Re: Looking for out of service main rotor blades for testing new rotor

[Wright1902Glider]

Have you tried contacting one of the commercial companies like Petroleum
Helicopters or Air Logistics? Both of them are located in (or near) Lafayette,
LA. If the blades from a Bell 206 would be of use to you, they might be able
to help. Otherwise, you might also try Barnstormers.com (.net?).

Harry

[Wright1902Glider]

PS: If you do inquire with a commercial company, I would recomend NOT
mentioning that they will be used for testing.

Harry

[Del Rawlins]

On 19 Jul 2003 12:52 PM, Wright1902Glider posted the following:
> Have you tried contacting one of the commercial companies like
> Petroleum Helicopters or Air Logistics? Both of them are located in (
> or near) Lafayette, LA. If the blades from a Bell 206 would be of use
> to you, they might be able to help. Otherwise, you might also try
> Barnstormers.com (.net?).

The local A&P school here in Anchorage has trouble obtaining helicopter
components for use in classes because they tend to be time limited items,
and once the time is expired the owners usually cut them up or return
them to the manufacturer to be destroyed.

----------------------------------------------------
Del Rawlins-
Remove _kills_spammers_ to reply via email.
Unofficial Bearhawk FAQ website:
http://www.rawlinsbrothers.org/bhfaq/

[Wright1902Glider]

Well, don't tell anyone where you heard this, but a few of the big commercial
heli companies have a tendancy to hang on to certain expensive time-sensative
parts like blades. Just in case the FAA changes its mind about the service life
of a given part.

The worst they could do is not sell to you.

Harry

[Duke]

I appreciate the ideas. I have thought about the commercial angle, but
those blades are beyond the scale we were shooting for here. Our target
goal was under 1000 lbs dry weight for the whole craft and we were looking
to pin the rotor head weight+drive train+motor under 300 lbs total w/o
blades. The bigger blades are definitely great, but they are much heavier
which leads to the requirement for a much larger rotor head than we hoped to
finish with.

I work in the Oil and Gas Industry and am very familiar with the PHI,
Airlog, etc groups. I actually tried to get a set of old tail rotor blades
from the PHI guys in Lafayette for and unrelated project, but the answer I
got from their technical guy was that they couldn't do that as they were
required to send the blades back to (someplace I can't remember anymore) for
disposal.

Thanks,
Mike
ovrlrds at swbell dot net



"Del Rawlins" > wrote in message
...
> On 19 Jul 2003 12:52 PM, Wright1902Glider posted the following:
> > Have you tried contacting one of the commercial companies like
> > Petroleum Helicopters or Air Logistics? Both of them are located in (
> > or near) Lafayette, LA. If the blades from a Bell 206 would be of use
> > to you, they might be able to help. Otherwise, you might also try
> > Barnstormers.com (.net?).
>
> The local A&P school here in Anchorage has trouble obtaining helicopter
> components for use in classes because they tend to be time limited items,
> and once the time is expired the owners usually cut them up or return
> them to the manufacturer to be destroyed.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> Del Rawlins-
> Remove _kills_spammers_ to reply via email.
> Unofficial Bearhawk FAQ website:
> http://www.rawlinsbrothers.org/bhfaq/
>

[Big John]

Duke

Just saw a show on the History Channel a few days ago about airplane
junk yards. Bottom line was that the had stopped selling recycled
parts due to liability and now only sold for display or movie sets (or
something like that).

Know the survival of blades in a helio accident is unlikely but you
might contact these junk yards to see if you could get some blades for
your 'mock up'.

If you can't find the location of any junk yards call the History
Channel and try to get info from the producer who put together the
segment.

Also any old timer in the business of rebulding/repairing birds will
know how to contact these 'junk yards'.

Best of luck with your project.

Big John


On Tue, 22 Jul 2003 04:16:23 GMT, "Duke" > wrote:

>I appreciate the ideas. I have thought about the commercial angle, but
>those blades are beyond the scale we were shooting for here. Our target
>goal was under 1000 lbs dry weight for the whole craft and we were looking
>to pin the rotor head weight+drive train+motor under 300 lbs total w/o
>blades. The bigger blades are definitely great, but they are much heavier
>which leads to the requirement for a much larger rotor head than we hoped to
>finish with.
>
>I work in the Oil and Gas Industry and am very familiar with the PHI,
>Airlog, etc groups. I actually tried to get a set of old tail rotor blades
>from the PHI guys in Lafayette for and unrelated project, but the answer I
>got from their technical guy was that they couldn't do that as they were
>required to send the blades back to (someplace I can't remember anymore) for
>disposal.
>
>Thanks,
>Mike
>ovrlrds at swbell dot net
>
>
>
>"Del Rawlins" > wrote in message
...
>> On 19 Jul 2003 12:52 PM, Wright1902Glider posted the following:
>> > Have you tried contacting one of the commercial companies like
>> > Petroleum Helicopters or Air Logistics? Both of them are located in (
>> > or near) Lafayette, LA. If the blades from a Bell 206 would be of use
>> > to you, they might be able to help. Otherwise, you might also try
>> > Barnstormers.com (.net?).
>>
>> The local A&P school here in Anchorage has trouble obtaining helicopter
>> components for use in classes because they tend to be time limited items,
>> and once the time is expired the owners usually cut them up or return
>> them to the manufacturer to be destroyed.
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------
>> Del Rawlins-
>> Remove _kills_spammers_ to reply via email.
>> Unofficial Bearhawk FAQ website:
>> http://www.rawlinsbrothers.org/bhfaq/
>>
>

[Duke]

Thats an interesting idea.

Thanks very much.

"Capt. Doug" > wrote in message
...
> >Big John wrote in message > If you can't find the location of any junk
> yards call the >History Channel and try to get info from the producer who
> put together the
> > segment.
>
> Get a copy of Trade-a-Plane. Less than $5. All the big junkyards advertise
> in it.
>
> D.
>
>

[Big John]

Capt

History show said that junk yards (or at least the one(s) they had in
show) had stopped recycling parts (even if yellow tagged) due to
liability (ambulance chasers). Is this now the norm in that industry?

Big John

On Wed, 23 Jul 2003 01:47:47 GMT, "Capt. Doug"
> wrote:

>>Big John wrote in message > If you can't find the location of any junk
>yards call the >History Channel and try to get info from the producer who
>put together the
>> segment.
>
>Get a copy of Trade-a-Plane. Less than $5. All the big junkyards advertise
>in it.
>
>D.
>

[Capt. Doug]

>Big John wrote in message >Is this now the norm in that industry?

Not to my knowledge. Check out a copy of Trade-a-Plane to see the multitude
of ads from salvage yards. Additionally, if I understand correctly, many of
the used parts are older than 18 years which means that GARA will limit
liability.

D.

[Harry Burns]

Ha Ha Ha... just catching up on this thread again... yeah, I know that "Tech.
Guy" in R.O. Racks at PHI... tought me everything I know... and he'd
probably be ****ed if he knew I was the one who told you to check them out...

I ran accross a set of Bell Model 47 tail rotor blades on E-bay last year for
under $300. Might wanna keep your eye open...

Harry