Scorpion Homebuilt Helicopter

[looproll]

Does anyone have any experience in the 133 Scorpion? I need some info! Thanks.

http://www.vortechonline.com/scorpion/

[SeptRepair]

I know where there is one for sale completely finished and yet to be test flown. The guy that built it unfortunalty died in a plane crash a couple years ago and the widow has yet to do anything with it. If your interested pm me.

[Four1oh]

I'd have a tough time trusting a home-built airplane, let alone a home-built helicopter!!!

[SeptRepair]

I guess like anything, you have to inspect the shit out of it before you actually place your ass in the seat to fly. Technically no different then jumping in a type certificated aircraft that has been rebuilt around the data tag after it was pulled up from the bottom of a lake. If a guy used proper techniques, parts and maintenance practices there should be nothing to worry about.

[The Mole]

A helicopter is a high performance aircraft. Its whole different beast,to a home built airplane. You can't compare the two. The engineering in a helicopters dynamic components is huge. Bell, Eurocopter have had trouble getting it right.


But hey, good luck to you. If you live come again.

[ch135146]

As a former chopper pilot, I would not touch a homebuilt one.

[Hedley]

One of my favorite past times in the warm summer
months is attending antique helicopter fly-ins.

[ch135146]

One of my favorite past times in the warm summer
months is attending antique helicopter fly-ins.

[looproll]

you guys are wimps

[mikegtzg]

I have a friend that has a a single seater homebuilt helicopter. This particular model has had a bad reputation for killings its pilot. Sometimes these reputations are unfounded as other factors come into play. Often when the accidents are looked at closer. Many are pilots attempting to teach themselves to fly...or because of there relative low cost. Very inexperienced pilots are attempting to fly them. He spends as much time flying his homebuilt heli as he does maintaining it. Has even performed substantial routines in airshows. Perhaps his strict maintenance regime and piloting experience has resulted in many hours of successful flight.

A couple of issues that he has mentioned that often apply to homebuilt helicopters. Is they may have quite unforgiving flight characteristics when something goes wrong or the window of opportunity to autorotate if the engine quits can be very small. As well good research from owners groups and possibly the manufacturer that had purchased the rights or refined this model. Since there are no AD system for homebuilts. It's very importatnt to research if there have been newer modifications/refinements and why they were introduced. Even if there was a flaw with the model.(I don't know) There are a lot of very smart people out there whom may have experienced the problem and developed a safe and reliable solution.

I thought the Scorpion was a predessor to the Rotorway 162. And if this is right...then it also has undergone many refinements since it was introduced over 20 years ago.

If you can't find a builders/owners group...contact the EAA or the RAA and they should be able to steer you in the right direction.

[ch135146]

[looproll]

If you want to be really safe, stay on the ground. Heck, lock yourselves in your basements and leave the flying to me.

[sky's the limit]

As a former chopper pilot, I would not touch a homebuilt one.

As a current chopper pilot - what he said...

stl

[Chuck Ellsworth]

ch135146 wrote:
As a former chopper pilot, I would not touch a homebuilt one.

As a former helicopter pilot I would touch one.

But I wouldn't fly one.

[sky's the limit]

As a former helicopter pilot I would touch one.

But I wouldn't fly one.

The list of things you'll "touch" is getting longer by the year ....

stl

[MyMeowCat]

Back in the mid 1980's I looked into getting and flying a helicopter and I narrowed it down to Rotorway's Exec (which was preferred at the time) or the cheaper Scorpion. At around 1985 the Exec was $45,000 CDN and the Scorpion was about half that. At the time TC allowed those to be the ONLY TC approved home-built choppers.

I decided I coudn't trust Scorpion and decided I wanted the Exec instead but could no way afford it since I was only a high school student at the time. At the time the EAA did not have info to give me and I could not find anyone with knowledge about homebuilt choppers...with lack of support and no new info ( at the time there was no Google and there was no internet either as we know it today).

As a low budget high school student obsessed with Blue Thunder and the Airwolf series on TV at the time as determined to get a chopper running on my buddy's farm (even if the design was not TC approved) -- remember-- this was when I was in high school with no money and my parents also forbid me to anything aviation related.

I read the magazine "Popular Science" and they had a classified ad from Polynova (from Qubec if I remember correctly) whom would sell plans for their one-seat motorcycle engine powered "Choppy" for $50.00 CDN. I finally got a copy of the plans from classified ads from a Choppy enthusiast that ran a Choppy newsletter -- it was reported that nobody actually got the thing to completion and flew one. It's like the designer/engineer wannabe couldn't actually make this thing work and sold what ever drawings he got to get some kind of money out it.

Anyways -- looking back on it now -- Polynova Choppy was a pipe-dream, Scorpion -- absolutely no one could've helped and rose immediate red flags (even for a high school student with no training) --> only known option was Rotorway's Exec...which was way too pricey. $45,000 for Exec kit plus $30,000 quoted price a Helo school gave me for a Private roray wing license at around 1984.

Which rises a few questions I like to ask the Chopper pilots out there:

1) Do you know off-hand what are the currently approved TC home-built helicopters out there?

2) I looked into Polynova Choppy back in 1984 -- 24 years later -- do you know of anyone who got the design working??

Recommendation: If you gotta do the home-built chopper thing -- at least go for the Exec -- it looks safer.

From a former Rotary Wing wanna-be that decided to go Fixed wing PPL.

[carholme]

If you go to Pprune and type "gyrocopters" into the search engine, you will find plenty of information which may help you. The link here will show you some of the units built, owned and flown by Ken Wallis, who was flying them in his late 80's.

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread ... yrocopters

carholme

[Invertago]

And of you current and former helicopter pilots, who of you would touch this one (I mean go up in it)

Gyroplane

http://www.xenongyroplanes.com/

[skycoupe]

Don't forget the Safari, .. kits are built in the thriving metropolis of Ear Falls.
Great safety record, and none of those pesky belts and secondary shafts.