Enstrom controls are inside the mast for less drag and damage.
Sorry to inform. The R-22 mast and rotor head failures killed more than 30 and then the FAA issued a mandatory special FAR for the R-22. I looked up all the R-22 NTSB fatal reports. The one that got to me was where a young women on her first helicopter lesson had a recording device in her pocket. It recorded her final screams when the rotor came off.Enstrom never had "Ramp-appeal" to me..... mast looked like a child's clockwork wind-up toy .......sort of insubstantial, like a single 2" square gyrocopter-mast, which always had me crossing-my-fingers hoping the engineers got it right, and the metallurgy in that long cantilever-shaft was still good!
Robinson had QC issues with the first batch of R-22s , bad blade prep where the assembly process was ignored.Sorry to inform. The R-22 mast and rotor head failures killed more than 30 and then the FAA issued a mandatory special FAR for the R-22. I looked up all the R-22 NTSB fatal reports. The one that got to me was where a young women on her first helicopter lesson had a recording device in her pocket. It recorded her final screams when the rotor came off.
I switched to Enstrom, no rotor failure death that I can recall.
Army came out with procedures in maneuvering with OH 58 and UH 1 helicopters. Low G - Mast Bumping & Critical wind azimuth . NOE was snapping off masts.The Robinson Special Federal Regulation addressed the need for special training to avoid low ”g” and rotor loss.
Enstrom came out with mast lite and had to add a layer of Kevlar to keep it from flexing....Back to the originalFor worrying about strength of the Enstrom shaft, I believe it is three times stronger than a Jet Ranger one. The big diameter wins even though it’s not as thick.
Perhaps I’m missing something blatantly obvious but it seems as if Maule can throw just about any kind of propulsion on their airframes?.
Easy for me to say , but not easy to change powerplants in a certified production machine.
Light machines like R22 and Hughes 269 work great using the 360 ... Enstrom not so much.
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Perhaps I’m missing something blatantly obvious but my comment was about helicoptersPerhaps I’m missing something blatantly obvious but it seems as if Maule can throw just about any kind of propulsion on their airframes?
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