I has no idea a company is bringing back the Helio, very awesome video



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVIZsmdudZM

Really well done. Love seeing this stuff. I wish someone would also buy/inherit the Aeronca Sedan type cert legacy from Burl Rogers. Losing these designs would be tragic.

Btw that’s Daniel Maccarone from Sport Aircraft Seats, one of our advertisers.

This is an AWESOME video on what determination (and I'm sure a bit of cash) can do for aviation! Highly recommended view!

Super cool. I'd love to see those in production. I am sure it would be way out of my price range.

Fascinating! Awesome video

All of Daniel’s vids are good. This one just exemplified the can do attitude, nothing seems to stop those guys. I really hope all the hard work pays off.

What a project!!! I hope they're successful, they're well into the hard stuff at this point, so they are dedicated.

Clever approach to the powerplant problem. Jury is out on the liquid cooling though.

Anyone hear from Bushliner recently? checked their socials and not much in the last few months.

Zzz wrote:Clever approach to the powerplant problem. Jury is out on the liquid cooling though.

Did the Courier have an oddball GO-480 suffix p/n? What are the older Commanders, T-Bones, etc. using if the GO-480 is no longer supported?

tedwaltman wrote:(and I'm sure a bit of cash) can do for aviation!

A lot of cash. Lottery winners? Trust fund kids? Deep pocket investors?

C180_guy wrote:

Zzz wrote:Clever approach to the powerplant problem. Jury is out on the liquid cooling though.

Did the Courier have an oddball GO-480 suffix p/n? What are the older Commanders, T-Bones, etc. using if the GO-480 is no longer supported?

Maybe over those years they got upgrades to 540s? Not sure. Is the 480 lighter and more compact? Wikipedia says it’s a 6 cylinder version of the 320.

Later Helios (H-700 and H-800) got the IO-720. I think these guys are focused on the H-295 though.

Just seems an odd choice to try to radically modify an engine in such a way vs choosing a currently supported off the shelf model they can STC. To launch a company will sales and supportability in mind, this would be my strategy.

Hope it doesn’t end up like the Renaissance Luscombe. I would have started with a known produced engine first, get the new airplane up, running and flying before adding in more complexity to the already complex and expensive venture. Or why not just find a overhauled or good used G-480? Plenty of sitting TwinBo’s, just have to source them out, just like any other engine from C85 to R1340.

They own the TC, why not make their first produced Helio Certified?

No wing struts on the Courier. Alaska guys like to strap all kinds of stuff to their wing struts.

Those things are great planes, they go super slow and yet when cleaned up go pretty fast too. They will scare the hell out of you if you get to slow in light turbulence and the wing slats start banging in and out. Only flew one a time or two but rode in them a bit more. I was told to always be sure you were level and straight when you slowed down to get the slats to deploy. If you got in just the wrong conditions of a very slow turn the low wing would maybe be just slow enough to deploy it's slat, then that would throw the low wing up which could make it retract and the other wing to pop out. I never had it happen when I was in one but it sure seemed to have left an impression on the guy who regularl flew it.

Extremely cool video and project. I really hope things work out for them and it's a success!

Interesting...quite a lot of discussion about the engine starting at about the 20 minute mark, yet I didn't hear them actually identify what it is.
I googled "AC AERO" (logo on the valve covers), looks like it is based on an IO-540 Lycoming.
I agree with Zane, I think going with a more traditional & well-established model engine would be smart.
IMHO the liquid cooling just seems to add complexity & more potential failure points.

I wonder if the business case is based on the ability to sustain operation in slow flight beyond what an air cooled engine could tolerate. It does seem like that engine choice is an unnecessary business risk unless it has capabilities that are deemed ‘necessary’.

How much over $1M do you think it will cost??

Belloypilot wrote:How much over $1M do you think it will cost??

Closer to two mil is my guess, certified, leather seats, glass cockpit, and with that liquid cooled engine.

It sounds like they want to swing a large diameter propeller (90''), so they are limiting the rpm to 2300. This will leave them operating over square all of the time, and they are concerned about cylinder temps in this configuration, thus the water cooling.

Wishing these guys the best, what a project!