100 Years And 4 Minutes, "Two-To-Tango" Flies!

The first flight of an aircraft you've crafted for yourself is ALWAYS an extraordinary milestone... but when it's one of the first of a new breed of sport helicopter, it's particularly noteworthy.

ANN Reader Tom Sled tells us that, "Back in 1969 I became an Army helicopter pilot and flew Huey's in Vietnam. I saw BJ Schramm flying the HeliCycle at El Mirage in 2000 and I decided to build one. In August of 2001 I took delivery of the first crate of HeliCycle parts from BJ's Eagle R&D. I watched the videos during the week and did the construction mainly on weekends. With the detailed videos and well packaged aircraft quality parts, I found the HeliCycle a very easy to build kit. No costly tools or special training is needed, and the techniques for the different parts of the assembly are well explained. The factory runs a check out program, mine is the first Turbine to be finished and go thru it. BJ Schramm and Homer Bell came to my airport (L52) in Oceano, CA for 6 days to check, adjust, fix what needed fixing, fine tune, high speed balance, and test fly the ship. I finished her 27 Nov. of 2003, (and finished) my FAA inspection 9 Dec. 2003."

"On the morning of 12/17/03 at 10:39, my HeliCycle Helicopter N3722T (that I have been working on for over two years) made its first flight! At the controls was designer BJ Schramm. After three days spent inspecting, balancing the main and tail rotors, fine adjusting of all the controls, and tuning the Turbine,  BJ took her for a short 10 minute first flight after doing a few "Quick Stops". He came back and did an autorotation -- nice and soft. He was raving about how smoothly she flew, and said he had her up to 118 (mph), flying smoothly through the whole range. I had to take my truck to get more Jet-A fuel from a near-by airport to feed the beast. When I got back BJ took her up for a last sun-set flight down the beach.

The next day was my turn to start hovering the ship and doing quick stops. I, too, found her to be smooooth and responsive, and with that Turbine, the power is always there."

Congrats, Tom... we're jealous... VERY jealous.

FMI: www.asynchronous.org/tsled/00HeliPage.htm