Helicopters?

[FracCapt]

BJ Schramm, who designed both the scorpion, and the exec, has designed a new airframe (he's no long with Rotorway), called the Helicycle. I've been to his production facilty to speak with him about the Helicycle, and was quite impressed with that, too. His kit version uses an APU powerplant for a turbine aircraft, and sits about thirty thousand.

Unfortunately, BJ was killed in a Helicycle crash on April 27, 2004. See the report at:

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=20040505X00557&ntsbno=SEA04LA074&akey=1

and a note from the guys at Rotorway:

http://www.rotorway.com/schramm.html

Supposedly, BJ liked flying low over the water. Speculation is that he dipped a skid in the water. The NTSB report doesn't show it, but the tail rotor/boom was found at a later date...well downstream of where the airframe was recovered. If you want the whole story, go to Yahoo Groups, find the Helicycle group, sign up and start reading. Tons of posts to sort through, though.

Production is still going on for the Helicycle, and it's not really expected to stop just because BJ is gone.

 

[avbug]

I had absolutely no idea. I don't know where I was all this time, but don't recall ever hearing about this. In fact, I'm sure the web site listed BJ as the company contact until just a few months ago. I see they make an note that the web site is new and re-released as of December.

Quite frankly, I'm shocked. The NTSB report is less than complimentary with some slight digs tossed in to make inferences to inferior maintenance (the comment regarding single hose clamps), which was unnecessary and misleading. BJ Schramm was meticulous and even anal in his details. I followed his exploits from early on in his progress with the various designs he produced, and thought he was brilliant back then. A little eccentric and very outright religious (born-again, which really comes out in his sales tapes)...but nothing wrong with that.

The Helicycle has enjoyed some success, and it's something I've given quite a bit of thought to...though I'll admit I've been waiting for the slowly developing fleet to develop a bit more, first.

I'm embarassed and shocked that a year later is when I first find out...and saddened. The man was truly dedicated to making the helicopter available to the everyman, and was quite the crusader in doing so. He was a talented designer who built everything he did up from nothing to something, and for that alone deserves credit and respect. I'm very sorry, much too belatedly, to hear of his loss.