Noverber n Decembers 2oo1's
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  Dec. 28th,  2,oo1

Official USA Time, Hawaiian - Alaskan - Pacific                                                 Mountain -  Central - Eastern - Caribbean

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An R22 vs
HomeBuilt - Experimentals

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Info Request

      i am planning to build a 254 soon. please give me your opinion on cost for this machine.. how about dependability for well, 'almost' everyday flying.? what is the bottom line dollar amount to fly this chopper from ground up?

Karam Veer Singh
Manager Operations
Aerostar Aviation
Tel : 91 11 6914493
       91 11 6919374
Fax: 91 11 6914493
Mobile: 9811331341
karam@aerostaraviation.com

Lets try to keep them flying

Mabin Rose

Saw your web site.  Looks great!  I'm an Air Force Career aviator with most of my flight time in HH-53C Super Jolly Green Giant Combat Rescue and MH-53H/J Pave Low III Special Operations Helicopters.  Was talking to some U.S. Forest Service folks a little while ago, and they asked me if I had ever experienced a problem with the  main gear box oil foaming, and
resultant over temp and oil pressure drop.  The problem seemed to be related to the input quill.  I don't recall ever having a problem with that.

Forest Service uses them for long line and bucket operations, and I'm not sure they have the same transmission we have in the MH-53.  Was wondering if any of you folks/your readers have encountered that problem and if there was/is a solution.

Thanks.

 R, Mike Russell

sport,                                                                                                            Dec 2nd, 2oo1

      i am planning to build a 254 soon. please give me your opinion on cost for this machine.. how about dependability for
well, 'almost' everyday flying.? what is the bottom line dollar amount to fly this chopper from ground up?

thanks,
jamey stone

Thank you, Paul Cooper

ANN Reader Martin tells us, the official preliminary report explains (in Italian, as the crash site was in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland): "L’elicottero è precipitato dopo aver perso una pala del rotore principale durante il volo." That means, "The helicopter crashed after losing one blade of the main rotor during the flight."

As we become aware of more details, we'll let you know. We don't know, for instance, why that blade parted company with the little chopper ("Mini-500 Builder/Pilot Killed in Switzerland," 11-06-01, ANN).  It could have been a design flaw (of which there were too many to count),
workmanship problems, poor manufacturing (once again in numbers too large to enumerate), improper assembly or maintenance, bad fasteners (ditto... or substitution of fasteners), or any number of other causes. The local reputation of the builder, "Dani" Graber, though, was high. He was known as being, "meticulous, to a fault." This one will get interesting. We now know
of at least ten documented fatalities in this aircraft and dozens of accidents.

There would be:
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western  Hemisphere, both north and south
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be nonwhite
30 would be white
70 would be  non Christian
30 would be  Christian
89 would be  heterosexual
11 would be  homosexual
6  people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would
be from the  United States.
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be  near death; 1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a  college education
1 would  own a computer

When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.

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Subaru Powered Helicopter

More Fotos n Info

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  With great sadness I learned from Rolf Girsberger (Swiss Delegate to  FAI/CIAM) yesterday that Daniele Graber one of the best European R/C Helicopter pilots was killed in a crash of his home-built Mini-500 helicopter. Dani was one of only three F3C pilots who flew  in every  European and World F3C Championship since the start in 1984. The accident happened at around 10:00am Saturday morning on Autobahn A13 in the Ticino region of southern Switzerland. Apparently the helicopter suffered a tail  rotor failure and Dani tried to set it down on the highway.

Many of you saw Dani and his son Ennio fly for the Swiss team at the recent  WC in Muncie. My heart goes out to Dani's wife Marinella and his son Ennio. Dani was only 51 years old! For those that can read German I am leaving Rolf's well chosen words in this message and also the websites where you can read newspaper reports and view the helicopter crash scene. A very sad day indeed!

The pilot was identified as Daniele Graber, 51. Martin tells us, "HB-YJK was built by Daniele ("Dani") Graber. For about 20 years, Daniele was a leading model helicopter pilot. Then he built this Mini 500. He finished the 'copter a about a year ago."

According to a newspaper report, the accident, which happened Saturday about 10AM local time, resulted in the closing, for over four hours, of the crash site, a busy section of Interstate A13, near San Vittore. Although traffic was heavy at the time, the chopper hit the passing lane and center guard rail, and no cars were involved. One truck came close to adding to
the tragedy, but was able to stop.

Aviation inspectors have not determined the cause of the accident.

Martin continued, "This is a sad story, because about everybody knows about the flaws of the Mini 500 design." [Note: a witness reportedly told police that there was a rotor/boom strike. Photos of the wreckage don't show the back part of the boom, or rotor blades. Please note, though, the official cause of this accident is not determined  --ed.] Martin is befuddled

Dani was known to have been a craftsman, and thorough to a fault. Martin continued, "Besides that, this helicopter passed a detailed check by the Swiss civil authorities.  These checks are usually very very hard to pass and we have to prove most of the structural components to be properly designed. I wonder how Daniele passed this examination of his Mini500..."

We regret this loss to the builder and pilot communities. If/when the cause of the accident is determined, we hope our Swiss readers will let us all know.

1. Loud sudden noises in helicopters always get everybody's undivided attention
2. The further you fly over mountains, the louder strange engine noises become
3. C-4 can always make a dull day fun
4. Always be sure somebody has a P-38
5. Hot garrison chow is better than hot C Rations, which in turn are better than cold C-Rations, which are better than no chow at all.  All of the above, however are preferable to cold rice balls, even if they do have the little pieces of fish in them
6. Hundreds of Flightcrews earned medals for bravery every day. A few were even awarded to those that earned them. Some were even awarded to those who did not earn them.
7.Medals are OK, but having your body and all your crew in one piece at the end of the day is even better.
8. Flying is better than walking. Walking is better than running.  Running is better than crawling.  All of these, however are better than extraction by a Med-Evac, even if that is technically a form of flying.
9. If any of the crew does not come home, none of the rest of the crew ever fully comes home either.