The Early Days Of Canadian Home Rotors

Building a safe, useful and reliable helicopter with Canadian Home Rotors Inc. is a rewarding experience

At Canadian Home Rotors, we offer complete and courteous support to anyone interested in helicopters of every make. Skeptical? Ask our builders in your area.

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Our builders get an additional Canadian Home Rotors Newsletter to keep them informed with all aspects of safety, construction, maintenance and piloting. We care, making us the best choice.

Quality components are machined to the highest aircraft standards with pride given to the smallest detail. The BABY BELLE components have been perfected during 12 years of development at Canadian Home Rotors.

We use a LYCOMING aircraft engine powering geared transmissions and driveshafts to give true dependability and low maintenance.

All machined parts are anodized or plated for complete corrosion protection. You can be assured that only high quality aircraft materials and hardware are used.

The Canadian Home Rotors BABY BELLE helicopter kit can accommodate most customer’s requirements.

Canadian Home Rotors Baby Belle Helicopter Kit Features:

• Clear Construction Prints

• Detailed Manuals

• Free Builders Newsletter

• Lycoming Aircraft Engine

• Dual Ignition Standard

• Air Cooled Engine

• All Gear Driven

• Corrosion Protected

• Aircraft Quality

• Personal Body Designs Possible

• Driveshaft Driven

• Auto Clutch Engagement

• Carb & Cabin Heat

• Excellent Autorotation

• Dual Controls are Standard

• 4130 Chromemoly Tubing

• Rugged Design

• No Belts

• No Chains

• Stainless Steel Tailrotor Blades

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COURTESY: EAA Sport Aviation – (Feature Image)

Homebuilt Safari Helicopter Today

AUTHOR: Chris Davenport

EAA MEMBER: 883997

LOCATION: Danville, California

IN 2013, I came to Oshkosh with the goal of researching an “airplane” I could build myself. After wandering all the way down to the ultralight vendors, I came upon the aircraft of my dreams. To my surprise, it wasn’t an airplane at all. What I found was the Canadian Home Rotors Safari 400 helicopter. It had a nostalgic look that paid reverence to the old Bell 47, or as we all probably know it better, the M*A*S*H helicopter.

I spoke for probably too long to the owner of Safari Helicopter, Delane Baker, and she couldn’t have been more supportive and informative. I took the specification sheet, signed the interest list, and began to dream of hovering. I hadn’t flown a helicopter since 2009, when I was just weeks away from completing my add-on certificate in a Schweizer 300CBi.

I became distracted when I purchased a Cirrus, and once I was ready to get back to training, the school had closed. Now, when I started to do the math of building and flying my own helicopter and disregarded what I knew my airplane friends would say, this building option made a lot of sense to me.

I spent the next several months taking advantage of EAA resources such as builder videos online, books from its catalog, and even completed EAA sheet metal and electrical workshops and a MIG welding class.

All said and done, it took me almost 18 months to make the commitment to buy the kit, with my biggest fear being that I just spent a small fortune on a bunch of nuts, bolts, wire, and metal that would never form the shape of an aircraft.

Once I placed the order, I had several months before the kits first stage arrived, so I spent time researching a home workshop setup, from the floor material to the various tool and equipment stations. There is so much good advice out there, and I always felt I had resources to calm my insecurities.

Speaking of insecurities, if I’m being honest, the excitement I had on delivery day quickly turned into the sickening feeling I had made a horrible mistake.

I’d never seen so many bags of parts and blank sheets of material. All I could think was, “What have I done?” Luckily, that feeling was only temporary, and soon I decided to view this not as “one” helicopter project, but as 300 small, manageable projects.

I was going to eat this elephant one bite at a time! I set up a builder blog on KitLog Pro and spent the next year and a half documenting every cardboard template made, every nut plate installed, and every electrical circuit ran.

I was amazed when other Canadian Home Rotors builders began e-mailing me with questions and advice. Someone was actually reading these late-night ramblings and small victory reports? It was hard to imagine. Something completely unexpected in the process was meeting someone who turned out to be my best friend. We met in an EAA electrical workshop at AirVenture 2015.

Each student was asked to introduce themselves and state what they were building. What followed was, “RV-6, RV-8, RV-6, RV-10, RV-8,” etc. I was the only odd one in the class building a helicopter, but then there was this grumpy guy from Pennsylvania two tables away also building a Safari.

I cornered him on a break, we hit it off immediately and ended up hanging out together for the rest of the show, and we have talked pretty much every day since! I’ve flown to Pennsylvania to see him and his family on holidays, and he’s flown to California a few times to help me buck some rivets and install the final components that required two people.

Tom completed his Canadian Home Rotors helicopter in time for AirVenture 2016 and won Grand Champion! This year, I drove my helicopter on a trailer from California to Oshkosh where I flew with Tom at the same field where I found this ship years before, and I won Grand Champion for 2017.

Tom and I agreed that I had no choice but to win because if I didn’t, he would never have let me hear the end of it! It’s difficult to summarize the personal significance of my building experience, but what I can say is that it’s been one of the most rewarding challenges of my life.

The sense of accomplishment is tremendous, and winning a Lindy along with the recognition from other homebuilders is more than I could’ve ever hoped for. All I can suggest to those thinking of starting an aircraft project is to simply take the first step and then just take it one day at a time. In this community, you’re never alone.

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Tomorrow’s Safari Helicopters Proudly Made In The USA!

Your new Canadian Home Rotors Safari Helicopter will be powered by a proven aircraft engine, with paint and interior colors you choose. Enjoy the benefits of flying with an engine governor, electric cyclic trim, and collective friction lock. Design a custom instrument panel and make the helicopter your very own. Call us today to begin making your dreams a reality.

More Flight Testing of the Safari 500!

Cooling worked out, air conditioning underway, controls tweaked and she’s back in the air. The 500 is performing beyond our expectations.Its a long video, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to cut anything out.

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Read more about Canadian Home Rotors here.

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