Thank you. I stopped building them back in 2000, but you can sometimes find them on eBay for around $20,000. Just be careful and make sure the customer did a good job to build it and did all the upgrades.
Rob, it is indeed very expensive to obtain a helicopter rating, but then again, there are few things that are as complicated as a helicopter to operate and learn to fly. On the other hand, directly due to the low cost of the Mini-500, 75% of our owners didn't have a helicopter rating at purchase, and used the Mini-500 to build their solo time. At the end, they saved a good deal of money from renting a training helicopter to build time, and they ended up with a helicopter they owned.
Seeing the mini 500 was the reason I started taking helicopter lessons. I only wish I could get more air time and someday find one of these little gems. Unfortunately, the only thing more frightening than buying a kit built helicopter, is buying a used kit built helicopter from someone who doesn't know how to tighten bolts correctly. Let's cross our fingers that I will someday get to fly one. Thanks for posting this video
Your kind words are very appreciated. It does bring me great satisfaction to have provided the means of flight to so many people. Thank you so much, and good luck.
Hi Ben, and thanks for watching. There is no reliable place to buy parts for the Mini-500. There is a fly-by-night guy that tried but failed, as there is much more to building helicopters than just wanting to. Best is to buy a kit from Europe where the manufacturer still supports the design.
A&P guys are the most meticulous people in the world. They do the job for the pride and compensation. The home kit builder does it only for the final reward of flying, and therefore, if not a true lover of mechanics and proper procedures, will, in haste, make themselves a possible victim of an otherwise fairly safe sport. I personally love the individual challenge of achieving micrometer precision in building things. The fact that the mini500 allowed me to justify this level of accuracy turned-
Putting one together and of course buying one is in the reach of a lot of us, but have you seen how much it would cost to obtain a helicopter pilots license! More than the kit...
Unfortunately, you could not be more correct. I have inspected over one hundred Mini-500s after the owners built them, and most of these were after the owner had flown it for around 40 hours. After they start having problems, then they saw fit to go to the trouble to bring it in, as if we had a magic wand to wave over it to make it all better.
If this is Dennis, then, THANK YOU! You do amazing work. Please keep guys like me in mind when designing the next. Factory5, builders of Shelby Cobra kit cars offer a training course for building. $600 for the 1 week course, and if the buy the kit, the course price is deducted from teh kit price. It's great for those who just need hands ond training. It's great for the kit manufacturer, who benefits by having repeat kit customers with factory training. You could give 50% savings and still have-
Out of all the Mini-500s I've inspected, I have never seen even one without a major assembly error, or worse, the owner would show me a hand full of parts and say he didn't know where they went....
After flying it for hours on end!!! Unbelievable. Come to find out, all the assembly mistakes were related to failure to read. The drawings and pictures were so good that the owner would just slap the parts together without reading the instruction, for the vital information of torque or temperature, and so on. That's why I'll never offer another kit aircraft for sale.
ive been looking and researching the helicopters and they are quite the bit of kit but if i were to purchase one where would i get parts for the overhauls from since these are no longer in production
a following of repeat customers, and a much better success rate for the pilot/builder. Just a thought... I wouldn't want to be in your shoes. However, I would rather save $20K on assembly by doing it myself, and having the satisfaction of flying somthing I assembled from expertise kit manufacture. $20K is a large amount for the sport pilot who likes hands-on involvement. I will keep watching, now that I know where to look. I really am a big fan, and have been for the past decade(give or take).
I know the feeling. I build and restore cars, motorcycles, and tractors. The worst type of person is the "occasional mechanic." I had over 100 hours into my Gleaner combine just for redoing things that just don't make sense. I'm sorry to hear you are completely done with the kit 'copters. I read and reread the story of #0303 N2XK. He rolled it over, and then tried to fix things that were visably damaged. I'm sorry that he died, but anyone who thinks they can just patch a machine that rolled...
Helicycle helicopters have found the same inherent flaw in a kit design... the novice builder. They withhold the final parts in lieu of a factory inspection and complete test flight program, and then a shake down and operational control tuning before they release the helicopter to the new owner. It's the only way to go.
God gave me a good hands and a brain, but not the desire to make make money from pleasure. You must have the money part of the equation, and I just hope that you keep me in mind, no matter which direction you go. Thanks. If you were a pilot in the video demostration then I really admire the capabilities you possess. Someday, you must sit back; enjoy the fact you are a role model to some, and a legend to all. You brought the million dollar feeling of owning a helicopter into the 5 figure range.
It's a shame, because a complete rebuild of the machine, and tossing out everything mechanical, and structural that could have possibly had been stressed, would have saved his life I would assume. If I were to take my own life into my hands in a machine that was previously rolled; I would probably just spend the $30K on a whole new one, and use the other for a decoration. Honestly. I really feel bad that you have been soured on this.
Thank you. I stopped building them back in 2000, but you can sometimes find them on eBay for around $20,000. Just be careful and make sure the customer did a good job to build it and did all the upgrades.
Rob, it is indeed very expensive to obtain a helicopter rating, but then again, there are few things that are as complicated as a helicopter to operate and learn to fly. On the other hand, directly due to the low cost of the Mini-500, 75% of our owners didn't have a helicopter rating at purchase, and used the Mini-500 to build their solo time. At the end, they saved a good deal of money from renting a training helicopter to build time, and they ended up with a helicopter they owned.
Seeing the mini 500 was the reason I started taking helicopter lessons. I only wish I could get more air time and someday find one of these little gems. Unfortunately, the only thing more frightening than buying a kit built helicopter, is buying a used kit built helicopter from someone who doesn't know how to tighten bolts correctly. Let's cross our fingers that I will someday get to fly one. Thanks for posting this video
Your kind words are very appreciated. It does bring me great satisfaction to have provided the means of flight to so many people. Thank you so much, and good luck.
Hi Ben, and thanks for watching. There is no reliable place to buy parts for the Mini-500. There is a fly-by-night guy that tried but failed, as there is much more to building helicopters than just wanting to. Best is to buy a kit from Europe where the manufacturer still supports the design.
A&P guys are the most meticulous people in the world. They do the job for the pride and compensation. The home kit builder does it only for the final reward of flying, and therefore, if not a true lover of mechanics and proper procedures, will, in haste, make themselves a possible victim of an otherwise fairly safe sport. I personally love the individual challenge of achieving micrometer precision in building things. The fact that the mini500 allowed me to justify this level of accuracy turned-
Well thank you. I wont be building kits, but maybe complete ready-to-fly aircraft someday..... Keep watching!
Putting one together and of course buying one is in the reach of a lot of us, but have you seen how much it would cost to obtain a helicopter pilots license! More than the kit...
inspired me to want to buy one. I hope you can someday return to building and designing kits. Thanks for reading.
Unfortunately, you could not be more correct. I have inspected over one hundred Mini-500s after the owners built them, and most of these were after the owner had flown it for around 40 hours. After they start having problems, then they saw fit to go to the trouble to bring it in, as if we had a magic wand to wave over it to make it all better.
It only has one seat, but I did build a 2-place called the Voyager-500. I sold the rights to it and the company, and the new owners never "took off".
If this is Dennis, then, THANK YOU! You do amazing work. Please keep guys like me in mind when designing the next. Factory5, builders of Shelby Cobra kit cars offer a training course for building. $600 for the 1 week course, and if the buy the kit, the course price is deducted from teh kit price. It's great for those who just need hands ond training. It's great for the kit manufacturer, who benefits by having repeat kit customers with factory training. You could give 50% savings and still have-
Out of all the Mini-500s I've inspected, I have never seen even one without a major assembly error, or worse, the owner would show me a hand full of parts and say he didn't know where they went....
After flying it for hours on end!!! Unbelievable. Come to find out, all the assembly mistakes were related to failure to read. The drawings and pictures were so good that the owner would just slap the parts together without reading the instruction, for the vital information of torque or temperature, and so on. That's why I'll never offer another kit aircraft for sale.
ive been looking and researching the helicopters and they are quite the bit of kit but if i were to purchase one where would i get parts for the overhauls from since these are no longer in production
Great video, I would like to purchase one of these, how much would one cost? Seems like a great personal machine.
a following of repeat customers, and a much better success rate for the pilot/builder. Just a thought... I wouldn't want to be in your shoes. However, I would rather save $20K on assembly by doing it myself, and having the satisfaction of flying somthing I assembled from expertise kit manufacture. $20K is a large amount for the sport pilot who likes hands-on involvement. I will keep watching, now that I know where to look. I really am a big fan, and have been for the past decade(give or take).
I know the feeling. I build and restore cars, motorcycles, and tractors. The worst type of person is the "occasional mechanic." I had over 100 hours into my Gleaner combine just for redoing things that just don't make sense. I'm sorry to hear you are completely done with the kit 'copters. I read and reread the story of #0303 N2XK. He rolled it over, and then tried to fix things that were visably damaged. I'm sorry that he died, but anyone who thinks they can just patch a machine that rolled...
Helicycle helicopters have found the same inherent flaw in a kit design... the novice builder. They withhold the final parts in lieu of a factory inspection and complete test flight program, and then a shake down and operational control tuning before they release the helicopter to the new owner. It's the only way to go.
God gave me a good hands and a brain, but not the desire to make make money from pleasure. You must have the money part of the equation, and I just hope that you keep me in mind, no matter which direction you go. Thanks. If you were a pilot in the video demostration then I really admire the capabilities you possess. Someday, you must sit back; enjoy the fact you are a role model to some, and a legend to all. You brought the million dollar feeling of owning a helicopter into the 5 figure range.
It's a shame, because a complete rebuild of the machine, and tossing out everything mechanical, and structural that could have possibly had been stressed, would have saved his life I would assume. If I were to take my own life into my hands in a machine that was previously rolled; I would probably just spend the $30K on a whole new one, and use the other for a decoration. Honestly. I really feel bad that you have been soured on this.