New Observer EB

[ErichF]

Well, after three years, I finally managed to sell my program managers on a helicopter platform.

They gave me the go ahead today to purchase a brand new Bergen Observer EB, complete with camera and downlinks, to support an upcoming exercise. We may even in the future install a UAV FCS for use in other military sponsored activities and experiments.

As you might imagine, I'm pretty excited to finally get a rotary wing aircraft among our unique fleet of fixed wing platforms.

Chris Bergen has been a great help so far on this project. We need this bird pretty much yesterday, and he and his crew are already at work finishing it off for test flying. He already had one assembled ready for electronics.

The setup will be Package #5 (JR9303/7202), GV1/Stator Gator, Canon S3IS and Black Widow 500 2.4 downlink.

Just wanted to pass on to everyone how customer-centric Chris and crew are at Bergen. We wouldn't be able to meet our flight deadline without them. I just hope the test flight goes well :shock:

Pics to come when we get the bird,

Erich

[MarkWebber]

I just hope the test flight goes well

No worries there. That crew knows thier helis! :wink: You're going to love that bird :D

[Brady Longmore]

are u guys doing any hiring? :mrgreen:

[ErichF]

Man, I get that question a lot...especially at the flying field :wink:


Erich

[miami6]

ericF


please if you can post some pics of your setup

[ErichF]

I kinda wish I had some. It's at Bergen's getting outfitted right now.

CHRIS, shoot me some pics of that multi-thousand dollar heli I just bought, for Pete's sake :D


Erich

[cbergen]

Got some pics today of Erich's Observer, before the test flights probably tomorrow.

http://www.helifreak.com/album_mod/upload/a70952420a1550414e290f488966af2d.jpg

http://www.helifreak.com/album_mod/upload/68071c44ad71d8044c4c689c469edf78.jpg

http://www.helifreak.com/album_mod/upload/f89cf63791d4ae4fc3846234beab656d.jpg

I had Greg work on this while I took care of other things. He did an excellent job!



More Pics in my gallery...

[AZ ChopperCam]

Bergen makes a nice ship. I tourced the facility a while back and the day I was there they were machining rotor grips in the CNC mill. Nice stuff and you're going to love that machine!

now... if they would get an electric version built I'd buy in a heartbeat!!!!

[ErichF]

WOW she sure looks PHAT :)

Electric...we needed the ability to have a lot of endurance...up to one hour. So, gas was our only real option. I will eventually have to hang some fuel tanks on her, but for now the 25 minute endurance will be plenty.

Thanks for the photos, Chris! Get her nice n smooth for us!

Erich

[cbergen]

Of course!!

And DJ, Soon as we can get caught up on a couple orders, Greg will be working on the electric Observer for testing.....

Maybe in the future a small MW44 turbine powered version.....or even smaller, the 20cc version......

not enough hours in the day or days in the week.....

[MarkWebber]

Erich

You lucky dog :wink:

[Piton]

fGreg will be working on the electric Observer for testing.....


I'll buy the first one off the line. Can I sign up now? :wink:

[MarkWebber]

I'll buy the first one off the line. Can I sign up now?

I keep telling Chris, 'build it and they will come'. Then MaxiJoker will have some serious competition. :wink:

[Piton]

I'll buy the first one off the line. Can I sign up now?

I keep telling Chris, 'build it and they will come'. Then MaxiJoker will have some serious competition. :wink:

Would be nice to have an AV purpose built e-heli with a front mount. I'm not a big fan of the underslung systems, from my limited experience.

[MarkWebber]

I know Greg is very anxious to get it going. His E-Magnum conversions look good from what I've seen of them. I'm sure the e-Observer will be as good.

[ErichF]

Well, the gang at Bergen pulled off another one, in my favor this time :D

New Observer EB showed up today from the FedEx man around 0945. We pulled all the parts out of the PEANUTS in the box (Thanks a LOT, Chris :arggg: ), installed the tail and camera gimbal, and put on our Li-Ion battery system.

Charged up everything during lunch, and had our first flight on her right after.

She's a smooth flyer, for sure. Easily the biggest, heaviest heli I have ever flown, but it carried itself very nicely. Those NHP 800s and the G26 made a great set.

We had a camera from an old UAV on board, and except for a few downlink flutters, the live video was pretty smooth.

Here's some pics in our shop:

http://www.helifreak.com/album_mod/upload/1ccf6b9a1a1cbea072b78c3124ad8fff.jpg

http://www.helifreak.com/album_mod/upload/09423cca590014d83c117046697c20ef.jpg

http://www.helifreak.com/album_mod/upload/1159206e866404eb0f45b20e67ec4abf.jpg

http://www.helifreak.com/album_mod/upload/ea67ea90b6478149f1ea1888df3b6077.jpg

http://www.helifreak.com/album_mod/upload/f3bb19a952b068595442c32330ce5d62.jpg

http://www.helifreak.com/album_mod/upload/897da2fc0b4c06fb8677bc8213bc953b.jpg

[dreslism]

Sweet, what's that thing weigh?

[ErichF]

I haven't gotten it on a scale yet. I'll weigh it monday. I just got it balanced the way I wanted before leaving work. I had to add 3 sheets of lead under the camera to balance the bird due to the super light camera we were using. You can see the lead under the camers in some of the pics. The Indigo camera is a Thermal Imaging camera, BTW.

We'll attach a Sony Handi-cam soon for more tests, as well as a Canon S3IS for high res stills.

Erich

[miami6]

erichF

looks great did you order that ship with the g26 stock or the hanson version ?

[dreslism]

I like your lab.

I want to come play with you. :mrgreen:

I just noticed the catapult launcher, and other things in your lab.

What is that sweet looking vehicle behind the heli in the picts? Looks like some kind of paddle type tires on it.

You actually get paid to go there? :wink:

[ErichF]

Yeah this job really sucks, eh? :wink:

That vehicle is a Mule UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) prototype we are storing in our shop. The plane on the Cat Launcher is a Buster Small UAV, and the planks on the back bench are the Sig Rascals we've converted to UAVs to carry various payloads for testing.

We also have three Raven systems you can't see in these pics.

And I'm actually due a raise next month :D

Erich

[advoloastra]

You Suck :D :D :D

What company do you work for?

Tim...

[ErichF]

We did some flying on Tuesday morning, and all went very well. Heli flew very smooth, and tracked well in moderate forward flight. Cyclics still seemed a bit light, which is something considering the heli weighs about 18 pounds and only has 5° of cyclic pitch and flybar weights. Might have something to do with the V-Paddles.

The engine ran very smooth, as evidenced by onboard video we recorded from a Sony Mini-DV Handi-Cam. The video is 18 minutes long, covers three sorties, and has lost a lot of quality being transferred to computer. I've posted the video on You Tube in two parts. In fact, the actual raw video was much smoother than I expected. No tail kicks. No engine harmonics. This at 1450 and 1600 RPM.

We attempted to fly again today, but were disappointed when one of the Clutch Drive Bolts sheared off during spool-up. It caused the engine to twist in the mounts, tearing off the two rear mount plate tabs, and bending the start shaft. Thankfully, the main gear didn't get stripped.

So, no flying for a couple weeks until we get this sorted. Meanwhile, we got some more pics of the Observer flying in my gallery. Check em out.

Erich

You Tube Links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRzIOV6PBJI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChBs8laFsXM

http://www.helifreak.com/album_mod/upload/e253d68d2fe3bd15d4357dc7f130ce8d.jpg

[Crjbenny]

Erich,
Did you get your helicopter all squared away?

[Garland]

So should it be Hanson or non Hanson for Bergen gassers?

For payload/observer more power the better right?

i thought Bergen had its own muffler also?