Helicopter, Kit helicopter, home built helicopter, experimental

Sport Helicopter & Pilot
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Turning world
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AW 95
Turbine
This Page was created
Jan 10 th, 1998


Three years ago a Wally stopped in my shop and said I have something you need for your helicopter. To my surprise, in the back of his truck he had a mil surplus solar T 62-16 B turbine engine.

Wally had sold a military collector a P.T. boat motor for some cash and misc. items. Among the extra items was the engine that was rattling around in the back of his pick up.

Wally mentioned that the collector said the turbine was worth $2500.00 and wanted to sell the engine to me for 25 hundred bucks. I told him he was nuts those things are only worth $500.00, so no sale.

Some time later I started looking into the turbine engines and found out that they are really worth. $2500.00 plus.  Than about 3 months after that, Wally showed up at my shop, wanted to know if I still would still give him $500.00 for the old turbine?  I reluctantly said yes.

After that the engine sat around in my shop for about 2 years collecting dust before I had enough extra parts to build another helicopter. So, I mounted the old turbine in my old A/W 95 airframe.

Since the turbine output shaft speed is 8000 RPMs I built a 4 to 1 reduction unit using the final drive gears from a Geo Metro 5 speed transmission.

The main rotor gear box is 3.25 to 1 from a Yamaha motorcycle. The tail rotor gear box is machined out of a solid billet of aluminum with a 1 to 2 increase in speed gears are from a 25 HP boat motor lower unit.

I will be borrowing the rotor system off my A/W 95 helicopter and be build another rotor system for it later. I mounted the turbine in my old A/W airframe only as a test bed to get the weight and balance correct and to see if it will acutely work. It has been run up without the main rotors on to test things, so far so good.
As soon at the snow is off the ground I will be test flying it. If the flight testing goes well,  I will make a new air frame from 4130 steel with a tube type tail boom. My final plans are to design n build a entirely new helicopter, not in the A/W style. The new helicopter should be complete be late July,  I hope.......

Doug Schwochert
abheli@mia.net


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