Spring is here and at RotorWay we are gearing up for what will be a busy spring and summer season. We have been doing some spring cleaning and going through over 40 years of accumulation. Amazing how much there was and finding many parts and components and archive material. We also have been going through our stock of 162F kit parts that are no longer in production such as gauges, seats and miscellaneous parts that will be deeply discounted. We also have a good supply of tail rotor belts, elastomeric bearings and other supplies to keep you flying. Contact Robin MacArthur or Anna Jones in parts for more info.

Of course we will be attending Oshkosh this year at booth number 405 in the main show area. We will be bringing the A600 and the RW7. The A600 will be located in the south end of the field in the helicopter/ultralight field and will be available for demonstration flights. RotorWay will be giving a $500.00 parts credit to RW owners that bring their helicopters to the show. We look forward to seeing everyone again this year.

It’s a little early but 2017 will be RotorWays 50th anniversary and we will be planning for a big turn out at Oshkosh 2017 and we are looking for ideas and participation from RW owners past and present as it is you that have allowed us to be here for 50 years. Please contact Darron Braymiller at darronb@rotorway.com with your suggestions.

RotorWay is continuing the process of refining our manufacturing procedures by adding new equipment, fixtures and making improvements in design to the A600 and future RW7. RotorWay has made a significant investment in these improvements and will continue taking the steps necessary to produce a high quality kit. We have been designing and working on several improvements for the A600 including a turbo charged engine, improved landing gear and new tail rotor blade design. All these improvements are intended to increase performance and have been on ours and our customers wish list for some time. The changes will be offered in the next few months on new A600 kits. Conversion packages will be available later this year.

The RW7 prototype has been undergoing body panel changes and we are in the process of making the final body molds now. The body has significantly changed since we introduced the helicopter at Oshkosh 2015. It is a much sleeker design offering large chin bubble windows and a slight look of the RotorWay Elite model. This has been a time consuming process and for me painstakingly slow. With the body changes we also made changes to the cockpit with pedal and cyclic location changes.

The drive train systems haven’t changed much other than to refine some areas of the tail boom and engine cooling. We have built a test stand that is capable of running all the power train components as they would be in the helicopter. This allows us to put time on all the components while looking at operating conditions such as vibrations at different frequencies and speeds. We can run the system from 10 to 115% rotor rpm to simulate any condition these components will experience in the helicopter. We have accumulated several hundred hours on the gearbox and have had teardown inspections during this time and have been happy with the results to date.

As you can see there is a lot of work that has been done but also much more to do. Manuals and prints are all being updated, engineering masters are all under review and cross training of employees is being done all for the goal of building a great helicopter that we are proud to sell and you are proud to own.