Ed: We attend some 13 airshows each year in support of our magazine. We
have been doing this for some time and I've yet to see an AW-95 fly. That
said there have been a couple of people that I know that have built and
flown them. Both of them have something different now. I will get in
contact with them and see if they are willing to let me release their
contact info. They are both experienced helo builder/flyers.
To Gig 601XL builder, thanks for the kind words.
Stu Fields
Experimental Helo Magazine.
"Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net wrote in message
...
ed wrote:
Is the A/W-95 Helicopter by A-B Helicopters a good design for what it
is ??? I'm thinking of building it but appreciate any advise .
Thanks ED

I'd never heard of the A/W-95 but from a quick look it seems it is a true
plans built helicopter.

Are you a top grade machinist? If not, I wouldn't even think about it.

You might want to get a subscription to Experimental Helicopters. They
seem to have stories or at least photo spreads from any gathering that has
more than 2 homebuilt helicopters and pretty good technical articles.
Here's their website. http://www.experimentalhelo.com/ I think you can
even download a free issue. Stuart Fields is the owner and editor and I'll
be surprised if he doesn't jump into this thread sooner or later.

Just for the record I've been a subscriber for several months and I've
never seen a flying example of the A/W-95 featured. One of the main
questions you should ask of any homebuilt is the number of finished and
flying examples. The higher the number the better. This is not one of
those places you want to be the first guy up.

You didn't mention if you already have your rotorcraft rating or not. If
not you might consider getting it first. A. Because you aren't going to be
able to learn in a single seater and even if it is an ultralight that
doesn't require a rating the odds are you would die if you attempted to
train yourself. B. If you build your helicopter you need to be experienced
to test it. Helicopters are FAR harder to fly than fixed wing.

I'm building a fixed wing plane right now and may at some point in the
future take on a kit build helicopter but even though I will have built
one aircraft and am rated in helicopters I'd never consider a plans built
copter.