Fri, Aug 08, 2003
Ultralight Helicopter Debuts at Oshkosh
By ANN Correspondent John Ballantyne
The Mosquito Ultralight Helicopter was publicly exhibited for
the first time this year at EAA's Air Venture. It's not
hocus-pocus: this is a real helicopter with a driven rotor and a
tail rotor. It flew several times and drew a lot of attention.
Innovator Technologies make the Mosquito in Calgary (Alberta),
Canada. The unit at Air Venture is the first production ship,
officially Mosquito #1. (The original prototype was sold after
gaining 105 hours of flight time. This is the second Mosquito and
the company has begun production with 17 orders in queue, a company
rep told me.)
It's a quick kit:
The factory reports that this helicopter is sold in kit form
only, and they estimate build time as '200 hours.' [Depending on
your tools, facility, and experience, it's probably a reasonable
esimate, provided the parts and instructions (which we didn't
review) match up --ed.]
Pulls its weight -- and then some
The Mosquito features an 18-foot diameter main rotor and a
40-inch tail rotor. It weighs the Part 103 limit, 254 lbs
(according to factory specs), with a gross weight of 550 lbs --
resulting in a payload (pilot and 5 gallons max of fuel) of 270
lbs. The Mosquito is powered by a Hirth 2706, 2 cylinder, 2 cycle,
65 horsepower engine. The factory reports a max speed of 63 mph,
and cruise speed of 63 mph. [Part 103 says the ultralight vehicle
may not have a top speed in excess of 63mph, 100kph --ed.]
What about Sport Pilot?
"The FAA proposed Sport Pilot rule doesn't affect us much
because it does not include helicopters," said the company
representative. "The Mosquito, with its carbon fiber boom, meets
the Part 103 (ultralight) requirements, so there is no real need
for rule change to fly this machine," the spokesman concluded.
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