Guimbal
 

So, are there any news about the Cabri G2? Any operator out there with some comments on the aircraft? (Good, bad, pain in the a**). Is it usable for primary training, what's the maintenance issue on it? How long do you have to wait for one if you ordered one today?

Cabri G2 update
 

Hallo Capt Spunk and for interested others.

Have just returned from a further day at Aix-en-Provence flying the Cabri G2 for a write up for Blades Helicopter magazine.

My report concentrates more on the technical aspects and a six page article will appear in the April issue of Blades.

For those who don't know, Blades and P1 are part of the LOOP aviation newspaper group and are available without subscription by simply logging on to LOOP.aero and registering. Loop monthly and Blades Bi-monthly.

The factory were building serial number 1007 (seven so far) while I was there and subject to sales the plan is to eventually build ten machines a month.

Price is a problem just now with the UK pound worth tuppence, but the launch customer Ixair at Toussous le Noble have two on their school and a further thre on order. They are leasing out a whisker less than the local R22s.

I guess an order placed now could be for an autumn delivery but E-mail the new sales manager ... don't quote me! Ask Julia Depinay for a factory quote. Hlicoptres Guimbal S.A..

Best wishes to all,

Dennis Kenyon.

If they're planning to turn out 10/month, that implies they see a market for that many; any idea on what timescale they're planning to reach that level of production? The real problem I see (as others have already pointed out) is that to make training in a Cabri G2 worthwhile, you either need to be about to buy one for yourself or you need to be assured of being able to SFH one when you want it. This in turn implies that there will be enough of them around to make it worthwhile. Are Guimbal planning to sell mostly into Europe or are the 10/month production going to be sold world-wide? What about service centres? Will they piggy-back on Eurocopter's network?

I'm unlikely to be flying one any time soon, having made my choice of starting aircraft, but it would be good to see a serious contender for Frank's finest.

Oh, and if you're planning on signing up to LOOP.aero, I strongly suggest not giving them an email address you care about; they will continue to send out junk mail forevermore, no matter how many times you 'unsubscribe' or ask them not to.

Cabri G2
 

Hi Pandalet,

Thanks for the interest and my article will comprehensively deal with most of the usual queries that get raised, but for yours ... the ten-a-month figure is simply the factory's target production but absolutely has to depend on making the sales and that figure is at present the maximum factory capacity from the premises they have.

Can't accept your point about not buying or training 'til you can SFH. There's never been a helicopter produced that didn't arrive with that situation, but it didn't stop the R22 becoming a massive success. Factories, especially the smaller ones, work on a slower time table than you and I would like. M Bruno Guimbal has his head well and truly screwed on and will gear the factory up as the sales come in. But they do need to get the first few sold I feel. There is one firm in this country who are in pole position for a dealership and I know they plan to SFH to all clients who learn on the type. And remember I take the view that a G4 is inevitable!

On the maintenance aspects, no dealers will be appointed unless they have 145 approval and factory course engineers. Yes I believe the existing EC network will be used but mostly in Europe.

Sorry to hear of your LOOP 'junk' problem. First time it has been brought to my attention. If you haven't already e-mailed either Dave Calderwood or the owner Sam Spurdens and related the problem, write direct to either Dave or [email protected].

Having put in two days flying on the pretty Cabri, I was impressed, particularly with the firm handling and many safety features. (albeit a requirement under Easa's Part CS-27 certification.) Also liked the T/K period ... almost two seconds at MAUW. As good as the B206 and a mile better than the R22. (But the blades do turn the wrong way for we USA fanatics.)

Tried and trusted Lycoming J series engine, Glass cockpit panel, 'Plasma' ignition, five hours endurance, 130 knot VNE, safety features everywhere, especially the 'stroking' seats where a vertical impact of 30g is reduced to just 3g, then the Feneston T/R and all composite construction including the M/R blades.

Finally no 'finite life' airframe components ... everything 'on condition' so you don't throw it away after 2,200 hours. And a nice tit bit, remote door locking and ignition blocking. Remember when you first had it on your car!

Anyway for those that want to know more, just log on to Loop/Blades.

Best wishes to all,

Dennis Kenyon.

Blades Magazine
 

Dennisk

I am registered for the loop magazine. I have searched the loop website and can't find any reference to the Blades mag. Can you point me in the right direction please.

LOOP & Blades
 

Just call the Babraham office and ask them to add your name to the Blades distribution list. If you ask nicely they'll post you a dedicated April issue of Blades. Has my Cabri G2 update. LOOP.aero
Regards, Dennis K

Blades Magazine
 

Thank you.

According to this Av Week blog the Cabri was included in a recent French defense ministry 'pre-Paris air show briefing,' presumably because of its use as the basis of the ORKA-1200 VUAS.

http://sitelife.aviationweek.com/ver...c820.Large.jpg

I/C

2 new Cabri G2 have been delivered recently :
S/N 1004 is F-GXRV, S/N1005 is F-HBEA.

C.S.

S/N 1006 is F-GRIL. It has been delivered in september.

http://central.s.free.fr/Pprune/1006...0panel%202.jpg

S/N 1007 was delivered last week. More info to come soon.

S/N 1008 is on final assembly. It will be the first one with floats. Although the manual switches will be the usual way to inflate, an automatic immersion system will be fitted for the distracted (it will not be optional).

C.S.

Cabri G2 for the UK
 

And standby for the first two or three to arrive in the UK. (no sources ... just my pet mole)

Dennis K

Even after a lot of Google'ing, I still haven't found the Guimbals full specs.

Do any of you have them and willing to share ro have a link to where it can be found?

Here is the link to the TSDC

Eurocopter
 

This is the very first one delivered to Eurocopter.

http://central.s.free.fr/Pprune/1007.jpg

Yes, you read right, Eurocopter, for the first time in his history, acquires a brand new helicopter from an other manufacturer.
And it's only the beginning of a long story ...

Congrats!
:D

Second Cabri for Germany
 

S/N1009 has been delivered last week to Heli Aviation.

http://central.s.free.fr/Pprune/1009.jpg

I always understood there was no governer fitted to the G2, yet I note on the top row of warning lights;

GOV. OFF


Has a governer now been developed?

When will it be in the UK
 

Does anybody have an idea or know when the first one of these will appear in the UK?

Apologies if I have missed something obvious why its not here yet

(Ooops just read backwards, Dennis K any idea what part of England they will end up?):}

Hello,

the Cabri has been equipped with an RRM (Régulateur de Régime Moteur, engine speed regulator) since the beginning.
It's a digital regulator with many inputs and among others, an output that controls throttle.
It works perfectly, even in desynchronized mode (i.e. autos with low RPM) and it takes hand softly, quickly and firmly when you pull the collective to regain power if you don't want to complete your autorotation.

I don't think that what is traditionnaly called "governor" on other helos can do that.

On early pictures in this thread, one can see a blue light : it's the "gov off".

C.S.

Well,


Having gone back to the article posted by Captain Hollywood on Page 3 of this thread, I find reference to a governer switch being located on the end of the collective. :ouch: :O



Thanks CentralS, I'll be quiet now.....

The Cabri now in operation in Germany :

Ausbildung zum Hubschrauber Privatpilot PPL-H

Ausbildungskosten der Hubschrauber Privatpilotenlizenz (PPL-H)

Gute Flüge :ok:

Friedrichshafen
 

AERO 2010 will take place from the 8 to the 11 of april : AERO April 8-11, 2010

4 Cabri will land wednesday in the morning at Friedrichshafen airport.
3 of them with different finish will be on display in halls A3 and A6.

Hélicoptères Guimbal has launched his website : Hélicoptères Guimbal - accueil .

Anyone know whos getting the first one in the UK? i.e to have a go on, not a private owner. And when perhaps?

UK School
 

and if you are in the south of England, you've got yourself your first customer!

One of the first ones in Germany crashed yesterday, only minor injuries of both on board:

Helikopter am Flughafen Karlsruhe-Baden abgestürzt

http://www.ka-news.de/storage/scl/ho...5q75v54624.jpg

http://www.ka-news.de/storage/scl/ho...5q75v55497.jpg

http://www.ka-news.de/storage/scl/ho...5q75v25518.jpg

skadi

Good Morning Skadi,

do you ever sleep. Everytime I want to post some news you've already done it .:ok:

Too bad to see that this master piece of helicopter science is not infallible.

That is a great pity, the only thing that I could translate in the article was the Euro 300K bit.

Good job it didn't hit the concrete or it would really have cost a bit.

A great photo of the turned inside out skid gear. Does it need stronger crosstubes and / or attach points or was it really tested beyond the proper drop test limit?

Nice to see that it is still upright.

Was it an auto practice perchance??????:{

cheers tet

Unofficially

Safety proven :} life is going on.... my order still stands :ok:

ridiculously long words translated....


Helicopter crashed at Karlsruhe-Baden airport.

A helicopter crashed on the grounds at Karlsruhe-Baden airport on Monday afternoon, injuring the two occupants, fortunately only slightly.

According to initial findings from the police, the two men had begun a test flight within the airport area in a Guimbal G2 Cabri helicopter. For reasons yet unknown the aircraft fell from a height of from about two to three meters. The helicopter was severely damaged.

The first estimate of the damage amounts to about 300,000 Euros. The Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Investigation in Braunschweig has been asked to investigate the cause of the accident.

Bruno Guimbal, in another forum, explains that the pilots were practicing tail rotor failures....

Good news the drivers are ok, unfortunate for Bruno's new type but the cabin looks to have withstood the bingle pretty well. Interesting that they were going backwards at the time, maybe the practice emergency had been let develop too far but a reasonable outcome in real life. I would like to hear a bit more about the control authority of the fenestrom.

Does anyone know the registration and operator?

D-HETA s/n 1007 Motorflug Baden-Baden

Motorflug is an 100% owned subsidiary of Eurocopter.
Both on board when this sad event happened are Motorflug employees.

Oh! The dangers of messing with a language you don't understand!

Bruno, your statement as quoted above says that your product was tested under operational conditions and was found "bad"ly at fault.

Hoping their insurance company doesn't cotton on to this!

Tail rotor failures
 

Mod: Not intended to blame pilots, quite the contrary, so mod you may remove my speculation.

I know from personal experience that the Motorflug guys are good in tail rotor failure training.

Tail rotor failures require quite some aero dynamic performance of the tail fin, depending on the settings of tail rotor power. It appears to me in the Cabri design that the effective surface is (in relative terms) smaller than say R44, B206. So we could have a sudden stall of the tail fin, combined with low inertia, that make the maneuver quite a bit more tricky.

m2c
d3

Just becoming a bit confused here, but then I saw this really confusing bit.

Was it a practice T/R failure from the hover;

1) where the drivers started getting disorientated and then moving backwards before touchdown, or

2) was it simulated in forward flight and it developed into a T/R at hover after the forward A/S had washed off to come back to number 1, or

3) do they fly backwards and then simulate a T/R failure to drop to the ground before rotating into the forward A/S configuration?

In any of these events how can the quote above have significance when all airspeed is washed off, or nearly so?

Topendtorque

Perhaps along these lines....

Stuck tail rotor at 90% or 110% required for hover,
run on approach using side slip to cover for the fenestron performance gap and replacing it with tail fin power.

If well performed using even using a crosswind component, to avoid lateral motion during run on.

Sudden stall, making the heli spin...

d3

Thanks D3 and understand, just up aways we saw; -

Quote:

---

don't do anything with the Cabri that you wouldn't do with another light helicopter, and you'll enjoy a tremendous improvement in safety".

---

WRT the PFM what does it say about landing after a T/R drive failure in forward flight?

Hopefully there is nothing spooky in that prescribed procedure.
cheers tet

PFM
 

Don't know about the PFM, but at the current stage of experience (+- 10 ships) things may still need to be better understood at the limits of the envelop.

Personally I' am impressed with the body integrity, one of main design goals of Bruno, which appears to be achieved in real life imho.

d3