balancing of the rotor system and controls, then test fly it for him, and finally provide him with the flight instruction that he needed. This time he wanted to know how to fly this second Rotorway that he built with 100% certainty that he can control it before he once again tries solo flight.
 
Let's summarize this unfortunate chain of events:
1. Several years and many thousands of $$$$ building the helicopter
2. Minimal flight training but having a hover endorsement nonetheless
3. Beginning the first ever test flight of a new helicopter that has never been flown
4. Lift the helicopter off the ground
5. Experience a Dynamic rollover
6. Subsequent fire consumes all but the transponder antenna
7. Spends several years building another helicopter around the original antenna
8. Get proper hover training after the ship is professionally flight tested rigged, and balanced.
( Tony now has several years and many fun-filled hours flying his Rotorway around the northern California area).
 
One service that is very critical is proper rigging and dynamic balancing of the main and tail rotor systems prior to flight training. Since I began offering dynamic balancing and then test flying each helicopter before we began flight training, that training has been so much more enjoyable with a properly rigged and smooth-running ship.
 
Here is a list of definite Do's to remember regarding your newly built and inspected experimental helicopter.
 
1. Do get proper training prior to flying your newly built helicopter including many autorotations. These should include straight in, 90 degree, and 180 autos so that the helicopter can be turned into the wind for landing should a power or drive train failure occur.
 
3. Insure that you have secured everything in the cabin prior to flight. Brief you passenger regarding loose items. Anything in the pockets or on the belt that could possibly either exit out the door or jam a flight control. A cell phone, wallet, sweater, knee board, sectional chart, manual, etc could blow out that open door and take out your helicopter and your life. A wallet can jam the collective lever. A cell phone or camera can fall below the collective preventing full down movement should the need arise to drop the collective for a descent or autorotation.
 
Dan Van Duesen nearly lost his beloved Taz (Exec Extraordinary) when he lifted off with a cameraman from the factory during the RWI Grand opening. The camera which hung by a strap from the neck of the cameraman slipped down behind the cyclic and when the cyclic was eased forward and the helicopter began moving, the camera slipped down even further and prevented any aft cyclic movement. We watched as Dan's helicopter raced toward the parked airplanes and finally slid to a stop as Dan used his skill to do a run-on landing, a dicey maneuver in a Rotorway helicopter without the extended skids and skid shoes.

You should get into the habit of always using a written check list to perform your pre-flight and pre-boarding inspections because it is easy to forget a crucial step if trying to do them from memory. Be careful, do a thorough pre-flight inspection, perform a proper pre-boarding(walk-around) inspection prior to every flight, secure your cabin and passenger of loose items, brief your passengers, and then get out there and enjoy your helicopters. You have a privilege that many dream of but only a few are able to enjoy.]]>
I learned this lesson early in my flying career during my first solo altitude flight from my backyard helipad in California. I had just returned from Rotorway phase II flight training where I received a total of 7 hours of altitude training and 3 autorotation entries (the RWI flight instructor did the flare and recoveries as per their policy).
 
I had my solo-flight-to-altitude endorsement from the Factory school so why did I feel so ill-prepared to launch my pride and joy, my life long dream, my MAJOR financial investment, into the air for the first time above the 2 foot AGL hover height that had been it's domain since it's FAA Airworthiness Inspection 3 months prior? Perhaps it was the realization that I did not have enough flight experience in helicopters, and no altitude training in my own helicopter.

Just one mistake, one error in judgment, and all of my hard work building the helicopter could be lost. This is all too often the case when a student pilot with insufficient training becomes the initial test pilot of a helicopter that has never been flown either in hover or taken to altitude.
 
For three days straight I would pre-flight the helicopter, bring it into a hover and then chicken out. I would end up spending the entire flight session hovering and at the same time mentally beating myself up for not having the nerve to launch this untested helicopter into the pattern. After another near sleepless night I told myself that it was today or never. Once again I did a thorough pre-flight inspection, brought the little helicopter into a hover, and then slowly began to ease it forward.

There it was, that little shudder of passing into Effective Translational Lift (ETL). A little bit of forward cyclic and I continued to accelerate and climb. Oh yeah, remember the height velocity diagram, stay out of the un-shaded portion to keep everything safe, what were those numbers again?. "Here come the power lines, remember to always head directly for the pole". I could still hear Stretch Wolter(in the old days he was the chief instructor and DPE - Designated Pilot Examiner) remind me as I approached them.
 
After passing directly over the power line support tower and crossing the county road I was now climbing through 200' AGL and starting to relax. My wife Sheila was standing in the bed of our company dump truck with the video camera recording this momentous event. Just as I was starting to feel like I was doing pretty well with this altitude flying, out of the corner of my eye I noticed that the passenger side rear seat cushion (the early Execs had separate back and seat pads) detached from the Velcro attachments and fell face down onto the bottom cushion.

Now that really scared me! I had been warned that if anything left the cabin out the open doorway, it most likely would find it's way into the tail rotor. Should that happen, a very rapid chain of events would most likely take place that would include the loss of one tail rotor blade causing a grossly out of balance tail rotor, resulting in the loss of the rearmost portion of the tail boom. Once that happened the helicopter would become way out of the CG envelope and would become a large lawn dart and the end of one not-so-experienced future wanabe helicopter pilot.
 
With that thought in mind I knew that I had to grab that seat cushion before it blew out the doorway, but how to do that? Obviously both of my hands were fully occupied. I tried to quickly let go of the cyclic with my right hand to snatch the cushion but that didn't work. My experience level was so low that I could not take my hand off the cyclic and grab it with my left hand due to the death grip that held it there. As I was trying to figure out the proper course of action, the seat cushion began to vibrate toward the open doorway.
 
Panic filled my mind and I knew that unless I did something, and it had better be the right thing, I was about to die. I forced myself to momentarily let go of the cyclic with my right hand and grabbed it with my left and just as I was reaching for the cushion, a gust of wind took it out the doorway. I snatched the cyclic back and braced for the inevitable lawn dart scenario. Nothing happened! For some reason the cushion missed the tail rotor and I was still flying, sort of.
 
Now to find the cushion. It had fallen out over a large 800 acre pasture so I circled and looked for it. From 200 feet up I could not locate the cushion in the tall grass. I definitely did not feel at home up there at 200 feet circling and looking at the ground so I descended and brought the helicopter into a hover, now that was more like it, I could do that!

I hovered around the pasture for several minutes and finally found the wayward seat back cushion laying amongst a pile of sheep droppings. After landing, retrieving the cushion, brushing it off, and this time securing it properly under my own seat cushion, I lifted off to head back to my home and hanger, I had experienced enough excitement for the day.
 
The next challenge, how to bring the helicopter into the narrow piece of property that I had never approached before. Let's see, I had been told to always approach into the wind. The wind was blowing across the narrowest dimension of the property from the south. Funny, it had not seemed narrow at all when I was hovering those 20 hours all over every square inch of it. Now it looked like a strip of Christmas ribbon.

I began my approach at 65 mph as I has been taught during my factory training and always landing on a long airport with plenty of room to slow down. Next I passed over the other set of power lines (directly over the pole, of course) and began my descent. Unfortunately there was no where near enough room to bring the helicopter to a hover much less slow it down to ETL before I got to the neighbors house.(Of course I can do it now but with my 7 hours of forward flight training, my skill level just was not there yet).
 
Stretch had told me that the approach was to be made at 65mph and then slowly decrease the airspeed over the RUNWAY as the altitude was decreased. In the 7 hours at Rotorway Phase II training, we had never performed an approach to any landing that was not over the very long runway of Chandler airport. Also, I had never been taught how to do a Quick Stop to rapidly decrease the forward speed of the helicopter.

My wife continued to film my flybys that she assumed were for her benefit, she was so proud of me. Meanwhile I decided that after 2 near misses of the neighbors 2 story house directly in my flight path, I needed to do something to get this helicopter on the ground before I ran it out of fuel. This time I slowed it down prior to crossing the power lines and was able to neatly bring it into a hover directly over the helipad. I learned several lessons from that first solo flight to altitude. The first being to always be 100% certain that all items in the helicopter are secure and that there is no possibility that anything can exit the cabin to be caught in the tail rotor. I was lucky on that first flight and vowed that I would never allow myself to be in that situation again.
 
The second lesson that I learned was that I needed more flight training before I launched into the skies again. I promptly hired a Rotorway-Experienced flight instructor by the name of Jim Sagerser to come to my location and we worked on approaches, departures, quick stops, and autorotations, straight-in, 90 degree, and 180 degree autos until I could do them proficiently every time. Now here it is nearly 35 years later and I find myself doing the same thing, providing flight instruction to a student who realizes that he is not prepared to test fly his new helicopter.
 
As I wrote this article I was on an American Airlines flight to California to dynamically balance, test fly, and then instruct a student who rolled his helicopter after 3 years of intensive construction work followed by 10 hours of Phase I factory training. He had no prior helicopter flight training until he attended the factory school. After 10 hours of factory flight training he received his solo-to-hover endorsement. He returned home to his brand new helicopter. He was now a TEST PILOT on a never-before-flown helicopter, a recipe for disaster.

As he gingerly lifted the helicopter into a hover the helicopter felt completely different than the one he had flown at the factory school. It yawed to the left and the tail rotor contacted the ground resulting in an un-commanded spin to the left followed by a dynamic rollover. As Tony crawled from the wreckage fuel spilled onto the red hot exhaust and ignited. Tony emptied several fire extinguishers onto the flames but they were not enough to extinguish the fire. As he stood back and watched his labor of love burn into a sagging framework of metal tubing and a puddle of bright aluminum that was once his engine, he determined that he would rebuild and then he would get thorough flight training in his own helicopter before flying it himself.
 
Once the fire was out, the only thing salvageable was the stainless steel transponder antenna. Over the last three years he built a new Exec 162 around that original transponder antenna and going to first inspect his helicopter, then help him with the rigging and balancing of the rotor system and controls, then test fly it for him, and finally provide him with the flight instruction that he needed. This time he wanted to know how to fly this second Rotorway that he built with 100% certainty that he can control it before he once again tries solo flight.
 
Let's summarize this unfortunate chain of events:
1. Several years and many thousands of $$$$ building the helicopter
2. Minimal flight training but having a hover endorsement nonetheless
3. Beginning the first ever test flight of a new helicopter that has never been flown
4. Lift the helicopter off the ground
5. Experience a Dynamic rollover
6. Subsequent fire consumes all but the transponder antenna
7. Spends several years building another helicopter around the original antenna
8. Get proper hover training after the ship is professionally flight tested rigged, and balanced.
( Tony now has several years and many fun-filled hours flying his Rotorway around the northern California area).
 
One service that is very critical is proper rigging and dynamic balancing of the main and tail rotor systems prior to flight training. Since I began offering dynamic balancing and then test flying each helicopter before we began flight training, that training has been so much more enjoyable with a properly rigged and smooth-running ship.
 
Here is a list of definite Do's to remember regarding your newly built and inspected experimental helicopter.
 
1. Do get proper training prior to flying your newly built helicopter including many autorotations. These should include straight in, 90 degree, and 180 autos so that the helicopter can be turned into the wind for landing should a power or drive train failure occur.
 
3. Insure that you have secured everything in the cabin prior to flight. Brief you passenger regarding loose items. Anything in the pockets or on the belt that could possibly either exit out the door or jam a flight control. A cell phone, wallet, sweater, knee board, sectional chart, manual, etc could blow out that open door and take out your helicopter and your life. A wallet can jam the collective lever. A cell phone or camera can fall below the collective preventing full down movement should the need arise to drop the collective for a descent or autorotation.
 
Dan Van Duesen nearly lost his beloved Taz (Exec Extraordinary) when he lifted off with a cameraman from the factory during the RWI Grand opening. The camera which hung by a strap from the neck of the cameraman slipped down behind the cyclic and when the cyclic was eased forward and the helicopter began moving, the camera slipped down even further and prevented any aft cyclic movement. We watched as Dan's helicopter raced toward the parked airplanes and finally slid to a stop as Dan used his skill to do a run-on landing, a dicey maneuver in a Rotorway helicopter without the extended skids and skid shoes.

You should get into the habit of always using a written check list to perform your pre-flight and pre-boarding inspections because it is easy to forget a crucial step if trying to do them from memory. Be careful, do a thorough pre-flight inspection, perform a proper pre-boarding(walk-around) inspection prior to every flight, secure your cabin and passenger of loose items, brief your passengers, and then get out there and enjoy your helicopters. You have a privilege that many dream of but only a few are able to enjoy.]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-231.html Thu, 27 Aug 2026 16:40:54 -0500 Orv Neisingh]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-231.html  
Only days after writing the November article I was flying with a student here at my training center in Missouri. He was beginning his phase two flight training and was very excited to begin practicing autos. Larry had taken his 162f to Mark Peterson for his hover training and Mark had installed one of the first cog drives to be installed on Rotorway helicopters, it was produced by John Spurling and called the Pro-Drive. The kit was a new cog belt, Drive sprocket for the 30mm secondary shaft, and the large cog sprocket that mounted on the main shaft to replace the chain drive sprocket. Removing the chain drive opened up the access to the engine compartment, cut the weight of the chain out, and got rid of the ever-leaking chain bath that would leak chain oil over the drive belts causing them to slip. 

The instructions for installing the Pro-Drive gave the set up tension that must be held on the cog belt and this tension was accomplished by shimming the secondary back enough to hold that tension at 70 degrees F. Mark set the cog drive up correctly and then he provided Larry with his hover training. Larry then took his helicopter home and practiced his hovering until he was confident and proficient in his skill set. 

He called me and asked me if I would give him his phase two altitude training as I was closer than Mark and I agreed to do so. I had not seen the new cog drive before so I gave it a really good inspection for my own learning. It looked great. The helicopter was in my heated hangar during my initial inspection and once I determined that all was good we rolled it outside into the cold winter air. After fueling we got in, started the engine, and lifted to a hover. Larry showed me that he had achieved the needed hover skills so we decided to take off and head to the local airport for some initial pattern work. 

As we were climbing out and increasing our airspeed the helicopter wanted to nose over and it took progressively more aft cyclic to keep the nose from dropping. I informed Larry that this was not a desirable condition so I turned the helicopter around and headed back to the hangar. Upon inspection I noticed that the horizontal stabilizer was set at an angle with the leading edge up higher than the specs called for. We modified the mount holes to allow the stabilizer cord line to be in line with the top of the tail boom. This should give us a good cyclic position in forward flight.  

The day before we had installed the extended reinforced skids and flipped the front landing gear leg for more support in case of a run on landing.

As we were beginning our next take off from my helipad, we were accelerating through about 10 to 12 mph and were about 5 feet skid height when all at once the engine raced, the ship did an immediate rotation to the right and dropped. This one was a real surprise and happened in a hear-beat.
 
I informed Larry “I have it” at which time he let go of the controls. Larry and I had just installed the extended reinforced skids with the front gear leg reversed and it was what saved the ship. As the ship dropped and spun I to the right, chopped the throttle, applied full up collective, cyclic opposite to the direction that we were traveling, and full left anti-torque pedal. The helicopter dropped onto the front of the left skid, where the stock skid will snap off, and pivoted around to the 180 degree position of our original take off direction of travel.

We were then sliding backwards and the ship rocked back onto the tail rotor and slid to a stop. We surely would have rolled over had it not been for the extended reinforced skids which allowed the ship to pivot the 180 degrees to where the tail boom acted as an outrigger preventing the ship from rolling over backwards.
 
Upon inspection we found that the new factory cog belt with only 21 hours on it had snapped. This was the first instance of a ship equipped with the tensioned cog drive that I was aware of the cog belt breaking. When the belt broke, the power to the main rotor was disconnected so all of the engine power went to the tail rotor, snapping the nose of the ship 90 degrees to the right. We were very fortunate to have not experienced a rollover but we sure came close.

I have included several photos of Larry’s ship following the belt break. There is some damage but not nearly as much as would occur from a rollover. The belt manufacturer engineers stated that the break was most likely from the belt being run with too little tension allowing the cogs to ride up the driving cog wheel which can hyper extend the reinforcing fibers causing a belt failure. 

 

Shortly after this incident I received a call from Bruce in Main. He told me that the exact same thing happened to his AP cog drive belt as he was in a hover and setting down. He told me that the hard set down also damaged his ships tail rotor and tail boom as well as the landing gear and skids but he was also able to keep the ship upright.

The reason the cog belt broke was the change in temperature in the operating environment. When Mark set up the cog belt to spec it was set up at 70 degrees f. When I checked it in my heated shop it was at 70 degrees F. We then rolled the helicopter outside into the 40 degree f air and began our flight training. In the cold air the large aluminum cog wheel would shrink relaxing the tension on the cog belt. Pro-Drive's response was that we should re-shim the secondary for the cooler temps to maintain proper cog belt tension. That is a royal pain. 

I did some research and found that cog belts in this application should always be run with a tensioner to keep the cog belt at the proper tension at all operational temperature ranges. From that point on we began installing tensioners onto all of the cog systems as they were converted from the original chain drives. 
 
 As always, only fly your ships over areas that are safe to auto into. If this should happen at altitude, it would give the pilot more time to get to the ground safely with no damage.]]>  
Only days after writing the November article I was flying with a student here at my training center in Missouri. He was beginning his phase two flight training and was very excited to begin practicing autos. Larry had taken his 162f to Mark Peterson for his hover training and Mark had installed one of the first cog drives to be installed on Rotorway helicopters, it was produced by John Spurling and called the Pro-Drive. The kit was a new cog belt, Drive sprocket for the 30mm secondary shaft, and the large cog sprocket that mounted on the main shaft to replace the chain drive sprocket. Removing the chain drive opened up the access to the engine compartment, cut the weight of the chain out, and got rid of the ever-leaking chain bath that would leak chain oil over the drive belts causing them to slip. 

The instructions for installing the Pro-Drive gave the set up tension that must be held on the cog belt and this tension was accomplished by shimming the secondary back enough to hold that tension at 70 degrees F. Mark set the cog drive up correctly and then he provided Larry with his hover training. Larry then took his helicopter home and practiced his hovering until he was confident and proficient in his skill set. 

He called me and asked me if I would give him his phase two altitude training as I was closer than Mark and I agreed to do so. I had not seen the new cog drive before so I gave it a really good inspection for my own learning. It looked great. The helicopter was in my heated hangar during my initial inspection and once I determined that all was good we rolled it outside into the cold winter air. After fueling we got in, started the engine, and lifted to a hover. Larry showed me that he had achieved the needed hover skills so we decided to take off and head to the local airport for some initial pattern work. 

As we were climbing out and increasing our airspeed the helicopter wanted to nose over and it took progressively more aft cyclic to keep the nose from dropping. I informed Larry that this was not a desirable condition so I turned the helicopter around and headed back to the hangar. Upon inspection I noticed that the horizontal stabilizer was set at an angle with the leading edge up higher than the specs called for. We modified the mount holes to allow the stabilizer cord line to be in line with the top of the tail boom. This should give us a good cyclic position in forward flight.  

The day before we had installed the extended reinforced skids and flipped the front landing gear leg for more support in case of a run on landing.

As we were beginning our next take off from my helipad, we were accelerating through about 10 to 12 mph and were about 5 feet skid height when all at once the engine raced, the ship did an immediate rotation to the right and dropped. This one was a real surprise and happened in a hear-beat.
 
I informed Larry “I have it” at which time he let go of the controls. Larry and I had just installed the extended reinforced skids with the front gear leg reversed and it was what saved the ship. As the ship dropped and spun I to the right, chopped the throttle, applied full up collective, cyclic opposite to the direction that we were traveling, and full left anti-torque pedal. The helicopter dropped onto the front of the left skid, where the stock skid will snap off, and pivoted around to the 180 degree position of our original take off direction of travel.

We were then sliding backwards and the ship rocked back onto the tail rotor and slid to a stop. We surely would have rolled over had it not been for the extended reinforced skids which allowed the ship to pivot the 180 degrees to where the tail boom acted as an outrigger preventing the ship from rolling over backwards.
 
Upon inspection we found that the new factory cog belt with only 21 hours on it had snapped. This was the first instance of a ship equipped with the tensioned cog drive that I was aware of the cog belt breaking. When the belt broke, the power to the main rotor was disconnected so all of the engine power went to the tail rotor, snapping the nose of the ship 90 degrees to the right. We were very fortunate to have not experienced a rollover but we sure came close.

I have included several photos of Larry’s ship following the belt break. There is some damage but not nearly as much as would occur from a rollover. The belt manufacturer engineers stated that the break was most likely from the belt being run with too little tension allowing the cogs to ride up the driving cog wheel which can hyper extend the reinforcing fibers causing a belt failure. 

 

Shortly after this incident I received a call from Bruce in Main. He told me that the exact same thing happened to his AP cog drive belt as he was in a hover and setting down. He told me that the hard set down also damaged his ships tail rotor and tail boom as well as the landing gear and skids but he was also able to keep the ship upright.

The reason the cog belt broke was the change in temperature in the operating environment. When Mark set up the cog belt to spec it was set up at 70 degrees f. When I checked it in my heated shop it was at 70 degrees F. We then rolled the helicopter outside into the 40 degree f air and began our flight training. In the cold air the large aluminum cog wheel would shrink relaxing the tension on the cog belt. Pro-Drive's response was that we should re-shim the secondary for the cooler temps to maintain proper cog belt tension. That is a royal pain. 

I did some research and found that cog belts in this application should always be run with a tensioner to keep the cog belt at the proper tension at all operational temperature ranges. From that point on we began installing tensioners onto all of the cog systems as they were converted from the original chain drives. 
 
 As always, only fly your ships over areas that are safe to auto into. If this should happen at altitude, it would give the pilot more time to get to the ground safely with no damage.]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-230.html Thu, 27 Aug 2026 16:06:34 -0500 Orv Neisingh]]> https://rotorwayforums.com/thread-230.html
In the case of that engine failure I was able to auto the helicopter safely to the ground, we had a short walk back to the hangar to get some tools, re-positioned the rocker and adjusted the valve lash, and then continued my student’s flight training.

I experienced another engine failure that same year while instructing in Texas when the crank sensor failed. The FADEC computers faulted from FADEC 1 to FADEC 2 which activates the secondary fuel injectors in the manifold. This is not the best design because the engine can only run for a limited time on these secondary injectors before the spark plugs foul with carbon to the point the engine looses power and quits.

In this instance I was with my phase 2 student Mike Sidler whi has recently joined us on Rotorwayforums.com. We were doing altitude training and as we turned final for an approach to a hover over a very muddy area about a mile from the airport, in fact, everything in that area of Texas was muddy with standing water due to the recent rains. When the computers faulted to FADEC 2 I told Mike that I was going to try to make it back to the airport where the ground was firm so that we would not have to try to find a way to recover the helicopter from the mire we were over. All I could think of was trying to convince a farmer to let us tear up his pastures as we would attempt to traverse his property with recovery vehicles.

Knowing that I had about 500 feet of altitude and a mile to fly to get to the airport where there was some firm ground, I thought that my student and I had a good shot at making it there safely. As we neared the airport the engine began to run progressively rougher as the spark plugs were getting fouled up with carbon. I kept the ship over open areas for the inevitable autorotation that I knew I would need to execute at any time.

The extremely rich mixture of the FADEC 2 injectors was causing quite a reduction in the engine power. I needed to maintain 70 mph so we continually lost altitude as the airport area got closer. By the time we were adjacent to the taxiway of the very busy airport where Mike’s ship is based, I informed him that we would keep the ship over the grass next to the taxiway so that when we set down, we would not block the taxiway. By this time we were down to about 100 feet AGL with full throttle, and descending.

Mike was ready, I told him to let me have all of the controls because we were about to run out of engine power as we neared our intended landing spot. We were just about 100 yards from our normal landing area when the engine coughed and died. At this point we were about 30 ft. AGL and still traveling at around 70 mph airspeed. Mike and I had been practicing quick stops for the past few days so I informed him that we were going to just do one now.

We were all set up, proper altitude, proper air speed, extended reinforced front skids with flipped front landing gear bow, what more could we ask for (other than an engine system that would not be so prone to failure)?

When the engine quit, all that was needed was to drop the collective, haul back on the cyclic for a nice 70mph flare, settle, level the ship, and slide it onto the soft grass that borders the taxiway, very nice and really not a big deal if you are all set for it. We landed successfully with very little forward speed and all was good. Following the rotor spin down, we walked to the hangar, which was just about 100 yard further than we would have had to walk if we had made it back to our intended landing spot. We got his car, a rope, the ground wheels, and returned to the helicopter. In a few minutes we were pulling the ship down the taxiway to the hangar.

It took a few minutes to isolate the problem, one of the crank sensors had failed. Mike called Rotorway and Robin sent a new set to us by overnight currier. The next morning we had the new crank sensors, installed them, and continued Mikes training with over 200 autorotations (practice ones only as his ship flew flawlessly from then on). Mike told me that those autos now had new meaning seeing that if done correctly, and if equipped with the proper landing gear and skid configuration, a touchdown autorotation was not such a big deal or something to be feared.
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In the case of that engine failure I was able to auto the helicopter safely to the ground, we had a short walk back to the hangar to get some tools, re-positioned the rocker and adjusted the valve lash, and then continued my student’s flight training.

I experienced another engine failure that same year while instructing in Texas when the crank sensor failed. The FADEC computers faulted from FADEC 1 to FADEC 2 which activates the secondary fuel injectors in the manifold. This is not the best design because the engine can only run for a limited time on these secondary injectors before the spark plugs foul with carbon to the point the engine looses power and quits.

In this instance I was with my phase 2 student Mike Sidler whi has recently joined us on Rotorwayforums.com. We were doing altitude training and as we turned final for an approach to a hover over a very muddy area about a mile from the airport, in fact, everything in that area of Texas was muddy with standing water due to the recent rains. When the computers faulted to FADEC 2 I told Mike that I was going to try to make it back to the airport where the ground was firm so that we would not have to try to find a way to recover the helicopter from the mire we were over. All I could think of was trying to convince a farmer to let us tear up his pastures as we would attempt to traverse his property with recovery vehicles.

Knowing that I had about 500 feet of altitude and a mile to fly to get to the airport where there was some firm ground, I thought that my student and I had a good shot at making it there safely. As we neared the airport the engine began to run progressively rougher as the spark plugs were getting fouled up with carbon. I kept the ship over open areas for the inevitable autorotation that I knew I would need to execute at any time.

The extremely rich mixture of the FADEC 2 injectors was causing quite a reduction in the engine power. I needed to maintain 70 mph so we continually lost altitude as the airport area got closer. By the time we were adjacent to the taxiway of the very busy airport where Mike’s ship is based, I informed him that we would keep the ship over the grass next to the taxiway so that when we set down, we would not block the taxiway. By this time we were down to about 100 feet AGL with full throttle, and descending.

Mike was ready, I told him to let me have all of the controls because we were about to run out of engine power as we neared our intended landing spot. We were just about 100 yards from our normal landing area when the engine coughed and died. At this point we were about 30 ft. AGL and still traveling at around 70 mph airspeed. Mike and I had been practicing quick stops for the past few days so I informed him that we were going to just do one now.

We were all set up, proper altitude, proper air speed, extended reinforced front skids with flipped front landing gear bow, what more could we ask for (other than an engine system that would not be so prone to failure)?

When the engine quit, all that was needed was to drop the collective, haul back on the cyclic for a nice 70mph flare, settle, level the ship, and slide it onto the soft grass that borders the taxiway, very nice and really not a big deal if you are all set for it. We landed successfully with very little forward speed and all was good. Following the rotor spin down, we walked to the hangar, which was just about 100 yard further than we would have had to walk if we had made it back to our intended landing spot. We got his car, a rope, the ground wheels, and returned to the helicopter. In a few minutes we were pulling the ship down the taxiway to the hangar.

It took a few minutes to isolate the problem, one of the crank sensors had failed. Mike called Rotorway and Robin sent a new set to us by overnight currier. The next morning we had the new crank sensors, installed them, and continued Mikes training with over 200 autorotations (practice ones only as his ship flew flawlessly from then on). Mike told me that those autos now had new meaning seeing that if done correctly, and if equipped with the proper landing gear and skid configuration, a touchdown autorotation was not such a big deal or something to be feared.
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