Super Sky Cycle ....Dressed Up!

[Greg Mitchell]

From Larry, Check this out.


Wanted to thank you all for the last year and look forward to the next.

Happy New Year Gents.

Mitch.

[Friendly]

Neat looking, I cant wait to hear Chucks description of it.

[Harry_S.]

That's some boat, Mitch. ;)

I may have missed it, but, has it flown yet?!


Cheers :)

[Minnesota_Mike]

Impressive looking...shaft/chain drive to the main wheel and all...like the big fin look...wonder how well it flies.
Kinda reminds me of the concept cars at auto shows.

[Greg Mitchell]

Harry your a crack up! LOL. It sure does look like it could hydroplane on water.

Yes the folded blade system flys very well and I believe there is video on the web site.
The SSC has flown in different guises during prototyping mostly on a 582 configuration.

Larry is currently using 912S and 914 engines with separate 33 hp engine for mains and highway use. I believe Larry is now moving in a different direction and the SSC will soon be sporting a very different engine/s package.

Cheers,

Mitch

[Greg Mitchell]

Harry and all,

Here are some of the early prototyping pics.

The production versions have All Terain G Force Landing Gear, Metro Launch System (shaft drive) Pre-rotator, etc.

Cheers,

Mitch

[Harry_S.]

Hi Mitch,

I've seen the video of the prototype, the ground run and the flying segments. Very impressive.

What I meant in my previous post was...has the "dressed up" version been flown?! If it has flown, then I missed it.

By the way, were those "fins" meant to solve a problem...improve performance...or just a bit o window dressin'?!


Cheers :)

[Mike484]

Cool looking but I like the undressed version better, too much to get torn up and take care of on the dressed version unless it's not used as a cycle but for flying only and never leaves the airport.

[Arnie Madsen]

:)I like the 1959 Cadillac tail lights.:)

[GyroDoug]

Hi Mitch,
What I meant in my previous post was...has the "dressed up" version been flown?! If it has flown, then I missed it.

By the way, were those "fins" meant to solve a problem...improve performance...or just a bit o window dressin'?!
Cheers :)

Harry,

I can answer your questions. The Aircraft you are looking at belongs to Roger Lessard. He is just finishing putting it together now and it is not totally completed yet, but almost. So it has not been test flown yet. I would expect that to happen in the next few weeks and once it has been done I am sure Larry will put some video of it flying on his website (thebutterflyllc.com).

This version of the Super Sky Cycle has several updated features from the original prototype that Larry built. If you look closely at the front end you will see that he has used a larger and heavier front strut tube and has added a pnuematic system to control the height of the front end. This makes it very easy to customize the height of the machine to best accomdate what you are trying to do at the time (squat to get in a garage, drive down the road, or take off to fly) All of these setting are accomplished by the push of a button.

This model also has an optional 48 HP rotary engine driving the ground wheels for going down the road. This is an incredible little engine that weighs 33 lbs and is capable of 48 HP at max RPM, however it has been set up in a way that will limit it's output to considerably less than the max and still get you up to highway speeds as quickly as you want to get there.

The wheel fairing with the large extra fins are optional. It does not need them to be able to fly completely stable. However, they were designed for this aircraft because it will eventually have a full body enclosure on it and with the full body enclosure it needs the extra fin area to make it more stable at higher speeds. The fins also act as a guard to keep people away from the propeller when it is turning (just an extra safety advantage), since when the aircraft is in the motorcycle (drive) mode the main engine will not be on the the propeller will not be turning at all.

You'll all be seeing more about this aircraft soon.

Gyro Doug
Butterfly Dealer

[CLS447]

More questions...

Stick lock/ blade support ??

Prerotator? (Big offsets)

Where does the other engine go ?

Handlebar Lock ?(when flying)

What diameter blades? I like the way they fold to the same OA length of vehicle.

Does it cost a million dollars yet ? Getting overly complicated.

I sat on the 582 version at SnF one year & wondered if it would have enough power to fly. I guess not.

I can't wait for the SSC !

[Greg Mitchell]

G'Day Chris,

Yeah it did Mate. Undressed the SSC flew well on the 582, though it was never the intention to production run the craft with this engine. The 912s/914 engines are not the only engines either. Doug's going deisel and Larry is prototyping other engines/engine combinations. I believe Larry operates out of Bridport Texas and at 1300 feet above sea level.
There is video and here is another pic.

Chris I'm glad Doug is there to add the detail.

Like Mike, I like the undressed version. But Arnie is right about the Caddy Lights. Larry loves them and has been looking to do something like this for a longtime. I seem to recall you are doing a tail light in your tail too Doug?

Roger that Harry. I'm looking forward to seeing this ship in the air.

Happy New Year To All

Mitch.

[Harry_S.]

Doug and Mitch:

Thanks for the added info, interesting and I'm interested. Keep us updated, OK?! :typing: :wave:


Cheers :)

[C. Beaty]

Neat looking, I cant wait to hear Chucks description of it.Having just bought a pair of hot pink flip-flops (the last ones Wal-Mart had for $2), who would I be to criticize others’ ideas of elegance?

[Harry_S.]

Having just bought a pair of hot pink flip-flops



Good choice !!!


Cheers :)

[GyroDoug]

Chris,

It has a stick lock and a blade support for when driving down the road. I haven't actually built my pre-rotator yet so I have only seen the same pictures you have and don't know a lot about it, and can't really address the offsets. However, there are several versions of this Metro Launch System out there flying (even the new shaft drive version) and everyone seems to love it so far. It is capable of pre-rotating to 325 RPM without worrying about damaging the pre-rotator. (that works for me). The drive engine mounts directly under the main engine, it is pretty small (not much bigger than a bowling ball) so it kind of gets lost in all the other stuff and is hard to see without a close up of it. If you go to my build thread I believe I have a picture of the Aixro 50 mounted on my SSC without all the other stuff around it. I'm not sure about locking the handlebars but I don't think it has any system to do that nor does it need one. With the airflow over the wheel pant and the long pointy back side I would think the airflow will hold it in line. I believe Rotor Size will depend on the weight of the pilot and the altitude at which it's flown. While it isn't quite up to a Million dollars yet, this is a pretty expensive Gyro. A lot depends on what engine you are going to use. If you use a Rotax 914 that adds over $30,000 to the overall cost. I think the SSC will typically cost people somewhere in the vicinity of $50,000 depending on what all you want to put on it. One thing about Larry is he is very accommodating to people's desires to have it their way. For the way mine is going to be configured and all the goodies I am putting on it, Larry has told me I need to plan on having at least 100 HP for good performance and more would be even better.

Greg,

Absolutely right. Mine will have the wheel pants with the Cadillac tail lights and look a lot like Rogers, except mine will be a beautiful ruby red color with a lot of gold metal flake and with gold trim and I will have the 2 auxilary fuel tanks that Roger chose not to have. It cuts the cruise speed by 1 mph but adds another 10 gallons of fuel supply so if I ever decide to fly it back to Mentone I will have a little longer range.

Gyro Doug

[lanichol]

:)I like the 1959 Cadillac tail lights.:)

Exactly what I thought at first glance.