Hum Humm HUAM
At the AERO exhibition in Friedrichshafen a new* helicopter was officially unveiled - the tesi HUAM. HUAM is an acronym of Helicopter Urban Air Mobility.
The chief designer of the helicopter is Mr Mauro Piazzoli, who was a pioneer in Italy for modifying a rotorway helicopter into a turbine engine (1). Later was one of the key persons behind the AvioTecnica company which used to manufacture a ES 101 Raven helicopter (2). Later he was a chief designer responsible for the Helitek KRONO 102 (which is the same airframe as this one, but different engine) and now holds a role of a chief design engineer of the tesi’s HUAM project.
The helicopter is a two seater, with side-by-side cabin layout, with two-bladed semi-rigid main rotor and two-bladed semi-rigid tail rotor. At the first look you may see some resemblance with the Rotorway style of helicopter and based on the past experience of its designer, this is understandable. However, upon closer investigation, you will find that apart from general layout being inspired by Rotorway or Alpi Syton, this helicopter is a totally new animal, a greatest hits version of many others. I will try to explain what I mean below.
Main structure consists of a carbon fiber cabin, integrated with carbon fiber main structure and a carbon fiber tail boom. The main structure has a flat deck, like on bigger helicopters, on which a welded steel frame is attached. This frame carries the main rotor gearbox - which is a proper machined gearbox (not some belts or chains) - engine (a UL Power 350iHPs), and at its aft part the tail boom is attached. The main structure also has a 150L in capacity cargo compartment across the entire width, with doors on both sides. There are also smaller inspection panels which give access to fuel system components. Fuel tank itself is a flat one placed vertically between the cargo compartment and cockpit, below the main deck level, with fuel cap on the right side.
Power train is driven by the mentioned UL Power engine through a belt transmission. It is pre-tensioned and engaging the rotor is being done by the centrifugal clutch placed inside the lower pulley. The same pulley also incorporates an overrunning clutch. This driven intermediate shaft is placed below the engine, and to do so, the original UL Power oil sump was modified such, so it is as deep as original but placed more on the one side. This intermediate shaft connects in the front to the main rotor gearbox through a flex coupling like on Robinson helicopters, and on the aft connects to the carbon fiber big-in-diameter tail rotor shaft through a thomas coupling - like on Bell helicopters. The tail rotor shaft has one duper in the middle. In the near future it will be replaced with an aluminum one.
Control system is similar to the one seen on Rotorway - the collective lever through the push-rod moves the entire swash-plate assembly up and down, but the tilting of the swash-plate is actuated through doubled cables from the cyclic sticks assembly.
In the cabin we can find a minimalistic instrument panel, consisting of one Garmin screen and a couple of backup instruments. Pedals design is similar to Robinson helicopters. There are cabin air vents of interesting design - it is a distinct feature seen from outside on the windshield in the area next to cabin doors’ hinges. It is being opened by the yellow slider with a handle inside.
The helicopter up to this time performed 6 hovers, with the first one taking place in July of 2024. For the time being the main point of interest was the engine performance, so the helicopter is not configured and equipped with other necessary equipment like a pitot tube.
1)
Sopra la nostra città l’alpinista Simone Moro ha battuto il record mondiale di altitudine: 6.705 metri
www.altoadige.it3)
rotorcraft.info - an online, incomplete rotorcraft catalog
rotorcraft.info
* - some pictures of it leaked on facebook a couple of months prior. It is the same airframe as the previously known Helitek KRONO 102 (where Mr Mauro Piazzoli was also its chief design engineer)
Last edited: Apr 14, 2025
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