I see these things all the time fly over my neighborhood in Utah, I think it does logging? I know some Custom homes as well as ski resorts use these for timber moving.. the sound of the helicopter is very unique, really quiet but can absolutely hear the dual rotor.. pretty cool
First and only time I've ever seen a Kaman was at OP MARCOT, a NATO exercise held at the old Harmon AFB in Stephenville, NFLD, Canada back in the late nineties.
Since it has a rotor system like this, does the pilot still have to counter the torque using the pedals as in a helicopter with a tail rotor, or is there greater stability in the yaw axis?
Just like the coaxial configuration...no torque like that...a lot easier to fly vs conventional...I did not fly it but a few weeks ago I asked a K-Max pilot...
It's less complex, everything about this helicopter was made to be simple and low maintenance. They don't mention it here but the rotor blade grips are also non rotating, instead they use a control flap on the trailing edge operated by 1/4" stainless steel push/pull rods inside the blade. Instead of the blade turning at the shoulder to change angle of attack the composite wood blade (they reused the blades from the HH-43 Huskie) twists along it's length. Moving the control flaps takes less force than rotating the whole blade so no hydraulic system is needed the controls are just stick and cable and no bearings are needed in the rotor blade grips because they don't move. The disadvantage is that the flexible blades limit maximum speed but because this is a flying crane it doesn't need to be fast anyway. Plus the flexible blades increases stability in hover by coning.
Wow, he said "no hydraulics"? For a beast that big? Again, wow. And I hate to admit it, but I've been pronouncing it wrong all these years. No relation to Segway genius Dean Kamen ("Cay-min") but pronounced "kuhMAN".
