Full Down Autorotations in the Humminbird Helicopter, both engine on and engine off

[@foesfly3047]

This experience just totally sold me on wheels for helicopters.

[@voyages716]

Nice! I love that you went right back up! And it paid off with a beautiful landing !

[@shawnedwards3522]

Well done Vic!

[@487shawntower4]

It is amazing to think this is a kit!!! well done all around!

[@brianberezowski5352]

A big HELLO from CYQT. Just found your channel. AWESOME videos. Great commentary. Very COOL helicopter. THANK YOU for sharing your experience, knowledge and passion for flying. Looking forward to future videos. 👍🇨🇦👍

[@baselegaviation1614]

Thanks 👍🇨🇦

[@paulcantrell01451]

A couple comments... The real reason helicopter pilots practice autorotations is because they're so much fun!!! A couple people commented about the amount of ground slide... Without knowing anything about this particular helicopter, I can call out two criticisms of that auto... First, it looks like he entered the flare going too fast... You can see how long he floated before touchdown. The other was the minimal flare. It really looked like he just leveled the aircraft rather than flare it. The result is exactly what you see here, a fairly fast touchdown and a long slide. Given that he was landing on a runway, not a huge deal, but off airport where things are often pretty rough, it increases the chances of tipping over. Someone asked about coming back on the stick after touchdown to decrease the slide. That's not a good idea, because as the rotor rpm decreases, blade flapping increases. Tilting the disk back at that point often causes you to chop off the tailboom. Generally you want to do your slowing down while you're in the air. Once you touch down, you don't generally want to move the stick forward or backwards...

[@baselegaviation1614]

I think I mentioned this but the POH (pilots operating handbook) calls for the autorotation to be performed with a 25 knot forward airspeed, rolling it into the runway, which is what I did. It looks faster on the video. Yes, on an unimproved surface the procedure is to flare and land with no forward speed, which is exactly what I do in fields.

[@paulschannel3046]

Cool Head and nicely done.

[@markbolick7989]

Watching this, my hands were sweating...good job. Practice pays off.

[@greglassa8030]

NICEST HUMMINGBIRD! ENJOY YOUR VIDS!

[@johnkoz34]

Great flying and videos!

[@hankamos3811]

Cool as a cucumber! Love it!

[@canyonrunner331]

Hey! A local! It's nice to put a face to the Flight radar blip. Lol.

[@canyonrunner331]

Also I literally work down the street at the AAI repair station. Hopefully I'll see you around.

[@IAMBIMRanch]

THANK YOU!!!

[@MonostripeZebra]

05pretty cool helicopter.. I noticed you pulled the stick back on touchdown ( 20:05 ) is that a difference to most helos with skids?

[@baselegaviation1614]

yes. or it rolls forward.

[@3dogman311]

Great video & excellent engine out work. Thankfully, you’re a serious aviator & your practice paid off exquisitely. On a side note & as a learning aid, definitely not to point the finger, but would that be a reportable issue?

[@baselegaviation1614]

No, I don’t think so.

[@rinoswiatek]

Yeah that’s definitely not a reportable issue no damage done no fire we are all good. Good job by the way

[@EdwardOmagbemi]

Thanks for showing us what didn't work out as planned, Vic. I've been researching maintenance schedules after you mentioned them as obstacles to travelling the world. The publicly available information is a bit thin here. Do you have a feeling by now, how many hours you spend on maintenance compared to flying? Disassembling the clutch after 60 hours will need a proper workshop and tools.

[@baselegaviation1614]

The clutch assembly has now been raised to 100 hour inspection cycles.

[@EdwardOmagbemi]

@@baselegaviation1614 I've concluded that maintenance should not hinder me from travelling with the Hummingbird. There will always be a workshop that can do the service or provide me with the space and tools to perform a service. I also realised now that a STOL bush plane with an equivalent space and MTOW would cost more than the Hummingbird. I find this astonishing. Most good STOL planes have a really small cabin. I smiled when I saw your video on the STOL that was in for service (The Rotax 912 float issues).

[@jackbauer9420]

I missed it if you mentioned why the engine died... great video and new sub ... thanks!

[@baselegaviation1614]

Yes, it was my fault. I had jsut adjusted the mixture on the fuel servo and it was too lean to back off the throttle in flight. I enrichened it and have not been ablel to cause another failure with over a dozen more autos.

[@EtiRats]

Thanks very interesting. I don’t have a lot of time in piston helicopters, but in piston fixed wing we lean the mixture routinely. It not only saves fuel but more importantly provides a better fuel air mix at higher altitudes. Do you routinely lean in the cruise, or is there some form of automatic altitude compensation? I have about 100 hours on the Bell 47 and less than 20 in Robinson’s from a previous life, but don’t ever recall leaning at the sort of altitudes we used to operate (< 3000’).

[@baselegaviation1614]

No you don't normally lean in certified helicopters. If you are referring to my comment about it being too lean was referring to the adjustment on the fuel servo, not the mixture control on the cockpit.

[@EtiRats]

Thanks for the reply. So, as a matter of interest, how is fuel leaned in piston helicopters? If operating at anything above 5000' density altitude surely the mixture would be way too rich without some form of compensation....I could be missing something here, been a long time! @@baselegaviation1614

[@baselegaviation1614]

you definitely lean at higher altitudes. you just need to be careful and lean slowly. as an example, in airplanes it is common to lean until it starts to miss or get rough and then enrichen it a little. That works with the large mass of the propeller and the slipstream which keeps it spinning. There is no large mass on a helicopter engine, just the fan blades. so, the engine can quit rather suddenly, and now you have an autorotation on your hands.

[@HongyaMa]

Visible moisture - Lakes , Rain, Clouds, Haze/mist add a little carb heat Mixture adjustment lean to rich at throttle changes (Like some Hughes 300s I flew) A full down every blue moon Or total engine failure = Happy for all the practice - No bent machines

[@v35james78]

It's injected.

[@HongyaMa]

Nice, A hicup to a dead engine, Never had that but once = Partial power in Alaska to a sand bar ... @@v35james78

[@rbrtjbarber]

I've been curious about the Hummingbird's susceptibility to ground resonance. I know it's a concern with other 3-blade articulated rotor types like the Schweitzer, Brantly, etc. What does VAT say? Have you experienced it in the Hummingbird? Maybe you could do a video about it, with a discussion with someone from VAT...

[@baselegaviation1614]

so far, with hundreds of takeoffs and landings, I’ve never experienced it yet. if it were to occur, there’s so much extra power that a quick pull on the collective should be all that it takes to get out of it.

[@patrickjennings7362]

Does your Hummingbird have a governor or are you working the throttle?

[@baselegaviation1614]

No governor yet, but the factory is working on one. it does have a correlator.

[@patrickjennings7362]

@@baselegaviation1614 Excellent…yours is a beautiful build. I fly an Enstrom but would love the extra room your Hummingbird has. I’m simply not patient enough to build one! Happy flying.

[@andrewmulvihill2342]

Thank you for the video! btw what was the final call on the tail rotor driveshaft issue??

[@baselegaviation1614]

It was a plating problem. I wrote it up completely in Sport Aviation.

[@donnalocker3677]

Makes no difference whether there is wheels or skids/the skids will slide

[@baselegaviation1614]

Agreed, but with wheels I can control the direction after touchdown much better.

[@v35james78]

When in doubt land like an airplane, I guess...

[@baselegaviation1614]

Not in doubt. The nmanual says to land it on with 25 knots forward airspeed. There's quite a few autorotation videos on the web and you will see that they will land with forward airspeed when terrain, such as a runway, permits.

[@nwanchorcertification]

Change shorts now

[@baselegaviation1614]

Practice paid off. It was a non-event.