Flyer Magazine 20/04/2023 - aerobatic helicopter pilot Aaron Fitzgerald
Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2023 8:34 am
by OneHungLow
From Flyer magazine.
Join us tonight at 7:30pm U.K. time for our weekly Livestream on Youtube.
This week we'll be discussing all things AERO Friedrichshafen and this week's guest will be the fantastic Redbull aerobatic helicopter pilot Aaron Fitzgerald.
Re: Flyer Magazine 20/04/2023 - aerobatic helicopter pilot Aaron Fitzgerald
Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2023 10:19 am
by CharlieOneSix
I shall watch that - thanks for the info. I was on the Bo105 for 6 years but flew it a little more sedately than Aaron Fitzgerald does!
Re: Flyer Magazine 20/04/2023 - aerobatic helicopter pilot Aaron Fitzgerald
Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2023 10:43 am
by Boac
I once blagged a trip in RAFG in an Army Lynx but found out that Rupert was intent on showing me the aerobatic capabilities of the machine and I was not a happy bunny...........
Re: Flyer Magazine 20/04/2023 - aerobatic helicopter pilot Aaron Fitzgerald
Mention of Ziggy Hoffman brought this little gem showing his precision flying to mind.
Sadly he came to a fiery end in a Bo105 display at an air show in 1989.
It seems that it took the super skillful Hoffman to uncover a vice in the Bo105's handling regime, sadly losing his life in the process!
Fokolunder (must be a Saffer with a handle like that) seems to have it right when he commented (see video below). Some of the rubbish that is spouted in some of the other comments is extraordinary!
According the the RFM (Rotorcraft Flight Manual) the BO105 has a limitation in slow and steep right turns due decreasing control margin to the left, i.e. the cyclic probably was at its left hand stop. This phenomenon is due to the BO105 rigid rotor system which has a lot of advantages in a wide area, but also physical limitations in some corners. Roll control (to the left) can only be regained by lowering the collective, which was no option in this attitude/height.
It appears his problems in this case may also have been exacerbated as he was relatively slow, and low, downwind when he commenced the steep right turn.
AVOID STEEP RIGHT TURNS AT AIRSPEEDS BELOW 70 KIAS CLOSE TO THE GROUND IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN SUFFICIENT LATERAL CONTROL MARGIN FOR RECOVERY.
Lateral control characteristics of single-rotor helicopters are significantly influenced by forward speed (airspeed), bank angles and relating g-loads.During high load factor maneuvers at airspeeds below 70 KIAS the cyclic stick can reach the left lateral stop before retreating-blade stall entry. Reduction of the load factor and/or nose-left side slip will improve left lateral control margin.
I guess the manual means fixed (i.e. hingless) rotor head?
Re: Flyer Magazine 20/04/2023 - aerobatic helicopter pilot Aaron Fitzgerald
.....It seems that it took the super skillful Hoffman to uncover a vice in the Bo105's handling regime, sadly losing his life in the process! ....
The first deliveries of the Bo105 took place in 1970. I flew it from '73 to '79 and can't recall the handling problem being mentioned during conversion to type training. I don't know when I became aware of it but it was certainly whilst I was still on the type and years before that 1989 accident.
Interesting looking at the Flight Manual OHL referenced - so different from the original Bo105D model that was CAA approved way back. I did a lot of the rooftop performance and profile trials then with the MBB rep in the UK, George Locke. He was a former ETPS pilot with D Squadron at Boscombe Down where I first met him. Trials were mostly done to a simulated rooftop at ground level at Shoreham airfield with many simulated engine failures before moving on to what was then the original International Press Centre building rooftop in London - if memory serves me correctly it was the only certified rooftop helipad at that time in the UK.