Cool, but that "first time" stuff's got to be a US-centric thing if it's true -- UKside the Army heli display lot have been flipflopping whirlycopters for some time now...
Heh heh . . .
I didn't want to take away from Chuck's moment there initially, but you're totally right. The Westland Lynx featured in the videos you posted (which are AWESOME by the way) also has a rigid rotor head like Chuck describes in his interview. In fact the Germans and the British have been flying loops since the 70's. Don't know what they do at that island you're at but the German Military trains all their helicopter combat pilots on aerobatics as part of their flight training. It's funny how the Americans always think they are the first to do anything....
But, in his defence, Chuck really is the first and only guy to do this in the States. I was involved in his project on and off (even though I don't seem to get any credit).
Keep in mind Chuck (much like our Chuck) is a show-man !!
He didn't invent the loop but rather went to Germany to have one of their top guys teach him all of this cool stuff. (I forgot his last name but his first name is Rainer and he always wears white gloves when he flies. He's pretty well known in Germany). Which, when you think about it, makes a lot more sense than just go out there one day when you feel good and just "go for it". He came back with a bunch of maneuver instructions written in German which I translated for him into English to get his program approved. Nobody at the FAA wanted to have their signature on this though, that's why it took him so long to get the license. They wanted to put stress gages on the aircraft and more which led to me translating more letter that say it's unnecessary because the Germans built this thing for aerobatics and had been doing them for 25 years without incidents.
Then, being the rather inventive guy he is, he somehow surpassed the local FAA guy who wouldn't help him by going to some higher authority (forgot the details, he told me) and now he really is the only licensed Helicopter Aerobatics pilot in the states.
Still a good story, but probably not quite as exciting as "modifying the helicopter and going for it".
(I imagine that Red Bull had a lot to do with his story also, they like to be the first ones to do everything. I sounds a little scripted compared to the real Chuck just talking)
