Rotorway Roughnecks Fly-in

Went to a private site near Rochester (the home of Kevin Longhurst) for a Rotorway fly-in for an article in Helicopter Life.  Four very different Rotorways flew in, with five (six including Jonathon Ball of the Rotorway Brothers) pilots.
Fascinating. These were two Rotorway 162s (Kevin and Paul Vaughan) one Rotorway 90 (Ian Brown) and one Rotorway 162E modified (Bruce Alexander) - that is with a Talon engine and a very other differences.
While the machines were basically the same, the also had their own unique due to the uniqueness of the builders.

There are also some differences between Rotorways and more conventional helicopters. One is that the engine is watercooler. While car manufacturers are aware that water cooling an engine is more efficient, usually in aviation the weight of the water is sufficient to make air cooling the preferred method.

Other differences include the start-up, in which the collective is raised, to make the blades neutral pitch,
and 1.5 Manifold Pressure put on the gauge (eighth of an inch of throttle) which helps ease the engine-blade relationship; another is a weight (25 - 33 lbs) which is placed on the front skid if the pilot flies solo, or on a back shaft (under the start of the tail boom) if there are two in the cockpit.
More in Helicopter Life Autumn issue, but it was a very enjoyable day flying the machines and very instructive. I like the Rotorway and I was impressed what a nice fun group they have there, all of whom clearly love flying and in particular love flying the Rotorway.

500 Training

Tomas Sorenson and GCCUO

So, the eight days of training on the H369 G-CCUO is now finished and the helicopter returned to HalfPenny Green alias Wolverhampton. It has been an interesting and successful week, with experiments with the rpm, with autos, with tail rotor failures - both in flight and in the hover. We have looked at both normal flight and emergencies, navigation and airfield work. It has been a thorough test of the possibilities available to the helicopter.
We now know this one weighs 1571 lbs and that that gives it a lot of carrying power given that the all up weight is 3000 lbs. This is not always true of H369s - which, although always powerful, are often carrying more basic weight because they have auxillary tanks or more instruments etc. G-CCUO is a light machine, and therefore, perhaps, more suitable for training and rental.

Gee and G-CCUO

Tomas is now back to Kenya, back to working on getting his own machine (now beautifully painted by Edmondson) to Kenya, either via an American N reg or thanks to Kenyan inspectors who come here to the UK to certify it for the Kenyan register.
His future is now with flying in Kenya. I hope the training he had here works well for him.