"Darrel Toepfer" wrote in message
...
C.D.Damron wrote:
"Dennis Fetters" wrote...
The first time I took it to Oshkosh it had 0 hours. The second time it
had 210 hours.

Who left the master switch on?

By July of 1995, N500ZZ (serial #0000) only had 200 hours and
was by everybody's opinion, the aircraft with the most time.


For Fetters, the history of the Mini-500 starts with the display and demos
of Cicare CH-6 at Oshkosh. He refers to this aircraft as "the prototype",
but in his own posts states that he did not have access to the prototype
after he ended his relationship with Cicare, forcing him to design and test
a helicopter from scratch.

Based on the timeline, Fetters designed a helicopter from scratch in a year
and half after ending his relationship with Cicare, all the while taking
orders based largely on the excitement generated by the earlier CH-6. I
find it an amazing task that a helicopter could be designed, built, and
tested in this timeframe.

If you think that timeframe is a little tight, throw in a 1993 flood that
Fetters has said resulted in delays.

The high-time aircraft had about 200 hours on it by July of 1995.

I DIDN'T THINK OF IT EARLIER, BUT I WONDER WHEN THE FIRST AIRCRAFT WAS
ASSEMBLED AND TESTED USING PRODUCTION PARTS AS THEY APPEARED IN ACTUAL
PRODUCTION KITS.

This is an important question, as many of the problems associated with the
Mini-500 were quality control issues that might have been revealed had
adequate testing been performed on a kit-built aircraft, instead of a
prototype craft where every part is crafted under close scrutiny.