Well, last week if was finally ready for its first hover! I started it up and got the rotors spinning for the first time.
To my big surprise, everything was running up to 500 RPM without any problems, both track and balance where almost perfect!
So I must have done something right in the previous days of static balancing the rotor system.
The first liftof was done by a local B-Cat instructor and commercial pilot, with the helicopter Engineer next to him with all the track and balance equipment. Once the most important changes where made, I hopped in, and went up for the first time, with the instructor next to me to help out...
And what a handfull it was, this helicopter has some interesting characteristics, and it will take a few hours of hovering before I will get the hang of it.
All seemed to work well, however, the engine runs very hot, despite the fact the outside temperature was only 12 degrees Celcius that day. And we where pulling between 25 and 27 inches of manifold pressure.
This is with close to full all-up weight, 2 people and 60 liters of fuel, and we where at about 1450 pounds.
The engine is ofcourse brand new, and still has to run in. We will see what will happen in the next 20 hours.

In the meantime I have this big smile on my face, and I am hovering just above the ground even when not in the helicopter!

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Photo album generated by album from MarginalHacks on Mon Aug 11 19:58:21 2003