Steve: The orginal method of tracking the blade on the Safar was to loosen
the pinch bolt on the pitch arm where it contacted the blade grip and slip
the pitch arm and re-tighten and torque the pinch bolt. The bolt got
installed and safetied but not properly torqued. We discovered this in a
post crash investigation. At any rate, there I was with about 30hrs Total
Helo time at lift off and about 40' and 40mph when the pitch arm slipped,
the blade went out of track(pitching up) and the ship began shaking hard
enough so that I couldn't read the tach. I decided to put it down and my
fixed wing training had me reducing the throttle. Almost instantly the
rotor speed decayed, the ship yawed left inspite of full pedal and rolled
left inspite of full opposite cyclic and became a Lawn Dart. The two
seconds I had to analyze the problem were not enough. I have since
ingrained it into my head (I hope) that when everything turns to crap:KEEP
THE ROTOR SPEED.
Like Bart said, up until something ocurred outside of my skill level, I
looked like a pro. I could hover like an angel, play with the traffic cones
etc. As long as every thing worked right I was OK. Ididn't have the skills
to handle the problem I encountered. BTW the present pitch arm desigh has
an indicating ball that will not allow the pitch arm to slip. The tracking
adjustments are done with the pitch link and it's opposing threaded rod
ends.
"Steve R." wrote in message
...

"Stu Fields" wrote in message
...
Bart is so right that the only way he could be so right is to have the
Tshirt, Shorts, Sox , anc Jock Strap for having Been There and Done
That.
I
soloed my Safari and was flying about OK as long as nothing went wrong.
One
day it did and I reacted like a well trained fixed wing pilot and nearly
got
killed. There certainly are some serious fixed wing trainings that need
to
be erased the moment you start up with the collective. If I had done
what
I
know now to be the proper response, I wouldn't have rolled my Safari up
in
a
very little ball and dinged my body up. I've done the add-on training
and
still feel like I got a license to learn and have to be very careful. I
taught myself to fly a Benson Gyrocopter in the 60's when dual was not
available. I never dinged a thing. The helicopter is another story. I
can't imagine even after having several beers teaching myself to fly a
helo. I'm sure that I don't have enough dual to achieve the safety
level
I
would like to have yet. I have more than 200hrs. now. The only 16hr
helo
pilots that I would ride with are Chuck Yeager and Bob Hoover and I
would
have a dialogue with them first.
Stu Fields.

Hi Stu,

Interesting response to Bart's comments. Out of curiosity, would you care
to elaborate on the error(s) you made with your Safari? If you'd rather
not, that's Ok, but I "am" curious! ;-)

Your comments on teaching one's self to fly a helicopter is also well
taken.
Kind of put's in perspective what Igor Sikorski did when he taught himself
to fly "and" design a helicopter all at the same time, doesn't it? :-o

Fly Safe,
Steve R.