Dear Ron,
Thank you for trying to help contribute to the Mini-500 history, but I'm
afraid you have posted some statements that are not accurate. Please
allow me to help:


Ron Snipes wrote:

Roger that "Other Kevin". They have taken out some high-time pilots.


The fact of the matter is that no Mini-500 has crashed due to improper
design or bad flight characteristics. The only accidents have strictly
been from pilot error, improper assembly or owner modifications. As all
helicopters ever designed and flying, the Mini-500 has had a few
problems from design oversights on my part, but none has caused an
accident, and all were corrected and the upgrades made available to the
owners for free or at our cost.

The high-time pilot you may be referring to was Allen Barklage in St.
Louis MO. The facts behind that is he had seized his engine a week or so
before, due to him installing the wrong engine jetting. After seizing
the engine, he installed the proper jets and restarted the engine and
began flying the helicopter again, without repairing the engine. The day
of the crash, the helicopter still had the same damaged engine. He took
off, and rather climbing to a safe altitude to clear a power line
complex, he flew just feet over the top. The engine finally failed, and
Allen tried to autorotate the helicopter to the other side. The distance
was to great, and the helicopter blades stalled and nosed into the
ground. No helicopter built with a single engine could have made the
distance. Pilot error.


The engine has been known to Seize, which also makes your rotor not turn.
This makes an autorotation extremely difficult.


True, the engine has seized, but only to improper jetting, low octane
fuel or improper maintenance. No Mini-500 Rotax engine has just failed
due to the engine design, demand or application.

I don't know who told you the rotors would not turn if the engine quits.
That is not true. If the engine quits, or is powered back at any time,
the clutch will immediately allow the rotor system to continue turning,
allowing for full autorotation capability. In fact, the Mini-500
auturotated as well or better than most helicopters, as demonstrated at
air shows all over the world, and by customers that built and operated
Mini-500's according to factory specifications.


Some words just don't go together in a sentence, like "Affordable" and or
"Cheap" and "Helicopter". Mini 500 buyers are lured by Affordable and Cheap.


Correct. People in general have no business building helicopters. I was
a fool to think so.


I have a htm file that was a several year study of Mini-500 accidents.
Pretty interesting read.


So do I. In fact, we did a complete study up to the point where we
closed the doors, and even posted the accident report here on the
newsgroups for all to see. I will post it here again separately from
this post.


One in particular, the ship caught on fire when the
owner went inside his house to get something. He thinks his Crescent wrench
slipped off the ship and fell on the battery causing it to short out and
catch fire. Totalling the ship. Then they make the statement "the ship had
been for sale for quite a while".


That is true, but you forgot to mention that this owner had dowsed his
Mini with a highly flammable solvent, and while he was in the house
making a phone call in the middle of his cleaning operation, that is
when the wrench left inside the engine compartment mysteriously fell on
the battery contacts. One more thing, he had full insurance coverage
worth twice what the aircraft was worth, and he got paid.

His Mini-500 had been for sale, and he was asking way to much. It was
insured for twice as much as what he could have sold it for outright.
I'm glad you see through it too.


I have never flown a Mini 500.


Thank you for qualifying your statements. There is nothing wrong with
commenting on a helicopter you have no experience with, but still, the
statements need to be corrected. I hope I have helped your better
understanding on the topic.

As for the guy that originally asked the question about places to buy
Mini-500 parts, no, there is nowhere to purchase parts. I might add that
this is a good thing. Even if you could buy parts, the Mini-500 should
not be flown without a factory that continues to flight test and keeps
track of ongoing issues common to all helicopters operating.

Most sincerely,


Dennis Fetters