So you want to build a helicopter....
 

DIY Flight: Chinese DIY Helicopter is the Culmination of 10 Years of Ingenuity, Possible Mental Illness

As crazy as it seems, you have to admire his ability to put together a working aircraft for ~$3000....

It's China.........................

Just copy an RC model and make it "bigger". Looks a little "Hirobo" doesn't it?

As for flying it a good RC pilot can probably fly a "real" helicopter in about 10 minutes once they get the feel.

Speaking of copying helicopters - look here

It looks like every other single seat helicopter out there.....
Hats off to him if he is self taught although those rapid vertical descents are gonna bite him one day if he is not careful especially around buildings like that.

RVDT,

How can call that a copy? It does not have the lower windows in the cockpit doors.... tsk tsk...

;)

The interesting point it brings up though, probably for a separate thread is how much does the design overhead factor into the price of an aircraft (heli or fixed wing). One could expect the cost of an aircraft contains R&D (incl. certification), Royalties (For patents) and then manufacturing costs...

For the purposes of my question I would be curious how the cost of a new aircraft would be broken down into these categories...

The future.
 

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Chinese ultralight helicopters will probable comply with the United States - FAA ~ Ultralight (Part 103) regulations if the empty weight is less than 254 pounds and the components are assembled in the US, etc.

Quality will come, if Japan Inc. is an example.

Dave,

Would you like to check that link? I'm not sure that many of us read Cantonese (or whatever it is!) :rolleyes:

Neither do I, but a picture is worth a thousand words.
It appears that the are already producing blades for numerous Chinese Very Light Rotorcraft.

Or, perhaps, they are producing the blades for the American firm Vortec. http://www.Unicopter.com/NoIdea.gif

Perhaps they should be producing blades for a certain Mr F Robinson, then there'd be an end to any delamination problems:cool:

Compare the pictures from above web site (aka Chinese Helicopter Factory) with a picture from the Robinson factory.

I'd rather fly my Robbie, despite all the blade delamination issues ;)