GyroRon
12-05-2003, 08:48 PM
WOW! I got Steve K's DVD in today and watched it. Yeap that is a impressive piece of flying as far as the loop and roll goes.
The rest of the flying was typical gyro flying. He did a lot of the flying in very strong winds which was cool as it allowed him to fly slow or even backwards. The low stuff where they played chase is what we do at Bensen Days in the cow pastures and at ROC in the free fly area. Very fun stuff.
Yes the sportcopter machines are very impressive high class machines. Too bad he doesn't make a two place yet, I am sure it would be first class all the way.
Now about the loop..... I still say it isn't a thing only gyro gods can do. If you know what to listen for, you can hear the blades as he does the loop. He puts the gyro in a shallow decent to pick up maximum speed - which the faster you go the faster the blades turn - then he quickly pulls up maybe 10-20 degrees past the horizon, then yanks the stick full back to complete the loop. The blades are already above normal flight RRPM as he pulls up the first 10-20 degrees. Then as he does the 10-20 you can hear the blades really load up spinning even faster, then as he does the rest of the loop you can hear them quickly slowing back down as he is barely pulling and G's at the top. So to me it looks like the secret is to really load up the blades to make this work.
There is no doubt it takes skill to do what Jim does. I still say it is more balls than anything else. But I believe it isn't nearly as hard as it looks.
Don't try it at home! Thanks Steve for the gift, Ron
The rest of the flying was typical gyro flying. He did a lot of the flying in very strong winds which was cool as it allowed him to fly slow or even backwards. The low stuff where they played chase is what we do at Bensen Days in the cow pastures and at ROC in the free fly area. Very fun stuff.
Yes the sportcopter machines are very impressive high class machines. Too bad he doesn't make a two place yet, I am sure it would be first class all the way.
Now about the loop..... I still say it isn't a thing only gyro gods can do. If you know what to listen for, you can hear the blades as he does the loop. He puts the gyro in a shallow decent to pick up maximum speed - which the faster you go the faster the blades turn - then he quickly pulls up maybe 10-20 degrees past the horizon, then yanks the stick full back to complete the loop. The blades are already above normal flight RRPM as he pulls up the first 10-20 degrees. Then as he does the 10-20 you can hear the blades really load up spinning even faster, then as he does the rest of the loop you can hear them quickly slowing back down as he is barely pulling and G's at the top. So to me it looks like the secret is to really load up the blades to make this work.
There is no doubt it takes skill to do what Jim does. I still say it is more balls than anything else. But I believe it isn't nearly as hard as it looks.
Don't try it at home! Thanks Steve for the gift, Ron