Saturday 20th July / Sunday 21st July 2002

What a weekend this was to be! Firstly, I had to decide whether to travel to the 3D Helicopter Masters in Northampton UK, or the Ohain-Whittle Trophy in Germany, or Jets over Pampa in Belgium. Ideally I wanted to be at them all, so I started at the 3D Helicopter Masters. This certainly proved to be an excellent start to the weekend. I took my newly developed Robbe Futura powered by the SPS Turbo Shaft engine, hoping to generate some interest in my model and it's SPS designed gearbox. I not only generated the interest that I was seeking, but was also invited to fly it. Bearing in mind that the night before I was still refining the oil system and the model had not yet flown, this prospect was certainly a challenge if not a little daunting. So, I decided to just run the engine up to see how it felt. All seemed to be OK, so I decided to hover the model a little. That also felt good, so I reverse hovered the model out of  the pits and flew over to the runway. All still seemed well, so I progressed the model into some careful circuits, whilst Dick Wallinger gave the commentator some information about the model, emphasising that this was its maiden flight. After about 5 minutes, I landed (knees still shaking!). This proved to be an extremely successful first flight. If any of you saw it, your feedback would be most appreciated.

So, time was running out if I wanted to travel to the other events. After much deliberation, I decided Belgium was nearer, so I packed up and made my way to Dover. By midnight I was in Helchteren where I eventually found the Hotel De Arc. After a little sleep, I made my way to the airfield.  I managed to obtain a flying slot for the Jet Trainer powered by the SPS 54, which I flew successfully. However, my helicopter was also attracting a great deal of attention. Eddie Clissen (the event organiser) asked me if I would fly it, so how could I refuse? I therefore had the opportunity to fly the first gas turbine helicopter to be flown in Belgium at Pampa Jets. Once again, a steady and safe flight was achieved for 5 minutes. The startling thing about the 2 flights was how stable the model was, the excellent fuel economy and the awesome power available from this tiny engine. The helicopter has a 1.5 litre fuel tank, given the consumption from 2 five minute flights, I would expect to see 15-20 minutes duration from 1.5 litres!

Now the work can really begin, I need to spend lots of hours flying the helicopter, testing, testing, testing!

Once proven that everything is reliable, production will commence. Watch this space! In production-orders now being taken!

Simon Peckham