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So i want to design and build a helicopter...

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Georden

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2006
Messages
165
Location
Calgary, AB Canada
Basically as the title says. Right now at the thinking and sketching stage and looking for some outside opinions so that i can end up with a better aircraft.

First the basics:

2 seats
Composite construction
100-125hp
1000lbs gross
500lbs empty
17' length
17.7' rotor diameter
disc loading 4.1 lbs/ft

a sketch:

heli1.jpg


I would also like to mention that this aircraft is intended solely for my personal use. To that end i have compromised/specialised some things in a way that would likely make it undesirable to others. I plan on using in for travel and just having fun.

The main rotor is a 2 blade tetering style to keep things simple and lightweight. The disc loading is at 4.1 which is the max allowable for a home built helicopter in Canada. I plan to leave room to enlarge the diameter if (when?) the weight ends up being higher than my target. The blades have a large chord to lower blade loading and help avoid retreating blade stall. The rotor rotates clockwise to put the tail rotor in a pusher arrangement on the pilots side which i think would give better safety. As well with a passenger the CG would be offset to the left, putting more load on the advancing blade instead of the retreating.

The tail rotor is a 2 blade teetering style, again to keep things simple and light. I put it on top of the vertical tail to give it more ground clearance, i think this is worth the added weight.

Control would be conventional, manual controls, nothing special here.

Fuselage is pointy nosed style because i like the looks better than bubble style. I am trying to reduce drag as much as possible to get the highest cruise speed i can. To that goal everthing would be tightly sealed and faired in. There is a baggage compartment at the base of the tailboom for around 50lbs of baggage. A smaller compartment is in the nose to help with getting the CG in the right spot.

For the engine i plan on either using a certified engine such as an 0-200 or 0-235 or a corvair flat 6. Fuel injection may be better than a carb to avoid mixture and carb heat issues, but at the same time would be more complex. I would like to include a govenor to reduce workload. Cooling would be a mix of electric fan, ejector exhaust.

The landing gear is a fixed tailwheel gear. I went for tailwheel over tricycle for less weight and drag. Retractable gear would add too much complexity and weight for me. I decided on wheels over skids for easier ground handling, to not have to waste baggage space carrying ground handling wheels, and to allow taxiing with a minimal amount of downwash. The only thing i don't like about this layout is the long wheelbase meaning the tail cannot sit over the edge of the landing surface.

Anyway that was pretty long, but that where i'm at now. If anyone has read this far and has anythoughts or comments please share.
 
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