Coolant System Air Bleed lines

This wasn't part of RotorWays plans but I was thinking if we had an easier way of bleeding the air from the cooling system we would be more likely to do it a little more often.

We ran lines to everything but the top engine air bleed valve. We'd have hooked it up to the system to but we couldn't really figure out an easy way to attach the lines together so for that port we will have to attach a line every time we need to do it.

Under the cooling shroud where the the line spits the fluid out we made it aim straight down to prevent the coolant from spraying directly on the muffler possibly starting a fire. Anywhere the tubing has a sharp bend in it we installed small springs inside to prevent the tube from being able to close off.

This is an important notice from RotorWay you sure want to adhere to.

My first flight on the first day of Phase Two flight training at RotorWay,  Bill Orth and I had to do a full blown to the ground autorotation form one of these valves opening during flight.

If all or even one of the main engine belts or the ACIS belt in our case fray, the spinning threads on the disintegrating belt rub one of the petcocks and completely opens it up. At 4250 RPM the engine quickly dumps all the coolant in a major spray pattern onto the passengers side seatback where the coil packs are.  That in turn drowns out either the FADAC units, the coil packs or both.

I never did get an answer on what caused the engine to cut in and out from RotorWay but I can personally assure you it can and doe's happen so be sure to safety wire these things particularly the one on the passengers side on top of the engine cylinder.