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Hiller UH12c buying advice?

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Old 18th Aug 2009, 19:29
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Hiller and maintenance.

Well if Vanguard Helicopters do not maintain them somebody was doing a lovely job of rebuilding a 12c in U.S. Army colours in their hangar last week!
If the rest continues to be built to the standard I saw then it surely will rank amongst the best out there.

Anyway, I could be wrong but the engineers were wearing Vanguard clothing.

In any respect the 12c is a fine machine, or at least that is my memory of it and long may they last.
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Old 18th Aug 2009, 19:44
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Well if Vanguard Helicopters do not maintain them somebody was doing a lovely job of rebuilding a 12c in U.S. Army colours in their hangar last week!
If the rest continues to be built to the standard I saw then it surely will rank amongst the best out there.
Yep, looks like I am a bit of date, certainly a while ago Bob the owner was as I understood it going to sell all His Hiller parts and pack in so must be a change of plan, good luck to them and heres there link Vanguard Helicopters which is a completely revamped website

I will also be nosey and pop into see that Hiller being rebuilt
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Old 18th Aug 2009, 23:35
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Originally Posted by 007helicopter
Personal opinion I think it would make a great primary trainer
It was the 12E, not 12C, but all of us pre 1970's's had our primary helicopter training on the H12E as RN HSP's. Then we had to climb up the side of a Whirlwind

A bunch of us took 4 x 12E's all the way from Culdrose to Nuremberg on a summer Navex; first day was just getting to Manston

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Old 19th Aug 2009, 01:53
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So your Hiller was in From Russia with Love and Rob Heilds Hiller was in Goldfinger.

Would that be correct. Everyman has his price, ring Rob and see if he will sell his Hiller.
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Old 19th Aug 2009, 12:10
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Mmmmm ...


..... first day was just getting to Manston

Ha .... not the fastest of machines then ... eh John?

When doing my endorsement in a 12E I was most amused at actually going backward reference the ground whilst in Autorotation! .... got sorted closer to the ground .... bloody wind!

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Old 20th Aug 2009, 09:38
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Hiller 12c intsructor

Hi my name is Tim Price & i fly & instruct on Hillers in the UK on the FAA licence, its difficult to get it on the JAR licence and maintain it.
any questions feel free to e-mail me

Regards

Tim

tim.price at talk21.com

Last edited by timprice; 20th Aug 2009 at 11:04.
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Old 21st Aug 2009, 11:44
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Hiller's in the UK

Yes, your'e right Hields have the only G-Registered Hiller flying in the UK (E4 Model).

There has been many 12 A,B,C model on the UK registration over the years, followed by many E Model's. looked after correctly they can be reliable and nice to fly, unfortunatley there are a lot of C model's in the UK at the moment that are neither.

We operated many 12E's over the years along with a Soloy e4 and had no complaints.

One major bit of advice would be to get a thorough survey carried out by someone who knows the hiller! If you want more info PM me or ask hields I am sure they will point you in the right direction. We currently have 2 N reg machine's sitting in the hangar that need a lot of sorting out and money spending on them due to the work not being done correctly in the first place.
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Old 24th Aug 2009, 21:37
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Hiller @ Henstridge

Just to add a note on Tim Price's advice. (Hi Tim) and to confirm that Vanguard Helicopters under the Bob West proprietorship is very much up and running. Have just completed their first PPL(H) course for them last Friday. And for the 'time' doubters ... ab initio to PPL(H) Skills Test pass ... 1n 18 flying days and 47 hours. They also operate a newish R44 and an Enstrom non-turbo 280 Shark.

Keith and Clive are the Vanguard engineers and are currently restoring a Hiller 12 to as high a standard as anyone would wish.

A new company with ambitious plans (new hangar etc-licenced helipad) and I wish them every success.

Dennis K. (From semi-retirement land!)
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Old 24th Aug 2009, 23:23
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Dennis good to here about Vanguard - any idea when there Hiller will be flying and what are the plans for it?
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Old 25th Aug 2009, 20:06
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Henstridge Hiller

The one that they are restoring/rebuilding is for a customer by all accounts and what a beauty it looks like it will be. It does not look like an easy job seeing as it arrived as a pile of bits but when I last happened to walk past it was looking like new.

They do have another white one in their hangar but I am not sure who's this is. It does like it's in flying condition.

Long live the Hiller. It's an old favourite to many I am sure.

Thanks.
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Old 10th Sep 2009, 17:18
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Hiller @ Henstridge

Hi Guys,
The Hiller in question belongs to a friend of mine and all being well when finished i shall be learning to fly it!!
I'm already a fixed wing instructor but got the 'bug' when i was a navigator in the British Helicopter Champs last year.
Have met the guys from Vanguard when they came to the airfield to pick all the 'bits' up for restoration and seem very knowledgable and great guys.
The Hiller was the first ever helicopter used by the L.A.P.D. back in 1956 and will be honoured to keep her flying.

Damian
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Old 10th Sep 2009, 19:12
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Damian

I may be wrong but I do not think you can train on an N reg unless you are the owner with dft permission Aviation Permits - flying training using foreign registered aircraft in the UK

Having been through tis process, I guess you could buy a share?
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Old 10th Sep 2009, 19:48
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Thanks for heads up.Am looking through all the possibilities and legalities at the moment. If i buy a share then i can get a uk ppl(h) but faa ppl(h) has a more relaxed attitude but not without complications!!!!
So many people pushing pens stopping aviators enjoying their sport i think..

Damian
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Old 11th Sep 2009, 18:43
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Tongue, If you are going to fly the Hiller get an FAA License, I have just got my clean FAA license as it was very difficult to keep a type rating current for the Hiller on my JAA License
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Old 11th Sep 2009, 18:56
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Thanks for that, will look at legalities of learning on said helicopter and hopefully join everyone in the skies in the new year.
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Old 1st Jan 2010, 09:40
  #56 (permalink)  
 
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Hiller up and running.

Hi all and happy new year to you.

I happened to see the Hiller mentioned earlier in this thread (that Vanguard Helicopters were restoring) running and pull into the hover at Henstridge. Looked good from where I was over the side.

To save going back through the thread to see what I am on about this one is a 12c that has been restored in it's original U.S. Army colours from ground up and looks every bit the part. I wish I could have a go.

It's so nice to see another classic in the skies again no doubt thanks to the Vanguard engineers and probably a small fortune as well.

Long may she fly.
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Old 1st Jan 2010, 11:16
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To keep Hiller 12b's & C's flying as a classic helicopter, just doing a few hours a year - fine, but the cost per hour would be ridiculous. As a regular flying tool, I really couldn't recommend it.
We had them on a commercial school in the late 70's and they were a right pain with lots of unscheduled maintenance to keep them in the air. It was difficult to keep them in good track and balance for any length of time, hence they always vibrated. They were bog slow (60 kt tops in practice). The cyclic feels weird because you are operating indirectly through the paddles. You can't balance the collective over the whole range, so it either throws on or off and the collective/throttle correlation is very poor by R22 standards. Also you can't disconnect the throttle from the collective for EOL practices, so you have to remember to roll off the throttle as you raise the lever for the landing.
We were very glad when we turned them in for Bell 47's and they weren't perfect.
I've noticed over the years that Hiller's come up for sale, disappear and surprise, surprise appear on the market again. Perhaps the above is some clue why.
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Old 15th Jan 2010, 09:48
  #58 (permalink)  
 
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Hiller 12c

Hi guys and gals, was wondering if anyone could shed some light on what the above aircraft would be like to own from a private individuals viewpoint. To be specific I am meaning servicing, cost of running and generally what are they like as a heli. I;'m sure you know what I mean.

Thanks!
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Old 15th Jan 2010, 12:03
  #59 (permalink)  

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To summarize the previous three pages - "don't".

Cheers

Whirls
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Old 15th Jan 2010, 20:14
  #60 (permalink)  
 
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As John Eacott said, all of us ex Fleet Air Arm Pilots pre-1970 flew the Hiller 12E with 705 RNAS (in my day at Culdrose). I flew the 12B/12C/12E and 12E4 with Bristows late 68/69. Funnily enough it is still on my licence - including the Soloy, which I never flew - even though I am now retired. Did a solo ferry flight with a 12E from Redhill to Tan Tan in Morocco in 1968. Though it didn't used to go too fast, I enjoyed flying it.

John
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