The Kinney HRH (''Hot Rod Helicopter'') is an American

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

that was designed by Robert Kinney and produced by Vortech, Inc in the form of plans for amateur construction. The aircraft was first shown at

Sun 'n Fun Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo (officially styled SUN 'n FUN) is a nonprofit organization in Lakeland, Florida dedicated to the promotion of aviation education. It is best known for the annual week-long fly-in and airshow at Lakeland Linder Intern ...

in 2002.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011–12'', page 192. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485X

Design and development

The HRH was designed to comply with the US ''experimental – amateur-built'' rules. It features a single main rotor, a single-seat enclosed cockpit with a windshield, skid-type

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...

and a four-cylinder, air-cooled,

four-stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directio ...

Subaru EJ25 The Subaru EJ engine is a series of four-stroke automotive engines manufactured by Subaru. They were introduced in 1989, intended to succeed the previous Subaru EA engine. The EJ series was the mainstay of Subaru's engine line, with all engines o ...

automotive engine. It is the high power to weight ratio that gives the aircraft its name. The aircraft

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

is made from a mix of welded

4130 steel 41xx steel is a family of SAE steel grades, as specified by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Alloying elements include chromium and molybdenum, and as a result these materials are often informally referred to as chromoly steel (common ...

tube and bolted-together

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

tubing, with a composite cabin shell. Its diameter two-bladed Waitman composite rotor has a chord of . The tail rotor has a diameter. The aircraft has an empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of . With full fuel of the payload is . The HRH can hover in ground effect at and out of ground effect at

Operational history

By January 2013 there was one example, the 2001 prototype, registered in the United States with the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

Specifications (HRH)

References

External links

* {{Vortech aircraft 2000s United States sport aircraft 2000s United States helicopters Homebuilt aircraft Single-engined piston helicopters