david hillberg
Well-Known Member
Its been to HAI for their promotional, prior to that I had a slight curiosity being it was similar in construction as the Windstar which Rotorway toyed with in the 80s where Don and I were hired on to finish for the firefighters who bought the project, our plan was to install a C18 to replace the turbocharged injected custom BMW flat six water cooled engine, remove all the hydraulic drives, radiators, PAL, remove the seat back tanks and put a fuel cell under the floor , the flight controls were teleflex and a clearance mock up was completed, yet in the end they spent money on computers trucks and what ever ******** and the project closed about a month before our planned flight, the old designed flew a few times one prototype actually had a minor accident before these fire guys got hold of them, our redo of the Windstar reduced its weight by 680 pounds, made simple the engine installation, made the cabin more crashworthy, increased the seating capacity, and aligned the aircraft systems to a standard category certifiable project.
I was bashed and hounded by the supporters of the Hill Helicopter, Why did I call the project a scam? Because all I saw was glitz glamor and style, new facilities and universal machine shop equipment, no testing facility, all in house, If I were project manager I would have had an engine picked Pratt & Whitney, Allison, Rolls-Royce, Turbomeca, Sanfran, or General Electric. here if you want to build a certified aircraft the first step is the application and a compliance to testing or quality assurance, due to the many new procedures required over the years it would be impossible to do everything in house. I bet the European process would be similar. I was told several times to view their information video about their progress, It only gave me more questions and concerns of their process methods and designs, as with the navigation light placement 100% non compliant to the national standards. as for the flight controls or methods used? I have no idea what they have planned, but when you have pilots planning and building a bird you know it will be a fanciful screw up from the start and then they'll call in the real builders and maintainers, then the problems will be all on them. they say these certificates are not valid anymore, my experiences, history and currency still are along with my certifications which are younger than my chronological time in aviation,
look to their website , postings and videos and let me know what you think and find.
I was bashed and hounded by the supporters of the Hill Helicopter, Why did I call the project a scam? Because all I saw was glitz glamor and style, new facilities and universal machine shop equipment, no testing facility, all in house, If I were project manager I would have had an engine picked Pratt & Whitney, Allison, Rolls-Royce, Turbomeca, Sanfran, or General Electric. here if you want to build a certified aircraft the first step is the application and a compliance to testing or quality assurance, due to the many new procedures required over the years it would be impossible to do everything in house. I bet the European process would be similar. I was told several times to view their information video about their progress, It only gave me more questions and concerns of their process methods and designs, as with the navigation light placement 100% non compliant to the national standards. as for the flight controls or methods used? I have no idea what they have planned, but when you have pilots planning and building a bird you know it will be a fanciful screw up from the start and then they'll call in the real builders and maintainers, then the problems will be all on them. they say these certificates are not valid anymore, my experiences, history and currency still are along with my certifications which are younger than my chronological time in aviation,
look to their website , postings and videos and let me know what you think and find.
