Desmon, were you layed off because of that truck accident. I heard rumors that some 2800 got layed off because of that accident.

I do not think so. Stuff happens. One door shuts the other opened.

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Speak of the devil (extruded blades) .... look at this recent prang with an MTO , the blade departed

Most of the time they will bend and fold and wrinkle but not separate

This has nothing to do with the cause of the accident , nor to fault the aircraft , just an observation

More pictures here http://www.hassfurter-tagblatt.de/lokal ... 420,303753

(Injuries were described as minor)
(Emergency landing gone wrong)

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Thanks for the pic Arnie.
That is exactly where the cracks develop.
I wonder if this is the new design or the old style?

I think they are the newer ones Gabs, they have 6 bolts in the straps on the hub, evidently the older ones had 5 bolts in the strap? Someone correct me if I am wrong, I don't think my alzheimers is too bad yet? sorry, what was the question Peter?

I rarely see "broken off" blades.
Bent yes. Curled up yes. But broken off......
My SportCopter blades had a hell of a ride but man!!!
They held together. Not even a skin separation.
I should have run an advertisement for Jim Vanek about it....any maybe charge him for it just to recover some dollars LOL!
They are good blades. I for one am a little weary of the extruded ones.
I don't care who makes them.
It is the process that makes them in my eye inferior.
But that's just me. And it is only an opinion of course.
When you have a die separating a metal and forcing an adhesion as the material leaves the die.....it also rearranges on a molecular level with different cooling properties.
Yes I understand heat treatment and all.....
But! The metal will still end up having properties almost identical of a welded pieces.
Low,high,low strength around the dies.
Not to mention the material elongation.
Measurable elongation of the extruded blades.
I am not knocking them just being investigative about the facts.
I have no dog in this fight. I'd go for bonded skin every time over extruded.
Hell.....even a CF far superior composite would be good too.

Hey Gabs.... wouldn't it be funny if the behemoths bent rotors could be fitted to a hub bar that makes them face the right direction..... some one could make like 'sea gull' wing rotors.... might work... then someone can make far superior carbon fiber chrome Molybdenum copies of them

The old set of blades had a short tower and the hub bar straps were uniform thickness and the new one has. A tall tower with tapered thickness straps. To me this looks like a new one

Either way, it will cost about $40K to fix it

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I have a question about the new TAGNA Carbon Fiber Blades

This thought has been rattling around in my head for a while now and maybe you guys can think about it or know the answer , here goes :

In the 1940's Bell had severe 2-per-rev shake that was initially solved with some cross braces they called a "Swedish Yoke" (you can see the ugly framework above of the hub in the picture)

Chuck Beaty once mentioned that the SKY WHEELS rotor blades were "some of the smoothest" as far balancing and the 1-per rev shake .... and he attributed it to the stiff (composite) hub section (hub bar) that joined the blades ... I hope I got that right


Now my point .... when I look at the substantial root portion of the new TAGNA Composite blade , plus the new way of bolting them together (substantial side plates) (horizontal bolts) I want to say BINGO ... finally someone is doing it (stiff hub)

Am I dreaming or is that (one of) the design goals from TAGNA ??

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SteveUK is telling everyone that MTO was a landing accident.... he cant believe that it was just a nosewheel snapped off and it fell over.... The pilot needs to talk to the manufacturer.... I would blame the faulty nosewheel weld for that wreck

I do not thing the wheel would brake except the fork. The tube is welded through two, two inch square frame tubes. The picture is from one I repaired that had a hard crash landing it just bent the fork it cost 25000 to rebuild. It was about as bad as the one your showing.

Actually the break looks further out than where the cracks develop, i.e. beyond the bolts and hub bar

This looks pretty similar to the Magni

Do you really think so? With a proper landing the gyro should be pretty much stationary before the nose wheel settles to the ground. I have to think he hit nose wheel first. Of course all speculation, but if he hit some low trees next to the field it may have tipped him nose first.
Listening to the German newscaster on YouTube, pretty much sounds like he came down pretty hard after hitting the trees - so sounds like he either did a damn good job and/or got pretty lucky that there were no serious injuries. I doubt any gyro would look too good after hitting like that from the description.
Anyway it looks like it's time for me to put that damn inferior MTO on the market. It's gay anyway. Even though I do have a vastly superior tailwheel.
Excited my new Sensenich prop was delivered, picking it up tomorrow.

I have a set of RotorHawk blades that look just like the ones that Gabor has!

So...just how many blade strikes do gyro pilots have before they learn blade management.

or is it a sign of experience?

Mine wasn'y my fault, My engine quit and my axle broke....

I made that inferior MTO of yours Lofty airworthy with the tail wheel.
I should have told you that the rest of the machine kind of blows....
Nose wheel breaks off, rudder comes lose, can't handle emergency landings without breaking apart.......
Now that you are putting a half ass good prop on it I might just go on a flight with you......
Finally you are putting airworthy stuff on that thing....
I am starting to trust it.

What my point is and has been all along.... media can say anything, you can believe he took off, had a power loss, managed to fly back to the strip, brushed some trees (50-100 yards away) then had a heavy landing accident after brushing the trees.... and hardly damaged the rotors at all.... I am actually beginning to think it is a staged insurance job, tip the machine over, tell the insurance company it was a flying accident and claim insurance.....

There is nothing wrong with annoying orange Lofty? I am sure you check it over before flying.... it is an excellent machine..... the red one in my pic clipped rotors with another machine, no one knows how hard a life the yellow one in the thread suffered? It might have had a complete animal pilot who bashed the nosewheel on everything.... the rotors may have been 2000 hours old? Who knows

Think about this..... if someone has a euro tub, someone they know has just rolled one and bent the blades and broken the propeller and nosewheel and a few bits.... take the good rotors and prop off your good machine, bolt the bent ones and broken prop on, tip the machine on its side, carefully, to not damage anything, call the emergency rescue, take some photos, claim $40K insurance, bolt your good rotors/prop/tail back on.... go for a fly and think about how to spend the $40K (and change insurance company)

good scheme