An R22 went into the sea at Cannes yesterday, in the helicopter pattern at Mandelieu LFMD. Two dead, the instructor and the student. An eye-witness, who happened to be a pilot, reported that the rotor wasn’t turning. Sounds like the classic R22 engine-out rotor stall. You have about 1 second to realise the engine has stopped and get the collective DOWN. I’d watched it take off a few minutes before. Very sad.
johnh wrote:
You have about 1 second to realise the engine has stopped and get the collective DOWN.
I’m surprised you can certify something with that behaviour.
One more reason to stay the hell away from helicopters.
Better to claim, stay away from widow maker…
Simple solution use Cabri G2, yes can crash too, but most of the pilots walk away…
use Cabri G2
The G2 is a truly horrible aircraft to fly. The controls are heavy, especially the collective which seems to have a 100kg weight constantly pulling it downwards. And the wretched thing is so under-powered that even at sea level it can’t hover above about 6 feet.
I’ve never flown an R22 and I never will. But I don’t ever want to fly a G2 again either.
Guess what => Friction can be adjusted….
Regarding the available power, you may be right, especially in case you and your
friend are well over 90 kg weight ;)
Guess what => Friction can be adjusted….
Absolutely. Between “none at all” and “nowhere near enough”. In the former setting, the collective drops like a brick, which at least gets your attention. When you turn the friction up to max, it drops very slowly, until you wonder why you can’t maintain altitude and look and see that you’re at 60% power. Been there, done that.
As for power, when I tried to fly one of these pathetic apologies for a helicopter, I was maybe 10kg over 90kg, figure, but my instructor was closer to 70.
An R22 is a great little helicopter, right up to a few seconds before it kills you. At least the G2 tells you from the outset that you really don’t want to be anywhere near it.
That friction was inop. possible wrong maintenance.
Let’s see… Cabri G2
700 kg MTOW
430 kg average empty weight
100 kg claimed for johnh
75 kg claimed for instructor?
-——
95 kg available for fuel
170 L AVGAS => x .721 @ 15 C => 122,5 kg
Possible over allowed MTOW?
Over the 90 kg on the one seat is not recommended.
That is small helicopter, flat rated to 145 hp only.
I am over the 100 kg like you, not trying to force my luck on G2.
On the other hand my junior was 78 kg when trained for 70 h on G2 with full confidence.
I’m surprised you can certify something with that behaviour.
It is what AC27.143 defines as an acceptable means of compliance to Part27.143:
@Alboule: thanks for finding this.
I think the officially quoted time for the R22 is 1.5 seconds. Which is laughable when you consider that EFATO discussions for aeroplanes reckon it takes something like 5 seconds to even to realise that the engine has stopped (which I also think is way too high – but 1 second not only to notice but to drop the collective is murderously absurd).
