C.D.Damron wrote:

"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.


Correct. Mr. Cicare, for whatever reason he had, could not live up to
his end of the deal, forcing me to take on the Mini-500 on my own and
with none of his help or experience, which would have been beneficial.


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.


Thank you. It was an incredible amount of work. A challenge of a
lifetime. Testing continued on many years after until we shipped the
first kit, and many years after that until we closed our doors in 2000.


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


Right. We even lost our only flying Mini-500, along with all of our
factory equipment, molds and part supplies. We had to start all over,
and move to a new location and outfit it too. Yet, in a year and a half
after, we shipped our first kit. It was a magnificent comeback and
triumph over adversity. Thank you for recognizing this.


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.


The first Mini-500 I made had 95% of the same parts in it as was in the
finalized machines. We also had a second Mini-500 before shipping, that
was helping in the testing. The design was frozen sometime in early
1995, and tested on until the day we closed.


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.


We had some quality control issues, as well as any new company with a
product. Look at the R-22 and R-44 problems, and those were certified
helicopters! We solved our problems, as they did.

If you had some real-earth experience in what you were saying, then you
would not be saying it.


Dennis Fetters

Designer of;
Air Command 1/plcs Gyroplanes
Air Command 2/plcs Gyroplanes
Mini-500 1/Plcs Helicopter
Voyager-500 2/Plcs Helicopter
Excalibur 5/Plcs Turbine Helicopter
Star-Lite-A VTUAV Helicopter
Star-Lite-B VTUAV Helicopter