So we have been up and running for nearly two years now and everything has been going well - right up until the aircraft suffered the predicted overspeed.
The pilot fitted a big screen GPS that meant he couldn't fully see his feet, and admits they may have not been as correctly positioned to lift to the hover, but also feels he was slightly less aware of the situation developing than he could have been.
As he lifted to the hover the aircraft yawed and in an attempt to fly clear of other obstacles he pulled in more power too quickly and the governor couldn't manage the sudden input.
It's taken a while and there's been a few issues, frustration and tears but thanks to all that have helped to sort it out we are now back flying again with the engine overhauled.
In the spirit of passing on "lessons learned" there's two big ones;
1) Don't fly without thinking about your state of mind if it's less than 100% focussed on flying, have you got problems at home, feeling rough, headache, and don't try and fly and try out new kit for the first time solo, do it when you have got someone sitting next to you that can take control while you concentrate on your "toys", or better still just let someone else fly who can concentrate on the flying.
2) Everyone talks about overspeed on startup but very few people talk about overspeed on lift to the hover but it happens, after the event I found a website listing the (often) causes of overspeed and there it was number 2.
The importance of clearly reporting such an incident as an overspeed can not be over stressed - don't make assumptions that other people will just know. Make sure everyone knows and don't be shy about it. Don't even think about not reporting it. When the cam came out of our engine it was well deformed!
There is a new low cost "black box" that's being developed and we hope to get one fitted later this year (subject to EASA approvals), that we really think will help us identify which pilots are flying "well" and which pilots are heavy handed, we understand one of the main benefits will be a warning light if the aircraft has been oversped, just to re-enforce the incident reporting point.
Anyway - as a result of this overspeed incident one of the members has left the group and we have an open spot, I know this forum is not for advertising so see ebay, or
www.helisharing.co.uk but apart from this one blip it has worked quite well but it is lots of effort.
In the scheme of things we did expect something like this to happen but hoped it wouldn't, nevertheless the scheme works well otherwise.
The main thing is that everyone has to have respect for the aircraft and not treat it like a rental car.
DF