Any R44 Newscopter's for sale?
 

Hi all,

Wondering what is in the marketplace for pre-loved Newscopters.

Any feedback about the ENG system - reliability etc appreciated

Cheers

TCF

Graviman,

The R44 (and R22) Maintenance manual plus the Illustrated Parts Manual can be ordered online from the Robinson website:

http://www.robinsonheli.com/prodman.htm

Total cost for both manuals $210.

Great for owners who want to understand their machine better. Delivery is very slick and fast from Robinson. Pity this service isn't reflected in warranty issues with new machines. As an owner of a 99 Astro with three years left what Robinson must realise is how this this latest blade fuss is hurting potential sales. I'm a Robbie enthusiast and think Frank is a design genius and I'm tempted to replace my machine with a new one, but get the impression that keeping it to 12yrs and upgrading it to hydraulics will be more sensible. By all accounts my machine is better built than new ones leaving the factory. Their attitude can only be because of a full order book. Perhaps the looming U.S. reccession will make them sharpen up their customer relations. Even if they're working hard on the balde delam problem behind the scenes, they massively underestimate the current bad P.R. that influences repeat customers like me.

Just got back, from flying this R44 Raven 1 hired from Sloane in Mallorca.

Don't know what all the fuss is about
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/g...o/DSCF0105.jpg

Thanks, B47. Does anyone know if the Maintenance manual has the full hydraulic schematic, including hydraulic valve block? I'd like to understand the system as an engineer.

I'm gently trying to persuade a couple of more folks to take a heli ride. ;)
Will need some R22 time to get that high wind speed hovering sorted though. :\

You can try to contact customerservice _ @ _ robinsonheli.com and kindly ask for that info. They are usually very helpful. Or you could visit a maintenance center and ask them if they let your brows their MM.

Graviman,

Just checked my MM for you. Yes, there's a full schematic of the hydraulics plus a full 3D line drawing of the complete system. Don't quote me on this as I'm the owner of a pre-hydraulics Astro so I can't check the actual ship, but there isn't a distribution block (as on my 35hp compact tractor...). The reservoir supplies equal pressure to the three servos. 450-500 psi that's in excess of needed for normal control forces, constant return via pressure relief valve. Elastic cord balances the opposite forces. Electrics only needed to turn system off i.e. fail safe in electrical failure. Very simple system which when you look at the complexity of the electric trim system, apart from a little more weight, makes you wonder why Frank R never went for hydraulics in the first place.

PM me if you wish and I'll send you more detail.

Faa Ad On R44
 

We received a phone call from Brian Seedles yesterday saying that our new R44 must NOT be flown until an AD has been carried out. They are going to LPL today to do it for us. Not sure what it is all about but think it is the fuel pump. Anyone else had this problem?
Helicopter is just 12 months old 191 hrs. Also we have to pick up the tab!!!
Seems odd that it is not a warranty job.:sad:

Possibly something to do with this:

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=317947

Thanks Pandalet.
Looks like that includes us-new engine post Aug 2006.

Runway101, thanks for the good advice.

B47, check your PMs.

R44 oil levels
 

Would like to hear from owner/operators of R44s with the IO 540 and what they keep their oil level topped up to. And yes, I am aware of what the flight manual recommends.

Cheers, DM

question: is it more than 7 ?
answer: yes - fly
no - put a litre in or enough to get over 7

err thats it really

Old subject. The roots are in the upgrade of the R44 to the new engine. The POH has to stick with the Astro stated level - but can actually operate at a lower level. Look at the Lycoming manual that comes with every new R44 RII.

Anything over 7-8 quarts gets blown out the breather.

The topic was brought up a while ago for a few posts and we all know it gets thrown out the breather at 7......so why do we fill it to 7? I'd like to know what what people are using as a minimum, their reasons for it and who recommended it.

Cheers DM

From operating several Raven IIs for thousands of hours and monitoring oil closely, we determined that keeping the oil at (but not above) 7 is the way. The amount of oil lost below 7 is a lot less than if you try to maintain 8.
The Lycoming handbook says you can use as little as 4 - but that would be foolish in a helicopter.
You can always spot the overfilled Raven II in the hangar - small pool of oi which drops off the breather pipe. Tail area covered in a film.

At the RHC safety course they told us that the R44 II "likes" it at 6.5 quarts, but Lycoming sets the rules for 7-9 and they are not officially saying anything different at RHC.

From my experience with few Raven II's ...i couldnt agree more... i WAS topping it up to 8qts but after a couple of hours in the air it was back just under 7.... if you dont bother for a while it will stay there ... like the 22 stays around 4ish for a while...

AS long as it it is close the recomended minimum it will be ok :ok:

The lower orange ring on the diptick is my full mark. As others have said, just blows out quickly if filled above that.

Throttle governor
 

Picked up my 360hr R44 Raven 2 from a 50 hr service today.

When I wound the throttle up and the governer took over as normal, it wound the power up much higher than normal, certainly at the top of the green arcs and continung up.

I closed the throttle, wound it up again and it was perfectly normal, stabilising in the middle of the green arcs.

I couldn't repeat the fault.

I spoke to the engineers and they had replaced a throttle rod. They were certain though that this was a coincidence and nothing to do with my experience.

All are mystified, never heard of this fault.

I did not, repeat not, accidentally wind the throttle up, the governor was responsible.

Any theories?

Jack

I always give some resistance to the governor's throttle increase on startup for just this reason - slightly holding it back against the rise so I have full control if it goes skyward, sounds like you were on top of it.

It's pretty basic electronics in there - my understanding of how it works suggests that a dirty contact could do it, cleaned up in the first minutes of the run.

BW