Homebuilt helicopter

[dspender]

What are some manufacturers of homebuilt helicopters? I had a ride a few days ago in a commercial helicopter and had a great time. I am building an RV10, but wonder if a helicopter may be in my future plans.

[Jim Nelson]

Rotorway does homebuilt helicopters: http://www.rotorway.com/index.php

Jim

[gbrasch]

I have been a commercial helicopter pilot for over 30 years and the homebuilts scare me. If you can afford an RV-10, you might be better off finding a used 300 or older Hughes 269. I admit I am spoiled flying turbines all these years, it's just that those rubber band or small tail rotor driveshafts scare me. Just my 2 cents.

[Floatsflyer]

I know zilch about heli's but if Glenn's comments have not scared ya straight, then you might want to look at a very cool looking little ultralight whirlybird called the Mosquito(and they come ready built).

http://www.innovator.mosquito.net.nz/mbbs2/index.asp

[Bill Berson]

If you can afford the RV-10 and want four seats, might want to look at a four place helicopter kit based on an older certified Sikorsky.
I forgot the company name, I think it's made in Florida. The kit is $150K or more.

Helicycle makes a single seat helo.

[Anymouse]

There's also Safari.

http://www.safarihelicopter.com/

[Richard Warner]

I don't know what make they are, but there are a couple of small single place helicopters in this area. They have turbine engines in them which I understand are apu engines. They seem to fly okay. I have to ask what makes you think you can build a helicopter that will be safe? Even the factory ones come apart once in a while even with all the maintenance requirements and life limited parts imposed by the manufacturer and the FAA. Then, of course, the lessons aren't going to be cheap either. You will be a low time & inexperienced pilot and will you be sharp enough to test fly your creation safely? Of course, if we didn't dream, none of those homebuilt airplanes would be at Oshkosh every year. In the case of your homebuilt helicopter, I hope you will just keep on dreaming, because dreams don't kill you. I concur with what Glenn said in his post above.

[FlyingRon]

We have a ex-VietNam helicopter pilot on my field who built one of these solarz powered helicycle single places. It seemed safe enough. The engines are probably more reliable than the cheap-assed ROTAX's running full rated power (or worse). He gave it up primarily because it's not a go-places ship. It's really just a blast around locally for the hell of it ship. I've got another friend who's very involved in the Mosquito operation down in Florida. They're regular attendees at Oshkosh. Looks like a reasonable ship except for they're still casting around for a good piston power plant, some have put turbines on them. The biggest issue with these small birds is that they usually have very light rotors which makes autorotation dicey, but the Mosquito guys say it's doable.

[Bill Barker]

I believe that the four seat helicopter kit to which Bill Berson refers is the Hummingbird. It's a formerly certificated helicopter that is now in kit form. The URL is: http://vertical-aviation.com/