My South American Helicopter Has A LOT More Problems Than We Thought... 

Use code CLEETUS50 to get 50% OFF your first Factor Box and free wellness shots for life with any active subscription at bit.ly/48fuHYr

Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine a scratch and dent abandoned South American helicopter would have many hidden problems.

@14:46 You should attach the tail boom to the blue freedom helmet, and turn the Helmet into a freedom helicopter!! :D

..from corvette exhaust turbo whistles.. to a tube frame c5 corvette.. to a pro drag car... to now.... HELICOPTERS this is ny far the best channel on youtube

Anyone who works at a FBO and a guy like Cleet shows up and wants it done right with cost being secondary over safety is the best customer.

"I aint never heard of the acorn trick" "You aint never met squirrel " 😂😂😂

Maybe you should add a Swiss Flag on the tail under the Venezuelan one for its original heritage to complete the list of where shes been.

The fact that you succesfully brought your viewer base from cars into manned aviation speaks volumes to you as a person, your inherent motivation, determination, and positive attitude. Keep doing good things and spreading the love for both cars and aviation.

Man since Ls George joined the channel the comedic element has gone way up. I remember watching fasterproms just for him. When he blew up that motor in his truck I must’ve rewound that clip 100 times. It had me rolling.

Thoroughbred Aviation is THE most professional, honest, and experienced helicopter shop in the country. You sure picked a great one - I had a damaged chine angle on my JetRanger and they sent a mobile repair team to fix it - they came in UNDER time and UNDER estimate. Fine work! I would fly a bird that came out of that shop any time!!

Don't you just wish all service professionals would be like Joe. I would pay any amount of money to have my stuff fixed by someone with that much knowledge and confidence. America needs more Joe's.

I lived all my childhood in Venezuela, I'm glad you guys are treating Conzuela like the queen she is! MD500s are the real queen of the sky over there and I used to see them fly all the time, great to see this one is having a second life!

so this is basically the helicopter version of a $1000 facebook marketplace car deal at 3am while its raining and you are using your phone flashlight to see anything.

Air Force Sheetmetal here, I could have those rivets out in less than 30 minutes with new Cherry's installed in less than that. The part I could make in less than an hour and a half. The painting is where the time-consuming part comes in, it would take us about 4 hours to have it painted and then it would need to sit for 8 if it has L.O properties, at the least. If I had access to the bottom and I could shoot standard rivets, it would be even easier, to throw a bucking bar down there and a hand, and tap them out in 30 minutes. So, a 12-hour shift would cover it, I get roughly 50 (factoring in benefits) an hour at my rank, so, that would be roughly 600 dollars for the Air Force to have me make 1 of those interior floor C channels, for reference. The cost goes down the more that are made.

"Lightly crashed" means a whole different thing when you're buying a second hand helicopter vs a pickup truck.

I love that this is being done just 45 minutes down the road from my house. My boy is going to be crazy excited when he learns that not only were you in town, but that your MD is here being built into a thing of glory. Respect brother.

As a car guys who loves beater cars and also has a degree in Aerospace Engineering, I'm glad to see you recognize that you don't take the same risks with a helicopter that you do with a car. One leaves you on the side of the road when it breaks, the other leaves you screaming as you plummet to your death when it dies.

Joe’s comfort and ability to answer questions, especially with a camera is amazing. Absolutely seems like the guy to handle this project. Love the knowledge and energy and hopefully we will see him more on the channel with this helicopter’s journey 👍🏼

I really like Joe's attitude. He's got that "just do it right" vibe about him. Thats important when you're dealing with aviation. Doesn't hurt that he sounds like he knows what he's doing so well that he could build that thing in his sleep.

I know Howard Hughes would appreciate what your doing with that aircraft. He’s definitely smiling wherever he is.

Dang, cleetus and squirrel and the whole freedom factory crew congratulations on the whole new record of most views for the video this is awsome. A huge thank you to Joe and his team at Thoroughbred Aviation for putting up with all of us especially squirrel and cleetus 😅. Finally to those who made the best decision to support and sponsor freedom factory and cleetus what a great combination it just feels good to see a plan come together and put smiles on soooo many faces and laughter in the air well done!!!! We thank God and all our armed forces members for all that you have done and continue to do to keep everyone safe and lets make freedom great again. Rock on!

"Get out, so we can get it apart" - Joe That's the kind of guy you want to work with, period.

A&P UH-60M and CH-53k mechanic here. Love the aviation content. You're genuine excitement when starting the MD put a smile on my face. You should get an A&P so you can perform you're own maintenance. Love this field.

SO EXCITED! Dude, nice work on that paint job, too. This thing is already coming together well, I'm surprised to hear it running so soon! Hope to see her in person someday. 🎉 congrats!

How many times I sat , love that sound. Nothing like sitting in the cockpit, hearing that turbine run up. Oil pressure, check, RPM, check,,Fuel flow, check, EPR, check. N1 , check, EGT, check, Hydraulics, check. 60 years old now, safety is first, , I never cared about me. There are people on the ground. Sitting on the porch, driving , walking, shopping in the mall. Veteran, Aviation , USN. Please be careful, if not for you, for the people on the ground. Don't let Gods' blessing become a curse

Everybody needs a "Joe" when taking on something of this scale. Great and knowledgeable dude.

You can tell it’s an emotional moment when garrett is firing up the helicopter for the first time. That he’s holding back the tears of excitement/ joy that his helicopter isn’t a paperweight and that his dream is coming true. You got this G

The lead chopper mechanic, just a cool dude. And any man in their right mind! Would love nothing better than to be going through what this young man is living. & That new paint job is going to make the tinted windows just pop. I just wished I could be there to see unveiling the first time it’s shown. Great stuff

Im swiss so I did aome research: There are multiple newspaper reports, but without pictures. I sent a request to the local police department but their archive doesnt have anything that far back. They even asked (now retired) officers that worked the case but no pictures there eigther. if somebody wants to dig further: the helicopter was owned by (now out of business) Neuchatel héli SA (french speaking part of switzerland). maybe an inquiry at the aviation accident department that wrote the report will uncover some photos too. If somebody needs a local german/french speaking guy Im here to help

The tail would look so cool on the back of the helmet at the entrance of the fredom factory and a propeller on the top. Merging the racing amd aviation into one.

What a guy was so excited we get it 4 minutes early!

I'm not so sure you can assume the anti-ice valve can be JB welded shut because it ran in a jungle. The last time I flew was in a Cessna 150 -- and I got carburetor ice on a severe clear day, with 95 degree OAT at 4500 feet. My instructor was wrong about the risk of carburetor icing. He always said that icing was most likely to occur in cold, wet weather, during a decent. I was doing the opposite. I had been climbing from sea level on my way to 9500 so I could safely cruise to the Channel Islands from Oxnard. I always climbed to 9500 before overflying water because it was 27 nm to reach land again after crossing the beach. That gave me enough (in most wind situations) to make back to Oxnard or to the Chanell Islands if I lost engine power. I was pretty much half way through my climb at full throttle when the engine started lugging. Being 95 OAT & a mere Cessna 150 -- it was a bit hard to tell that engine performance was falling off. I spent a good minute or 2 trying to diagnose & solve problems (fuel cutoff in on position, magneto checks, flap checks, engine oil pressure & temp) -- all while the 500fpm climb was dropping to 100fpm @ Vx of 60kias -- when all of the sudden, the engine began running very rough at about 450rpm at full throttle. I tried pulling carb heat and that just about made it die -- I had to shut off heat & arrest my climb to maintain a/s of 60kias. I began looking for landing sites & calculated about 20 minutes glide time (really about 29) if the engine went tits up. The engine was barley running at full throttle & 450RPM in level flight at 60kias. I didn't dare pull the carb heat again but noticed that I could smell loads of unburned avgas ever since it began chugging. So I cautiously screwed out the vernier for mixture control to lean it out and the engine began to respond to that positively. I had screwed it out so far that it was nearly at the idle cutoff setting -- the engine should have stalled at that altitude with the mixture pulled out only half that far. I used the pull ring to unlock the threads on the vernier so I could pull it out & push it in more rapidly and gauge the response -- the engine had gotten most of its power back & had stopped chugging -- but it shouldn't even be running in that setting. So I quickly skimmed the checklist to verify I hadn't forgotten anything. According to the checklist, I went off-script when I pulled the mixture out so far -- but that was definitely were it ran best. So... I figured that I need to retry carb heat. I did and it resulted in a good deal of rough running -- but it seems like it caused some ice to break free from the venturi because it now seemed too lean. I pushed the mixture back in and the engine picked up to where it would run normally with carb heat on. I cancelled my trip to the islands just 30 miles away and flew around for another 45 minutes while constantly checking for ice by pulling the heat on & then off. I figured that ice was forming a massive restriction and when the heat came on -- a large chunk melted further into the venturi and acted like a choke. The fact that I turned the heat off right then meant that the problem was not going away -- but another second of heat would have caused a complete engine stall. Playing with the mixture to get it running well was a key step before melting it all away -- they probably should have mentioned that in the checklist. I had learned primarily on 152's, but flew 150's more often after I got my license. I looked up icing on the 150 & was shocked to find that they DO ice up on clear, hot, humid days during long climbs. All my instructor ever said was that the 150 ices a little worse than the 152 -- but never that the event had a completely different nature. If I had not been a tune-up mechanic prior to this -- I may not have thought of trying the mixture when I knew it went chokingly rich.

Helicopters only have one engine. I trust a guy with a fix for discover, assemble, test, check filters, change fluids... Paint. But what gets me is tear back down inspect and reassemble again. To have the confidence to say that upfront. This guy is not messing around.

I looked over the final report for the accident from the Swiss authorities. What stood out to me that wasn't mentioned is one of the possible contributions to the crash was that theflight handbook didn't contain performance charts for hovering outside of ground effect for the fitted equipment. At the time of the crash, the helicopter was fitted with a four bladed tail rotor (as seen on the picture with the Swiss tail number). After the crash the handbook was revised and the performance charts were added.

Paint the tailboom safety orange and mount it with a wind sock for your home LZ

I think the best part of watching this journey is knowing cleet has a vision of what he wants to acheive and we're just watching it unfold. Super exciting!

I remember watching Cleetus videos a year or two ago and him joking about getting an airplane crazy to see the progression congrats guys!

As someone working in manufacturing on a daily basis, I love the aviation approach of zero cut corners, the documentation and depth of inspection on all components is unreal.

You really should put the old engine in your jet boat. That would be some good content right there.

Looks like you got ya’ self a boat anchor brother 🤣🤣 She sounded insane on start-up 😄💪

Dude's slingin them TV dinners, now...🤣🤣

Love hearing Joe say this is going to be one of the nicest they’ve had. Can’t wait to see it. So glad to have Cleet out here inspiring people to get into aviation as well

Wait June 15- June 30 means that's in time for a 4th of July reveal at a freedom factory fireworks event!!!! 😮

I love watching those professional guys and listening to there imput on how these aircraft work its such great content mate. Helo is gonna look epic

The shot where it was finally outside was so good. Got me fired up. The high skids, pointed nose. So clean. I'm so pumped to watch this bird come together. I'll like and comment on every video to do my part in ensuring this thing has the funding you need lmao

Your friend Joe. He is exactly who you need on something like this. Very keen, very good, very friendly, but above everything, safety, safety, safety!

I live in Switzerland, I'm on it💪🏻

That's awesome guys. I'm both jealous of the bird and nervous about the zeros on the cost sheet for you, but this thing is awesome.

Im an automotive service advisor/manager, I would fire every single one of my advisors to have Joe on my team.

I love that.. "i dont like timelines". Totally understandable when your dealing with aviation. I either gets done right or it doesnt get done at all. No rushing this kinda stuff to meet a deadline.

Can't wait for the two seater Australian top fuel dragster to come to the Freedom Factory!

THE amount of knowledge Joe has on helicopters is extremely impressive hes definitely the guy to go to for helicopter repair and rehab im in Aw of his wealth of knowledge

Wow ole Cleet getting it done!!! Attaboy!! Living the dream !! Man this guy can do anything it seems like,, gets his first plane (Cub) gets his pilot license and now on to Choppers!!- NOT easy to do folks!! Coolest guy I’ve never met

Well gosh dang. Cleeter got a south american chopper and an australian 2 seater top fuel dragster comin his way. This man truly is living the dream. For all of us.

I just gotta say, Joe's shop looks freakin spotless while having like a dozen different aircraft in various states of repair/restoration. I wish I could keep my 2 car garage that clean!

The best way to have one million dollars in aviation... Start with two million

I want a guy like this inspecting everything before I buy something. Amazing job. Even though the Heli is a turd currently, I feel confident they will turn it into a diamond. I'm sure you probably feel the same way to have confidence in the helicopter after these guys overhaul everything.

Also in order its apparently been in Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Switzerland, Texas, Venezuela and then back to Florida. Shes lived a life for sure.

You are so lucky to have a guy like Joe working on this project. The dude is so calm and straight talking. He oozes confidence in his knowledge and shops skills. I cant wait for the next update. How awesome is this?!!!!!

Definition of rich people problems. 😂

You''re an absolute madlad for actually doing this. Can't wait to see this thing in the air!

1 hour up...and 120k views. Brother.. you're killing it. Do you remember when you would have been beside yourself when you had 120k views, great job !!! Keep lighting the RU-vid world on fire !

Hello there, found the report... the crash was on September 11th 1994 the reason you stated was correct, it rolled over and came to rest on the left side, the report states: Aircraft "destroyed". it seems that it was fitted with a 4 blade tail rotor for noise reduction (?) (no pilot so I don't know why they stated that specific in the report). No technical defect (so it had fuel) was found. Greetings from the middle of good ol' western Germany

Just gotta love the enthusiasm. It’s great to see people doing what they love.

We used to run two jokes about helicopters in the military. The first was that helicopters don't fly they just vibrate so bad the ground rejects them. And, helicopters don't fly, they just beat the air into submission. lol.

I say mount the tailboom sticking out the wall In the shop would look really cool Just an idea instead of a big paperweight!!😊

28:36 - The timeless face of a man when his engine starts for the first time. Traceable back to Cavemen times with the smiles and back-slapping when man first put wheels on his ox-cart😂

Joe with balls of steel walking around the tail rotor!!!! Excited for the journey Cleetus!!!

Cleetus is the only youtuber that actually tries and shows the products from sponsors, this man can do anything better than everyone !

I enjoyed the hell out of that video. Cleetus has 1. Desire to have serious fun. 2. Enough money to buy serious toys to have fun. 3. Just enough unpredictability to be interesting. Thanks Cleetus!

In all the years watching cleet I’ve never seen that glint in his eye and that genuine look of real excitement quite like when he fired that thing up 😂

I love how the blades catch up to the camera frames and just for a second it looks like it's still.

Damn, total new rebuild! Someone abused the hell outta this one

Your man Joe is the REAL DEAL!! Glad that the bird is in good hands and will no doubt turn out fantastic!

My dad use to fly these for the PD and every time I hear the start up it takes me right back to flying with him. Such an amazing machine.

Familiar Mx Facility to me, Mustang Aviation which I think is, or was in the same hangar is where my Arrow III had it's per-purchase and then Annual inspection back in 2012. Great group of folk there. Have fun and fly safe.

Saw Matt run the track. Now I’m in on your channel. You’re awesome dude.

One of the only RU-vid channels I have notifications on for and watch religiously, thank you brother 💪♿️

From a huge debt to a racetrack owner/Helicopter and airplane pilot and much more! He's gotten bucked off but got back on ! Now he's the Florida Superman!!😁😸

I think Joe loves being around helicopters so is freaking awesome locks can blow in the wind...

You got the red die fully deleted outlaw special, homies we’re having a hell of a time down south in that helo

“I was ready for it, but the punch still hurt” story of my life bud. ❤

Damn that old man is comfortable around that tail roter

Glad you have the bucks to save this bird, going to be a sweet ride when your done. The sketchy history doesn't surprise me one bit, they fixed it and sold it to someone in Venezuela expecting it to never come back North.

Fun fact if that cigarette lighter and ashtray are on the type certification original equipment list for that airframe, they are technically considered an airworthiness item being "original" to the certification process and thus required to be installed. Granted they may not ground you on that technicality, i personally think the ashtray is an interesting piece of history from before the smoking bans and would keep it anyway.

I love how Cletus takes us through real world life experiences and he’s not just sizing up everyone like heavydsparks does. Only 10k more subs and you finally pass that reality tv star

Anyone else absolutely impressed by Cleet's knowledge and understanding of helicopters? Be safe in the sky brother.!

down to earth relatable content. who doesnt have a helicopter these days? Im just glad you dont race anymore.

Honestly in better shape than I'd thought it would be. Excited to see the finished product

Glad to see Consuela in good hands! She'll be in the sky before we know it! And absolutely love the paint!

Thanks for showing the serious/safety side of all this. One of the few youtubers to show how to do aviation right.

She sounded so good, id never Imajin she'd run that well on her first spin, nice job, well done.

curious about your avionics and garmin digital stuff upgrades? Tinted windows for Florida sunshine? Whoa does that engine scream! GL GL chasing all the extra parts! Can't wait to see you flying with Paul side by side!

Coming from a certified turbine engine technician, I'm sure that old engine is still in pretty decent shape considering it sat for so long. All bearings will need to be replaced, maybe a few minor repairs, but really shouldn't need much work to get her airworthy again. LP compressor being locked up like that is almost guaranteed to just be corrosion build up on the stators, which should be a pretty easy fix! Provided they never hot started it and roasted the hot section that is 🤣

Congrats on your new toy. I am a helicopter mechanic by trade. At a hangar I worked at my boss had one just like it. All I can say is never get distracted on start up, He scorched (over temped) two engines. Good luck and be safe.

Shout out to Joe literally the kind of guy that everybody needs in their life!

Im amazed you can find all these parts for the MD500, We dont have many in Canada and parts for old machines like the B204 / B205 are rare as hens teeth.

I usually not a big fan of RU-vidrs posting things they buy to brag about. I truly believe that Cleetus is one of the most deserving people on RU-vid that truly cares about everyone and is always so humble about everything he has and for that reason he will always be one of the favorites. Congratulations Brother you deserve it all and can’t wait to see you fly this thing.

As a Air Force c130 mechanic, I am loving all of this aviation content! Makes me want to spin wrenches on this thing with squirrel..

I actually have found this very interesting. I have flown in many helicopters as Navy Hospital Corpsman stationed with 2nd Medical Battalion, 2nd Feild Forces Support Group, 2nd Marines. As Always, May God Bless you and yours! 😇