Vario rotor blades

[Rocam]

I’m setting up a FPV business in Belgium and because there is no legal framework yet for commercial UAV operations, I'm facing some kind of CAA certification ordeal before I get a temporary license to operate. I would then become the first 'official' rotorcraft UAV business in the country.


Part of the certification will be to assess what kind of damage a Vario XLV (or MJ3) helicopter would inflict upon blade impact so I'm interested to know what type of blades would cause the least amount of damage. The way I see it, there are two options: blades made of a shell filled with foam that absorb energy on impact or blades that shatter upon impact. Since I only crashed helicopters during simulator sessions I can't tell from experience (yet) how blades behave when they strike something and what type of blades would be best for my setup.

Any info on this topic would be highly appreciated.

[wayneparrish]

Rocam, Sounds like some crap they are putting you thru over their silly requirements. Do they require a full scale heli to self destruct ? If you go down and hit a person you are probably going to do serious damage to them ,or worse ! If a full size heli goes in it will also do a significant amount of damage and worse. I really don't know where you are to find the info you need. Good luck on your endeavor.Maybe contacting Vario direct could yield something.

[vario]

I have unfortunatly seen carbon, glass and aluminum for the XLV, and in all cases the blades fracture and get thrown in different directions. We originally thought aluminum would not do this, but, they do as well shooting a jagged projectile at you, just like carbon or glass.
Joe