Red Bull BO-105
Beyond the Thrill
Aaron guards the secrets to his modifications closely, not to hide it, but to prevent people from trying it themselves. Said Aaron, “It’s not that I don’t want to share it. I want to share it, but I’m afraid. My attorneys have told me, ‘You tell anyone what you’ve done and how you did it, there will be people that do it, and they go out, and their wives will sue your asses off.’ “
From what he could tell “Vertical” the first step was selecting the Bo.105 because of its titanium gearbox and tail rotor shaft. Then, he used modified, composite main rotor blades, making them very stiff with a very high rotor speed. Next, he completely gutted the aircraft, removing the tail stinger and needless wiring, thereby reducing weight and shifting the center of gravity (CG) to the nose of the aircraft. Finally, he engineered a pressurized fuel system for safety reasons. Said Aaron, “That way we don’t ever get it upside down and flame it out.” The CG change was probably the most important, though, as it means he can put the helicopter into just about any attitude, center the controls, and the nose will just fall through.
These modifications weren’t easy. During one stage, Aaron changed the location of the battery to the nose of the aircraft. He took off on a practice run with the new configuration, rolled the ship, and, as he came out of the roll, unintentionally began an inverted loop, pulling negative g-forces and getting pushed out of his seat toward the windscreen. Aaron said it scared him to death, and, once again, he almost quit flying. But, being the tactician he is, he figured out what went wrong. By lifting the nose and reducing collective just before the roll, he could slam the cyclic to the left, hitting the stops, and wham, rolled it to perfection without getting into an inverted loop.