Eiland SparrowHawk

[teiland]

I am very happy to report that my new SparrowHawk took to the air today for it's maiden flight. I only flew for 30 minutes, but hope to fly more later today, but I want calm winds for testing. Being a "test pilot" is very nerve wracking, but all went well.

I will attempt to attach some pictures.

Terry Eiland

[teiland]

I kind of made a "but" of myself in that last post, didn't I? :)

[Screw]

Screw-In

Very Nice. Where is the Ashtray?

Screw-Out

[teiland]

John, but for the fact that I don't smoke, I would have to get my butt in gear and figure out a location for a butt receptacle, but I guess I don't have to.

[Screw]

Screw-In

Just kidding :D Your gyro appears to be very well equipted. I was just thinking of ergonomics.

You know, you might be able to place an armrest in between the seats with "Flip out" cup holders :rolleyes:

Whacha think?

Screw-Out

[Vance]

Hi Terry, Your workmanship is impeccable as always. The panel looks tidy and the overhead is especialy nice. The cabin looks very spacious. How soon are you going to be teaching in it? I beleive this makes you the first to finish their Sparrowhawk outside of the factory. Nice Job, Vance

[r.coplen]

I know it has been a labor of love and your aircraft looks great. Hope you have blue skies ond calm winds for the next 40 hours of flying.

[teiland]

Vance, I have to do the Phase 1 testing, of course, plus I have a long out of state trip coming up, so it will be a few weeks. ................thanks for your kind words. As you know, the building talent in our family resides in David. He has to work pretty hard to clean up my mistakes and messes.

[r.coplen]

Terry,

I see you have placed jacks part way down the pannel on the back of the cabin. Is that better than placing them on the fuse and switch pannel?

[teiland]

Randy the jack location is better in my opinion. This way the cords are coming over your shoulders or between the seats rather than dangling about your feet and the controls. I have it that way on my old machine, and it has worked out wonderfully. I bought an aluminum receptacle for the jacks from AC Spruce. ......................by the way, thanks for the compliments on my SH. However, I hope I never have to place it beside yours at a fly-in. I'm afraid mine would pale in comparison. ...............I have an ANR headset with the 9v. battery, and I keep leaving it on and running down the battery. David gave me an adapter that I wired into the ship's 12v. system to power this headset. I put the outlet for it on this Spruce panel too. Seems to work great so far, and will be much more convenient.

[teiland]

Randy, sorry. I just realized I didn't address the issue you posed. My mind jumped to jacks on the pod or dash like many configure. I really do not prefer that setup. You, however asked about this location as opposed to the overhead panel.

I chose my method for two reasons. First I put the EFIS capture module and two bus bars in the overhead area along with the switches, so room was limited. Secondly, I felt plugging and unplugging the jacks from time to time might not be best for that panel. I suspect either would be just fine.

[cgmg]

Terry,

Nice looking machine! Hope all goes well with your flight testing.

Are you going to be at Mentone this year? I took a demo flight with you at Fondulac last year, and would like to be able to have myself and my wife fly with you again. We are planning to attend Mentone this year, I've already scheduled vacation time for the fly-in.

Thoroughly enjoyed the demo flight with you, it seems you will be an excellent CFI. I particularly liked the fact that you enjoyed letting me fly the machine while you enjoyed the scenery. Wish the flight could have been longer.

[barnstorm2]

Fantastic machine!

You must be very proud.

I am going through the test phase also. Have not flown mine yet, I want to get started but it will be almost three weeks before I will have a free weekend to work with it.

[GyroRon]

Terry where did you get those foam grips? I need something like that for my dominator I am building. It has a 1 inch diameter cyclic tube so normal bicycle grips won't fit. I like yours and would like to use one If I can get one and it fits a 1 inch tube.

[Vance]

Hi Ron, At the risk of butting in, Harleys use one inch bars and have a variety of grip styles available. Thank You, Vance

[teiland]

Ron the grips have PTT switches and came from Spruce. $35 or so.

Yes Mark, I plan to be at Mentone, and will look forward to seeing you there.

Tim, good luck on your testing. With the high skills you demonstrated while flying with me, you will have no problems, I am sure.

[LARRYEBOYER]

Nice machine!!! I have a RAF and am a little cramped at times with a passenger. When are you going to install the easy chair and TV. It appears to have the room!

[teiland]

Larry, I told Jaap, AAI's engineer, that I was going to put in a small microwave, refrigerator, and gas hotplate. I was seeking his advise on how to install an 8D battery on the cabin top for the inverter, but somehow I didn't get very much help.

The larger cabin is nice, but sure feels strange after all that time in the RAF.

[splashdown]

Terry the interior of the cab looks fantastic. Is that a spray-on coating you have used or some type of material?

Cheers!

Lloyd

[Rotornut]

Looks Great Terry. Cant wait for my ride. MJ :)

[teiland]

The interior is sprayed with Zolatone paint. Jim Mayfield recommended it to me, and it is great. It is easy to work with, and is available through Aircraft Spruce, or most auto paint stores.

Interestingly, it is supposed to be sprayed at a lower pressure for the first coat, and then higher pressure for the second coat. I did not have equipment to do that as I should, and the resulting color is markedly different than Jim's, even though the paint is the same. I lucked out in that I happen to like the color I ended up with just fine.

[r.coplen]

Terry,

I also used Zolatone, but a darker color. I found it covered up all the roughness of the fiberglass. It's really great stuff. I think it comes in about 8 or 10 colors.

[Gyrobound]

Terry, so now that you have your SH done, when will your son be building one?
That Zolatone paint sure looks good on the inside. Does it help with sound proofing as well? You mentioned a lot of the parts like the grips and such you are getting from a parts store so I take it they are not standard, in-the-kit, items?
Scott

[teiland]

Hi Scott,

The grips I used are part of the avionics installation, as they have built-in push-to-talk switches. The Zolatone interior paint came from the auto store. No, radios, intercoms, and paint are not part of the kit.

[Russell]

Scott have you ever seen Terry's sons gyro?? I dont think he is going to get rid of it anytime soon. We went up for a flight this past weekend and let me tell you it flys great!!! I hope mine works out that well. :D
Russ

[GyroRon]

Has yours flown yet Russ?

[Gyrobound]

Russ, I was down in Florida on vacation and got to fly with Terry in his Modified RAF. His son's was parked in the hanger and yes it looked fantastic. I didn't get to take any pictures of his but did get some of Terry's. I had a wonderful orientation flight with Terry and it made up my mind on getting into the gyro sport. Now all I need is the funding for the kit and I'm on my way. :D But I'm working on that. :rolleyes:

Scott

[Russell]

Ron NO I have not I am still working on getting training in the new machine :eek:

[GyroRon]

I guess you can never be too careful... you don't want to pull a Chuck Irby on your first flight! lol



j/k Chuck!

[birdy]

This is realy p.ss'n me off,you blokes perv'n on Terry's bird and I can't see it.When I click on the pic thingy I get noth'n,and i wanna look too coz she sounds like a hot look'n bird.

[thallett]

Birdie, try this:

[thallett]

and this one:

[thallett]

and one more:

[Caribean_gyro]

terry nice instrument panel I have also one GX2 The only draw back is too mucg light at night. Hope amptronisc put an electronic dimmer

CHuckP

[birdy]

Thanx Tom ,very clean machine.

Btw,do you blokes ever have trouble gett'n, in and out of the AAI's and RAF's with those J stick setups???
I'm only a skinny .ss bastered and I did ,so I made up a single,central stick with hinged T bar,bit like an R22.Swings up out of the way for easy access.I'd imagine if you had short legs and grub gut ,it would be difficult,especially in the AAI machines.

[KenSandyEggo]

Hey Birdy, how about a photo of your hinged stick setup?

[birdy]

Riteo Ken ,Ill[the wife]will put it on the RAF thread when she gets back from town.

[Mayfield]

I designed the stick used in the H4 back in 1997. It differs from the Robinson set up in that both sides are hinged.

We have flown it in the SparrowHawk, but it is not yet ready for release.

The hardest load to build for is the "pilots in opposition" load. This occurs when one pilot pushes forward and one pilot pulls back. The twisting load can be horrendous as it can easily approach 200 pounds of rotating load around the stick socket. We have some ideas on how to meet the standard but simply have had to "back burner" them until we work through our shipping back log.

Jim Mayfield