Photograph:
Prototype Alpine Aviation T-500 ZK-HOB (c/n 1) at Ashburton, NZ (NZCIVAIR)
Country of origin:
New Zealand
Description:
Two-seat light sport helicopter
Power Plant:
One 60 kw (80 hp) Solar T62-2A Titan turboshaft
Specifications:
- Loaded weight: 442 kg (974 lb)
History:
The T-500 was a light single-seat sport helicopter developed from the Revolution Mini 500 helicopter designed, built and marketed by Revolution Helicopters of Excelsior Springs, Missouri, USA, it being fitted with a Rotax 582 engine and being first available to the market in 1994. At least a dozen examples of the Mini 500 have been registered in Australia and New Zealand over the years.
The prototype of the T-500 was built as a Rotax powered machine and was first registered in New Zealand as ZK-HOB³ (c/n 0060) on 22 March 1996. It had a couple of owners before being obtained by Paul Clark and Howard Jamison of Ashburton on 26 January 2007. They fitted a Solar T62-2A Titan engine in the airframe, this engine being used extensively in the United States in the Boeing CH-46 Sea Knight and CH-47 Chinook as an auxiliary power unit (APU), and being used in other machines including the Mosquito XET, Rotorway 162F and at one stage a variant of the Bede BD-5.
Some 120 hours of test flying with the turbine engine was carried out and eventually it was decided to rebuild the airframe as a two-seater. The extent of the changes meant the aircraft became a new type and ZK-HOB³ received a new construction or airframe number (c/n 001)as from 15 March 2010. It was registered to Alpine Aviation of Ashburton as a Microlight Class 2. Interest has been shown in the design and it is expected further examples of the Mini 500 may be modified to take the Solar Titan engine. The T-500 has been offered with a five-blade main rotor and a four-blade tail rotor.