[Sam Oliver]

First I’d like to thank @Orv Neisingh for having a link to his website here.   While scrolling through, was reading about the short lived Elite and wondering what made it so much faster?  Combination of things, or something in particular?

[Orv Neisingh]

Hi Sam, the Elete has a tear drop shape that cuts through the air with less resistance. The main rotor shaft is tilted forward more than the 162F and Talon which allows the body to fly more streamlined than the earlier and later models because the tail is not sticking up into the air flow but is tucked in behind the body reducing drag. It was a much better design than the present body but when BJ Schram lost the company in bankruptcy the molds and jigs for the Elete disappeared mysteriously so the new owner, Bob Netherwood, only had the molds and jigs for the Exec so he made changes to the landing gear, main rotor shaft and doghouse and named it the Exec 90.

[Graeme Smith]

Hi Sam, the Elete has a tear drop shape that cuts through the air with less resistance. The main rotor shaft is tilted forward more than the 162F and Talon which allows the body to fly more streamlined than the earlier and later models because the tail is not sticking up into the air flow but is tucked in behind the body reducing drag. It was a much better design than the present body but when BJ Schram lost the company in bankruptcy the molds and jigs for the Elete disappeared mysteriously so the new owner, Bob Netherwood, only had the molds and jigs for the Exec so he made changes to the landing gear, main rotor shaft and doghouse and named it the Exec 90.

Hi Orv,
do you have any photos of the Elite side profile would be great, Why did it get changed if it flew faster could it be that the hovering suffered or the weight and balance?
If the main shaft tilted further forward I can see that helping it go faster. Was the tail rotor position changed from what we saw in the 90? I understood that the closer you can get the tail rotor centre to the main disc the better?

[Orv Neisingh]

Graeme, as I stated above, when BJ lost the company he had just put his heart and soul and finances into developing the Elete and my guess is that he did not want all of that development to go in the bankruptcy. When Bob Netherwood purchased the assets from the bankruptcy there were no jigs or molds for the Elete and those are very expensive to produce so the new Rotorway International just continued with what they had, the Exec body style.

[Homer Bell]

They had all the jigs and molds. The decision was made to stay with something they knew would work. They weren’t sure how the extra speed was going to affect the whole machine long term. Employees were ask to vote on what to do and they said keep the big shaft and dual ignition, put a new doghouse on the old body and go with that. Gary, Bob Thorsen, and myself had done the tuft testing and knew the doghouse needed upgrading. BJ had already incorporated doghouse changes in the ELETE after we showed him the pictures from our tests that I took , with my Cannon A1 camera, riding with Gary in his Scorpion, while Krog flew along side in his Exec covered with the yarn from an O-cedar mop we got that morning at the grocery store. I think that was in 1987.
I told the guys the doghouse was dirty and we needed to see what the air was doing at speed. I knew water would lay on the windscreen in front of the doghouse and not blow away at speed. Also we found that the the tuffs on the back top of the dog house stood straight up twirled!! That really amassed me!
We also found that the holes in the lower side panels had no air going either way, in or out, that was a revelation. We had thought something was happening there, but, not.
Gary, those were the days, eh?

[Graeme Smith]

Graeme, as I stated above, when BJ lost the company he had just put his heart and soul and finances into developing the Elete and my guess is that he did not want all of that development to go in the bankruptcy. When Bob Netherwood purchased the assets from the bankruptcy there were no jigs or molds for the Elete and those are very expensive to produce so the new Rotorway International just continued with what they had, the Exec body style.

Hi Orv,
If I had some decent photos with some sort of dimensional reference I could replicate the shape, I have friends who are in the fiberglass business and have huge CNC machining  and 3D modelling tools that make that process of new moulds relatively easy, and as I am about to replace the drive system with a gearbox and a new engine it would be a great time to make the RW better.

[Orv Neisingh]

Hi Graeme, Jeff Bocott has two Eletes and Charlie Rogers has the other one. Perhaps they could share the dimensions
with you. Also my web site which is now on this forum, has some great photos of the Elete. 

Hi Orv,
If I had some decent photos with some sort of dimensional reference I could replicate the shape, I have friends who are in the fiberglass business and have huge CNC machining  and 3D modelling tools that make that process of new moulds relatively easy, and as I am about to replace the drive system with a gearbox and a new engine it would be a great time to make the RW better.