96-inch-diameter, three-blade propeller the world of Helio flying. I'm at the taxis to the active runway, puts down 30 at 64 percent of engine speed. A set of controls of a truly rare bird-one of degrees of the Helio's huge flaps ("You four Handley-Page leading-edge slats only 19 tricycle-gear Helios ever built. use 40 degrees for taking off in mud or hangs down from the massive wing, And boy do I feel lucky; Helio lore is tall grass," he says), then turns the air• which comes with certain pre-rein• full of hair-raising ground loops in tail• plane into our 10-knot crosswind• forced ribs-ribs ready for installing wheel models. I've heard it said that meaning that the airplane is perpendic• hard points for rocket launchers. This is ground loops are almost unavoidable ular to the runway. Now I know what's no run-of-the-mill general aviation air• in Helio taildraggers, and that not one coming: Ograbicz intends to take off in plane. This is a Helio Courier HT-295. of the 528 Helios ever built has a dam• the 100-foot width of the runway. The brainchild of Massachusetts age-free history. Then it's full power, an acceleration to .... Institute of Technology professor Otto My instructor is Mark Ograbicz, a vet• 30 mph on the airspeed indicator, a tug Koppen and Harvard University profes• eran Helio pilot who has spent hundreds on the yoke, and we're airborne well sor Lynn Bollinger, the first 250-hp of hours in Helio slow flight (see "Ready before we reach the edge of the runway. Lycoming 0-540-powered Helio Couri• Plane ... Take the Plane," p. 52). He utters Some buildings are ahead, so Ograbicz ers were designed and built in 1949 by the words that usually presage big trou• cranks in a 45-degree bank-by then our the Helio Aircraft Corporation. (A pro• ble-"let me show you something." He airspeed has built to a hefty 45 mph- totype was made out of a con- verted Piper PA-15 Vagabond.) Back then, the airplane's objec- tive was to come as close to stall-proof as possible-there being so many stall-spin acci- dents in the immediate post• World War II years. A byproduct of the design was the airplane's fantastic slow-speed and short takeoff and landing (STOL) performance. Koppen and Bollinger achieved their goals, and magazines of the day show the first Helio Courier taking off from a football field at M.LT. It was airborne and climbing away by the 50-yard line. Now it's my turn to discover

AOPA PILOT' SO • JANUARY 2001 and away we go. Power rates that can occur with is pulled back to 3,100 full flaps. Even with the engine rpm in the climb• lift-augmenting effects of out, and as the flaps are the leading-edge slats, slowly retracted airspeed those barn doors can real• builds to a saner 80 mph. ly send you plunging-but Now we're climbing at fast. So on approach you 700 fpm. At pattern alti• have to carry some power, tude power is reduced and after my first blunders to 2,700 rpm. Ograbicz I never forget that. finishes his demonstra• Let's see, who might tion with a 60-degree want an airplane that can bank in orbit over the take off and land within approach end of the run• 600 feet or so, that can way. He drops the flaps, safely bank 60 degrees at chops the power, and we 60 knots, that's built for cross the threshold at rough fields, that can haul 55 mph. On short, short up to 1,000 pounds with final the leading-edge full fuel, that's so strong slats pop out automati• you can hang weapons on cally with a startling the wings? Why, of course, slam, we touch down, the military! and come to a halt in the Back in 1953, when length of the runway production lines in Pitts• threshold markings. Neat! burg, Kansas, first started My subsequent take• churning out what were offs and landings aren't then called H-391 Couri• as bold as Ograbicz's, ers, the airplane immedi• but they nonetheless are Something old, something new abounds in the panel of the trigear Helio Courier ately caught the Army's very short indeed. What featured in this article. Mixture control (to the left of the throttle) is connected to a eye. From the late 19503, surprises me most is the pressure carburetor and operates virtually automatically. There's a whole brace of through the mid -1960s need for a substantial avionics, including an EchoFlight StratoCheetah display capable of showing more than one-third of all amount of power to downlinked radar images and sending and receiving e-mail (top). In back, there's Couriers went to the V.S. arrest the monumental plenty of room for passengers or equipment such as Winged Vision's television armed forces, under the deceleration and sink monitor, used for sports coverage (above). V-lOA, -B, and -0 model

AOPA PILOT· S 1 • JANUARY 2001 designations. Many served with Air landed on a frozen lake in the middle of breathing 10-seaters were powered by a America-the then-clandestine airline Siberia, where its crew was sent to 680-shaft horsepower Pratt & Whitney operated by the CIA-in Laos and Viet• observe and take measurements of a PT6A-27 engine; had a 101-inch-diame• nam. Couriers were especially adept at series of Soviet nuclear test explosions. ter, three-blade, reversible-pitch pro• operations out of hastily cleared jungle In Southeast Asia, similar mystique pre• peller; could climb at 2,200 fpm, and landing strips, unimproved roads, and vails. Nearly all the Couriers left behind cruise at 180 knots. It was the uT-Courier other makeshift landing zones. Many from the , it's said, wound up of all Couriers. military versions had published maxi• in the hands of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, Production of all Couriers, Twin Couri• mum gross weights of 4,000 pounds-600 which then sent a few to India, Pakistan, ers, and Stallions ended in 1974, when pounds more than the civilian models. and the People's Republic of China. the type certificate and tooling were sold Show up in a Helio Courier, and In 1968, Helio began manufacturing a and then made the rounds of several you're sure to draw a crowd. In that seven-airplane production run of the firms, none of which built an airplane. crowd you can expect to encounter that H-SOO (military V-SA) Twin Courier. One of those owners had the temerity to reticent gawker who tersely allows, ") There's no mistaking a Twin Courier. It reportedly sue the erA, claiming that the used to fly these," and nothing more. had its engines mounted above the wing agency manufactured copies of Helio air• Ah, the stories these pilots could tell. with an auxiliary running between planes without permission. One legend has it that Helio was asked them. All of these 2S0-hp Lycoming 0• Today,Helio Enterprises of Prescon, Ari• to build a Courier with no identifying S40-powered airplanes saw service in zona, is the Helio Courier type certificate marks whatsoever. That airplane, it's Vietnam. In 1969, the first in a production owner. Company owner David May tag rumored, carried covert operatives and run of 18 HST-SSO (military designator (yes, of the appliance-manufacturing May• repeatedly penetrated Soviet air defenses AV-24A) Helio Stallions were built, and tags) says that he plans to put piston-pow• without being detected. The airplane these, too, went to Vietnam. These fire- ered Helio Couriers back in production in

Challenger (N1TW), and a Cessna Citation X nament. I can do without sightseers, who Ready plane... (N1 AP). These were, of course, Jack Nick• probably are looking more at the ground take the plane! laus', Tom Watson's, and Arnold Palmer's air• than scanning the sky. planes. "And here at the beautiful Saucon Valley Flying the golfprofile The drill was to simply circle over the Country Club ... " the announcer now says. I Bob Mikkelson is president of Winged country club while the golfers golfed and look down at my monitor and see that Vision Inc., an outfit that provides aerial Mikkelson shot the action. The challenge for Mikkelson has framed the clubhouse. video imagery for major sports events. His me was learning the course and getting "Ready plane ... take the plane!" says the airplane: a Helio Courier, of course. "It's the used to flying at 50 knots in a 15- to 30• director, and our video instantly becomes only airplane out there that can maneuver degree bank. You have to fly this slowly to part of the show. safely at the kinds of airspeeds I need for minimize the appearance of a rotating Then there's this whispering among the the kind of shooting I do," Mikkelson said. image on the television screen. technical staff on the course. "You might "Television producers want a nice, steady So there I was, flying along at 18 to 20 like the ketchup and hot water ... What do shot-the kind of shot that you get from a inches of manifold pressure and 2,300 rpm, at you call it, egg cream ? ..Clevelander ...I'll blimp-and the Helio does a real good job what felt like a ridiculously slow airspeed. I put you in the belly of the beast. ..Look at of steady, slow-speed flying." spent the night before and part of the morn• the guy wearing seersucker ... You ought to Mikkelson and his Helio do a lot of work ing trying to memorize what all 18 holes see him at night.. ..•• for MetLife. When MetLife advertises at would look like from the air, but the real thing "Fleischer tight, Bob! Plane, you on closely spaced multiple events, Snoopy 1 doesn't look quite like the handouts given to eight? Take the plane" and "Get the caddy and Snoopy 2 (MetLife's blimps) sometimes spectators. Meanwhile, I hear cacophony the hell out of the way;' yells the director. can't make it to all venues, so Mikkelson through my headset. Allentown Approach is The whole time Mikkelson is quietly gets the call. telling me about traffic. Mikkelson is saying shooting the play below. He can track a This June, Snoopy 1 was supposed to things like "let's go to eight" or "see the cut in drive from the tee to the fairway, or zoom cover the Seniors Open Golf Tournament at the trees?" And way in the background I can into an extreme closeup of a single golf the Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethle• hear the television commentators, the ball. He can find wayward golf balls faster hem, Pennsylvania. But fate intervened. Out applause, the director yelling at his camera• than the caddies. Meanwhile, the camera in Arizona, Snoopy 1 hit its mooring mast men and other staff, and an eerie whispering mounted on a pod under the left wing stays and suffered substantial damage. Mikkel• among what must have been the technical rock-steady, in spite of any turbulence. The son's phone rang, and he swung into action. staff on the course. It was surreal. "You'll gyro stabilization keeps the lens pinned to Problem was, Mark Ograbicz-his pilot• never think of TV sports the same after this;' the location Mikkelson has selected with was getting married and couldn't fly the Mikkelson said, and he was right. the joystick on his console. Seniors. When asked if I'd be interested in The chatter picks up. There's a ridge to the west of the country standing in for four days' worth of Helio flying, "Roll purple," says the director, meaning club, and by midafternoon it's throwing off the answer was a definite yes. Soon, the a tape deck. "Five-four-three-two-one, roll turbulence. Some of the bumps make the groom-to-be was checking me out in the Helio. Elvis (another tape deck). Standby Amber. inboard slats pop out in a sudden, slam• Two days later I was helping Mikkelson Roll Amber. Ready, Dog (a cameraman's ming action. I guess the inboard portions of install the camera pod at the Allentown-Beth• nickname). Dissolve, Dog." the wing are near the stall. It's unnerving, lehem Airport, and climbing into the left seat Now I hear music that segues into a but I get used to it. for the first of six flights over the country commercial. Now we're having trouble with our recep• club. Our photography would be part of Then it's Allentown. "November-One• tion. Dave Steiner, our "catcher" on the ESPN's and NBC's coverage of the Seniors. Eight-Juliet-Yankee, traffic now 12 o'clock, ground (he aims an antenna at the airplane Mikkelson sat in back with his joystick and 200 feet below you, heading north." Great. and catches our microwave video transmis• other video paraphernalia. As we taxied out I And there he is, a that's also sions), complains that our picture is being saw a Gulfstream IV (N1JN), a Bombardier maneuvering around for a look at the tour- affected by interference from the scads of

AUPA PIWf· 52 • IANUAIIY 2001 electrical gear surrounding him. Vertical bars are appearing on our imagery. "I could try putting the Humbucker on it;' Steiner says. A Humbucker is a brick• like object that filters out interference from nearby electrical groundings. You fit it onto a ground wire. "Yeah, try the Humbucker," Mikkelson says. Now I'm into it. "Yeah, the Humbucker;' I add. Steiner's Humbucker works, and all remains well for the rest of the four days we fly the Seniors. That night at dinner Steiner, who's been aiming at us all day, says dryly, "You made 90 circuits of the course today." On Friday we taxi out behind N1AP; Arnie has failed to qualify and is going back home to Latrobe, Pennsylvania. By Saturday we're shooting for NBC and I know each hole of the course. By Sunday NBC is taking a lot of pictures from the Helio. That's a clue that our pictures are just as good as those from the blimps. For the trip home from Allentown to Frederick, Maryland, we took the camera pod off its mounts (affixed to this Helio's armament hard points) and saw a 120-kt cruise. With the pod installed, we'd be doing good to see 100 kt. As usual my approaches were made at 60 to 65 kt, with half flaps. "Skyhawk-style," accord• ing to Ograbicz. I'm not yet up to the full• , 40-kt approaches and 200-foot land• ing rolls that Ograbicz, with his 700 hours in Helios, can pull off. The slats pop out as I flare-boom-boom-and we still land within 500 feet. It was a great four days and a great 23 hours flying a most unique Helio Courier ~ -'- . (one of only 19 tricycle-gear versions --~ ------ever built) on a most interesting job. Oh, Four independently operating slats (top left) extend at high angles of attack and give the Helio and Hale Irwin won. Courier its exemplary slow-speed behavior. Attaching Winged Vision Inc.S SO-pound gyro-sta• Bob, I'm ready to go again. And don't bilized lens to the hard points (above) takes muscle and steady hands. Once powered up. the forget to bring the Humbucker. -TAH lens can be swiveled across a huge range of movement. Interceptors (above) act like spoilerons to assist the Helio in slow-speed turns.

AOPA PILOT' 53. JANUARY 2001 the first quarter of 200 1. Maytag became hard to find, inasmuch as so many have involved with Helio Couriers when he and been crashed, or are either rotting in a a partner bought a distressed Helio Stallion jungle somewhere or in the hands of in the Philippines in 1992.The restoration hostile regimes. They're not even listed project sparked a real interest in the mar• in Vref or The Aircraft Bluebook/Price que, one thing led to another, and in 1994 Digest, so there's little baseline pricing wrested the type certificate from its prior information on these truly unique air• "owner"-who, it is alleged, obtained it planes. The airplane photographed for fraudulently. Maytag says the production this article sold for $75,000 when new, facilities of Bacau, Romania's Aerostar will but the owner estimates that it's worth be used to build new Heliocouriers. In fact, about $175,000 now. As for Stallions, an FAAproduction type certificate should you can name your price. At last count have been awarded to Aerostar by the time there were only two flyable HST-550s you read this. left in the world. Both reportedly serve Maytag plans panel, electrical, and fuel as jump airplanes for sport parachuting system improvements to bring the Helio operators. Truly lucky buyers will come Courier up to FARPart 23 standards. Tri• across the handful of military airplanes gear versions will be fitted out with the that have survived the Southeast Asian original air/oil shocks (later model trigear wars. You won't find a list of commen• Helios used Cessna 185 main gear and a dations in their logbooks, but you will Cessna 310 nosewheel assembly), and the have a military pilot's operating hand• seats will be beefed up to withstand a 19-G book, complete with checklists for deal• crash. Previously, Aerostar built Yak 50s ing with small-arms fire to the fuel and -52s for the Soviet Union. "There's tanks, bailing out, taking off from two• much to be done, but we plan to enter foot-deep rice paddies, and mounting production at Aerostar sometime in early and launching air-to-ground rockets. 2001," Maytag said. Price of a new Helio Now that's an airplane with character. 0 has yet to be established, but should be "around $350,000," he said. E-mail the author at tom.horne@ Nowadays, Couriers and Stallions are aopa.org

Helio Courier HT-295 Base price: $75,000 (1974) Price as tested: $175,000 (1998) Specifications Maximum level speed, sea level 145 kt Powerplant Lycoming GO-480-G IA6 Cruise speed/endurance w/45-min rsv, opt fuel 295 hp (fuel consumption) Recommended TBO 1,400 hr @ 75% power, max cruising 130 kt/6.3 hr Propeller Hartzell,3-blade 8,500 ft (19 gph) 96-in dia @ 65% power, economy cruise 120 kl/8.1 hr Length 31ft 8,500 ft (14.8 gph) Height 14 ft 10 in @ 55% power, best economy 110 ktllO.4 hr Wingspan 39 ft 8,500 ft (11.5 gph) Wing area 231 sqft Service ceiling 20,500 ft Wing loading 14.7Ib/sq ft Landing distance over 50-ft obstacle 520 ft Power loading 11.51b/hp Landing distance, ground roll 270 ft Seats 6 Cabin length 10 ft Limiting and Recommended Airspeeds Cabin width 45in Vx (best angle of climb) 70 KIAS Cabin height 48in Vy (best rate of climb) 90 •..1AS Empty weight 2,1251b VA (design maneuvering) 89 KIAS Empty weight, as tested 2,4201b VFE (max flap extended) 69 KIAS Maximum ramp weight 3,4001b VNO (max structural cruising) 140 KIAS Maximum gross weight 3,4001b VNE (never exceed) ]74 •..lAS Useful load 1,2751b Useful load. as tested 980lb (Tile Helio does flOt stall in tile convelltional man• Payload w/ full fuel 5551b ner. Wllile tile following speeds are flOt publislled by Payload w/full fuel, as tested 260lb tile manufacturer. tlley provide a useful comparison Maximum takeoff weight 3,4001b to otller aircraft.) Maximum landing weight 3,400 Ib 35 KIAS Fuel capacity, std 60 gal (58.2 gal usable) VR (rotation) Fuel capacity, w/opt tanks 120 gal (116.4 gal usable) VS1 (stall, clean-lower green arc) 52 KlAS Oil capacity 12qt Vso (stall, in landing configuration) Baggage capacity 801b,15cuft (lower white arc) 46 KIAS Vs (minimum control speed) 26 ~IAS Performance Takeoff distance, ground roll 335 ft All specifications are based on manufacturer's enl• Takeoff distance over 50-ft obstacle 610ft ClIlations. All performance figures are based on Max demonstrated crosswind component 17let standard day, standard atmospllere, sea level, gross Rate of climb, sea level 1,150 fpm weigllt conditions unless otllerwise noted.

AOPA PILOT' S4. JANUARY 2001