Honeybee

[Cowboy]

So what do you experienced gyro flyers/builders think? Other than the pink color!

Honeybee (http://www.honeybeeg2.com/articles-photos/photos_flight.html)

[SideKick]

I think it looks pretty cool. I wouldn't mind having one of a different color.

[scottessex]

The pink sure shows up well, and i am sure it is a big hit with the "chicks!"

:D

[Mike484]

Someone is selling the plans on eBay, wonder if it's ligit.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HONEYBEE-GYROCOPTER-EXPERIMENTAL-PLANS-CD-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem19bff57855QQitemZ11059 4717781QQptZMotorsQ5fAviationQ5fPartsQ5fGear

[Chuck Roberg]

So what do you experienced gyro flyers/builders think? Other than the pink color!

Honeybee (http://www.honeybeeg2.com/articles-photos/photos_flight.html)

The pink one is only the prototype. From what I heard it will not be offered in that color.

I'm told it's designed and being built by Jim Fields who along with Ralph Taggart designed and built the first GyroBee.

[CRASH1171]

That looks like a picture of a Gyrobee, not a Honeybee, if you go to the ebay link.

[animal]

looks like someone is copying plans again.

[NoWingsAttached]

What is the keel made of? Is the arched bar from the nose to the mast necessary structurally or is it just for show? or perhaps a future enclosure?

[Dmorris]

So what do you experienced gyro flyers/builders think? Other than the pink color!

Honeybee (http://www.honeybeeg2.com/articles-photos/photos_flight.html)

I just flat out like it and even the pink is OK.

[Doug Riley]

Jim Fields was the original promoter of the original Honeybee. The Honeybee, in turn, was a close derivative of the Gyrobee, with input from Gyrobee designer Ralph Taggart. Martin Hollmann's Bumblebee started the whole 'Bee thing.

This one is quite different. Other than the vertical mast and the rudder pattern, it shares little with the earlier, bare-bones 'Bee designs.

The large, up-in-the-blast H-stab is a fine idea. I have always thought that the vertical tail on the Honeybee was too small. I still think that. You can get away with a dinky rudder while the engine's lit, but a deadstick in a crosswind might be a different horse.

Bensen's verticals were 6 square feet, but few people bother to copy him in that regard. We commonly see 4 or 4.5 sq. ft. on today's Bensen clones.

To be fair, the rudder on the Watson tail is in that size range. It isn't all that powerful either, and is barely adequate in a deadstick.

[Cowboy]

... Is the arched bar from the nose to the mast necessary structurally ... perhaps a future enclosure?

Yes on the future enclosure.

[Sheldon]

I personally glad to see Jim back in action after his hiatus from the gyro field, and have been trying to get him to check in here.

[Alan_Cheatham]

Here are a few issues I would like to see answered.
Also, when a designer claims a gyro is stable that needs to qualified. What will that gyro do if the rotor is unloaded to zero G at full throttle.

.

[Vance]

When I spoke with Jim at AirVenture he felt that centerline thrust was a red hearing. I wasn’t sure what that meant so I pressed further.

I explained that I was not a viable customer and he was patient with me and my questions.

He felt that the PRA and the Forum used the idea of centerline thrust to confuse people about gyroplane stability.

Jim said he would not come to Mentone because he felt that the PRA would give him a hard time and he doesn’t post on the forum for the same reason. He seems to feel quite strongly about this.

He had several examples of things he had heard without quoting the people. I can understand his point of view if people said those things. I have never heard any of them said.

The Pink gyroplane was not finished at AirVenture and it was there for display only.

Jim seems like a nice fellow and the workmanship on the gyroplane was better than many gyroplanes I have seen.

Any mention of the PRA or the Rotary Wing forum seemed to agitate him.

Thank you, Vance

[scottessex]

In Jim's defense, He was one of the original designers of the gyrobee, and even though the gyrobee appears to be high thrustline, it has been proven to be CLT with a double hang test.
Too bad Jim does not want to come here to visit.
The only thing that bothers me is that RAF swore that CLT was a bunch of hooie also.
I have flown both high thrustline and CLT gyros, there is no comparison, CLT is much more stable and much less workload. My $0.02.

[PW_Plack]

I have to observe that the Magni M24 Orion just passed the UK's BCAR Section T, including flight testing for stability by professional test pilots employed by the CAA, despite a thrustline which looks like a much worse starting point than the HoneyBee G2. This in a jurisdiction which has extra hoops to jump through if the thrustline is off by more than 2".

If I was designing a gyro, I don't think I'd start with a big imbalance in static moments which might require compromises elsewhere, but it clearly isn't a deal-killer.

I have been told by more than one gyroplane or kit manufacturer or distributor that a high thrustline opposed by a downloaded horizontal stabilizer is the only practical way to hold trimmed airspeed within the limits of the US Industry Consensus Standards with power change, and that any machine that passes the standard is going to look something like a Magni. Others have called that an assumption inappropriately borrowed from the fixed-wing world.

I can only conclude that if someone tells me "the debate has been over for years," he may be wishful thinking.