Pre-rotators

[birdy]

Yep a standard Rosco with ony a coupla mods, like an extension out frunt for the bendix, and i gota use the smaller RAF ring gear.

[Waddles]

Fred,FWIW, no reported bearing, Jesus bolt or mast failures attritutable to pre-rotation since reported accidents recorded from about the late seventies.Questions about hub-bars and pre-rotation, Yes. Still with the jury.Its not possible to pre-rotate the RAFTOR by hand without a ladder. My students are given 60 RPM with the PR then the rest is up to them. With practice, ground roll of 250M before airborne, 2 up, 1/2 fuel.From memory, the MT/ELA/Magni/Xenon flight manuals consider the gyro to be unserviceable if the pre-rotator is busted. Hence the recently introduced "endorsements" for these exotic types.Allan Wardill.

[welli]

According to the MT handbook, it is possible to hand pre-rotate the rotor. Thankfully we haven"t yet had a need to try it out, as they are a very reliable pre-rotator.

[Russell]

Was involved in the "initial" training with guy and his ELA..........same as MT03......it is awkward standing on back seat , holding stick forward by your toes ;D and patting up the blades.............but it is very achievable, they actually pat up real good.Having a stick lock in place, would make it so much easier.I think it should be "mandatory"...........EVERY.........machine should be setup so hand starting is quite possible, ie..........stick locks / foot pegs, especially for tandems and cabined machines.Imagine flying off to some remotish spot, just you.........and your prerotator shytes itself there..........you guna walk home, coz you can"t, or don"t know how to pat up your blades.................i don"t think soMandatory.....................all machines / pilots, able to be hand patted

[asra]

Russ sound like the Raftor will need more mods so you can climb up to pat up the blades. I can hear Rod now LOL ;D ;D

[Mark Horan]

GRRustle will just have some form of bent stick left over from the dream house that"ll be able to reach around the door of the cab and give the hub bar a couple"O flicks and be on his merry way..... ;DSorry Russ, if you wasnt such a good target, no-one would bother Mark.

[Russell]

hey
..........

[Russell]

I"m feelin unloved.........

[Mark Horan]

Now Russy, dont get yourself all sensetive,no-ones pickin on ya, i just figured that you must have had some woods left over from the "Dream Home", and I was giving you a use for some of it!as for Cross hairs on my forehead, I used to have lots of cross hairs on the back of my head........, most of em got so cross, they left home! ;DMark.

[Waddles]

any truth in the rumour that willi dinged his tail trying to start blades without a pre-rotator? mt 03 !!!!!!waddles.

[asra]

Was involved in the "initial" training with guy and his ELA..........same as MT03......it is awkward standing on back seat , holding stick forward by your toes ;D and patting up the blades.............but it is very achievable, they actually pat up real good.Having a stick lock in place, would make it so much easier.I think it should be "mandatory"...........EVERY.........machine should be setup so hand starting is quite possible, ie..........stick locks / foot pegs, especially for tandems and cabined machines.Imagine flying off to some remotish spot, just you.........and your prerotator shytes itself there..........you guna walk home, coz you can"t, or don"t know how to pat up your blades.................i don"t think soMandatory.....................all machines / pilots, able to be hand patted

[Russell]

Me tandem had the elec prerotator off for a bit.............i used to stand on back seat, hold stick forward with me foot, and pat up the blades.........then drop down into that back seat, and commence ground run, just to get em over the hump, then i would pull up, jump out, and then jump into the front seat, and begin ground running again while i got all belted in etc etc.You had to be reeeel carefull you didn"t let the blades get too quick as you were sitting in the rear seat.....just over the hump....no moreDon" let on i did this.................might get me grounded ;DHaving a "stick lock" would"ve made this far easier, would allow hand spinning, then climbing into front seat to commence ground run.There is a yanky blade some folks here use, can"t recall their name at the minute.........but patting them up, and then ground roll to get em spinning is near on impossible. So a prerotator is a must for them.I owned a little single seater a yr or 3 ago, it had em, tried all the tricks i knew to get em hand started, succeeded about 10 poocent of the time.cheers........russ

[asra]

Dragon Wings

[Brian]

A bit of useless information here but the other day, I hit the pre rotator button and ....nothing, not a thing, anyway, I decided to go the old fashioned way and pat them up, well, no wind at all, got them up to 48 revs and that was about it for me, tall mast, trying to keep the stick forward with my foot, even turned the engine off in case I slipped.They are Patroneys 27 ft 6 inch and heavy but I was mildly surprised I wasnt able to get them up a bit faster, by the time I dropped back in the seat and started the engine, the revs were already dropping down into the low 40"s.Must admit, had the situation been critical, I would have got enough revs with a bit of improvisation.

[asra]

I have two students at the moment who bought an Mt 03. As far as I"m aware they will be the first to learn in that type of machine that are capable of hand starting rotors.95% of the time they are only allowed to pre rotate to 40 or 50 then get them up by taxiing only.The last part of training will be no pre rotator at all.The rotor tach has been covered up for quite some time.I have owned 5 sets of Dragon Wings over the years and hand starting is easy if you have a smooth runway and a couple of knots breeze.Any type of rough ground they will flex and loose RPM. Even at over 150 RPM you will still flap them in the wrong conditions. But performance comes at a price!!