Red Bull B0-105
 

Excuse my ignorance, but are all BO-105 helicopters capable of doing the kind of aerobatics that you can see the Red Bull B0-105 doing on the uTube videos?

Obviously the pilot is highly skilled and you wouldn't catch me doing anything like that anytime soon.

I have only flown Robbies and clearly you would kill yourself even trying the things the pilot does in these videos, it looks like a masterpiece of engineering in the hands of a very skilled pilot to me.

I thought perhaps there is some special modification done to the machine.

Are there any other types capable of such manouvers?

As I recall, the UK register flight manual states that aerobatic manoeuvres are prohibited. The aircraft is very agile, but flying upside down in a helicopter is not on my to-do list!

More about this Red Bull BO 105 on their website:

http://www.redbullusa.com/en/Article...204-62961151.0

Click Button THE LOWDOWN

These aerobatics are fully certified for Red Bull in cooperation with Eurocopter. Generally all BOs could do these maneuvers, but not all pilots.....;)
Therefore the FM forbids these aerobatics. ( And it was no part in the certification process )
As I know, these BOs were also slightly modified with some parts of the military version to cope with the higher G-Forces ( certified for + 3.1 G ).
Naturally a more intensive as usual inspection after these flights is done...

skadi

Thanks for the details on the Red Bull helicopter, I don't know why I did not think of going to their website first.

I can't imagine that 'Chuck' is the first guy to do this. I suspect the Germans showed him a think or two. Does anyone know of any other types that may be able to do this, including military types? I am sure there are some stories out there :)!!

Indeed, the pilot is highly skilled. Rainer Wilke has logged over 7500 hours in the BO-105 ...

The BO105 rotorhead is certified to +3.5g but more interesting is that it is certified down to -1g! Really capable and strong rotor system.

As far as I remember the helicopters we fly are certified in the "mormal" category which is up to +3.3G.

Mind you already have +2G in a 60deg bank.
Isn't a barrel roll just a 1G manoeuvre ?

GG

"Isn't a barrel roll just a 1G manoeuvre ?"

This has always struck me as one of those urban myths: if anyone can explain to me how it is possible to recover from a diving manoeuvre (1st and 4th quarters of the roll) to climbing and level flight (respectively), without experiencing more than 1 g, I'd be grateful to hear it. Gentle it can be, 1g I don't see how (and I've done one or two.)

I would like to know how it was possible to mix military parts with the approved civil ship and parts??? The mil parts not having a BO105 civ partnumber and no civ ticket. Over the last 20 years it was impossible to use one single screw from the mil ships on civ registered. Germany phased out so many BOs from mil service. To get very cheap. But EC prohibited strictly the use of ex-mil ships and any parts. Very strictly!

And if it was no part in the certification process aerobatics couldn`t be approved on my sight for a civil registered helicopter according to the present rules. But with the power and money of REDBULL...

At least both of the US-registered BOs are registered as "Experimental" Aircraft, so they could go beyond the certified flight envelope.
Additional, the pilot C. Wilke is certified as FI for helicopter aerobatics, I think, at the time the only one in the world..

http://www.flyingbulls.at

Shows that they have two German registered B0-105 which also do aerobatics so this would make their fleet 3.

For the US it seems ok with "experimental". But in Europe the BO is german registered.

Never heard about a "FI helicopter aerobatics" in the JAA rules.

But thats only theoretical questions. The show is superb. Good for aviation!

Anyone in Vienna this weekend can see the Red Bull BO-105 and Rainer Wilke performing at the Donauinselfest on Saturday at 15.00 above the Wien-Energie stage.

dp

The US Red Bull, flown by Chuck Aaron, performed at Hiller Museum's Vertical Challenge airshow this last weekend. Even after you see it done, it's hard to believe you saw it correctly.

I remember an instructor at AEC (Larry) who said the M/R head was the only thing that was intact after some of the retaining bolts sheared off and caused a crash somewhere in South America. I have also seen what is left of one after an aircraft caught fire and was destroyed. Again, it was still intact! Truly amazing!:D

When I was at school at AEC I asked what the price tag was on the rotor head (I figured it would be pretty spendy being made out of a big block of titanium). The reply was something like...who cares? if you do something bad enough to hurt the head the rest of the aircraft will surely be destroyed and you'll get a new head with the new aircraft!

Max

Interesting article here....

Web Exclusives: Beyond the Thrill Ride, by Brent Bergen

Enjoy! :ok:

Old question. But better late than never.

Nick Lappos could provide some answers about details, 9 years ago at rec.aviation.rotorcraft newsgroup, he wrote some good stuff on that subject (helicopter A-A combat, and aerobatics - especially loops). Apparently what you need is strong, rigid machine, with lots of spare power and good speed. Although Nick wrote that even the S-51 was capable of performing a loop - low-G maneuvers would probably be a problem though.

First helicopter to perform full aerobatic display was CH-53, therefore many helicopters since the 60's can perform full aerobatics, although its not that simple as on the planks. For example a loop in a plank is fairly easy, all you need is enough speed to be above stall in the highest point. With helicopter, you need to hit a sweet spot: to little - and you wont make it to the top, to much - and you overspeed and stall main rotor on the recovery.

Helicopters that will do those maneuvers for fact are Bo-105, Bell 407, MD500, Lynx, Apache, NH-90 - those shown that capability already, look on youtube, and you may find videos. As far as others - probably most western machines can, and its mostly a question of pilot skill - seen S-58T do some nice maneuvers, AS365 also can achieve some insane roll and pitch rates... But probably non of the Russian helicopters can do that kind of flying, except the Mil Mi-28, they are just to fragile and one may say that they fall off the sky above bank angle of 45deg. Numerous Mi-8, Mi-24, and Mi-2 were lost because some pilots got to cocky.

As for the European pilots goes - Rainer Wilke is pretty much one of the best known helicopter stunt pilots, ex-military, Eurocopter test pilot instructor, was doing the aerial work for German "Clown" TV series, he (and Sigi Schwarz) fly the Red Bull '105 in Europe, and he was the one who shown Chuck Aaron, what Bo-105 is capable of.

Have you ever seen this?

Perfect 1G Barrel Roll in Airplane - Truveo Video Search

Also here is an explanation off a site I copied:

Early Aerobatics
 

Actually the following clip is a copy of a movie that was made at Sikorsky long before my time, but which is still shown there every now and then:



Mr. Thompson visited the factory in Stratford in the early 1990's and for all of his memorable exploits, was a very quiet, self-effacing gentleman. Also very, very intelligent and technically curious about all of the technology in the newer machines.

Thanks,
John Dixson