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Some of this valuable information though was lost over the years of moving house to house. I started buying every set of helicopter plans and information pack available (usually found in the back of Popular Mechanics magazines) and subscribed to most of the US based experimental aircraft magazines. I have been following these smaller helicopter designs ever since my early teens when my father took me for a joy flight in a Hughes 500. Since then, modern technology has enabled lighter and more powerful engines and building materials creating more viable helicopter models to be produced and also the ability for individuals to build a helicopter from plans. They were the pioneers of what is now a booming kit helicopter industry around the world. Many vendors regretfully closed up shop causing some of the early and most innovative kit helicopter designs to be lost forever. A lot of them were way before their time as the general public, although fascinated by them, were not ready to support their sales. There was much to be said for and against the many new homebuilt helicopter releases hitting the aviation market in the USA – and elsewhere in the world. There were also the well known Rotorway Scorpion and Exec helicopters, the little known Lonestar kit helicopter and the unfortunate but ever popular Mini 500 kit helicopter, just to name a few. The 90’s brought a myriad of new kit helicopter designs to the world market including Cobra Helicopter’s turbine powered Predator single seat helicopter and the Rotax powered Mustang kit helicopter, Augusto Cicare’s Angel CH7 kit helicopter, the Furia/Skylark plans built helicopter, the Mosquito ultralight kit helicopter and Masquito experimental helicopter from Belgium.