Anyone Know this Ultrawhite?

[Scagmo]

Ron Eubanks, who used to be active on the forum as Ron E (the HoverHawk guy) has placed his Ernie built Ultrawhite up for sale again. He posted it in this thread from 2007 at
http://www.rotaryforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12224

It has a supposed low time Rotax 503 DCDI UL engine with B box, 2.58 reduction drive with 22 foot Dragonwing rotors and is registered as an ELSA.

Couple of question for the group if you can offer advise.

1. Does anyone know this gyro?

2. What could I expect from performance with that motor and rotor combination? I weigh about 205 and would be flying from around 400'MSL.

3. It has some apparently minor damage to the rudder and the rotors. See pics below. Ron said he took the gyro to Ernie for a look see when he bought it and Ernie said it was only cosmetic damage. What do you guys think?

Ron States "On the bottom of both rotor blades a cosmetic "ding" was incurred when a previous owner was adjusting the undersling setup, or he had no idea what he was doing at all. The underside of the rotor blades eventually contacted the rear top corner of the vertical tail, based on my measurements from the rotor head to the location of the blade dings. When this occurred it also caused some wrinkling of the metal skin on the upper 25% or so of the vertical tail. When I purchased this gyro several years ago I transported it to the manufacturer, Rotory Flight Dynamics, Inc., located in central Florida, for inspection. The blades and rudder were inspected. These dings were determined to be merely cosmetic issues. While there I had the rotor head overhauled, blades polished and replaced the blade strap bolts too. All is well at this time."


4. Since it is registered as an ELSA, could I legally change the engine to a 582 to improve performance? Same question if I need larger rotors?

Is this gyro worth a serious look?
Harold


http://www.hoverhawk.com/Dom1.JPG
Rudder Damage
http://www.hoverhawk.com/dom4.JPG
Rotor Damage
http://www.hoverhawk.com/dom17.JPG

[StanFoster]

Scagmo- That is the Ultrawhite gyro that I sold to Ron E. You might not remember the thread, but I had never flown this gyro. It was a friend of mine who had no business flying. He would tense up, and actually get lost up here in Illinois.

Anyway, I sold this gyro to Ron. He takes it home and some time later calls me and says the rotorhead bearing seems to be a little loose. I said I was TOTALLY unaware of this and that it shouldnt be loose at all! I told him to have it fixed and send me the bill. Many may recall that all heck broke loose, he was complaining about everything here on the forum about it. It made me feel like I was dirt. He took it to Ernie, and they replaced the bearing in the rotorhead, and went over some other minor issues. I was sent a bill for $1200.00 and yes....I paid it. That part of the story was never told....and seeing this thread I felt it was time to state that I did honor my promise to Ron, did it without a gripe even though it should have been just a few hundred...but he was wanting his travel expenses included. Fine,,,I happily paid the $1200 just to keep my word. I wanted Ron happy with that. I was disappointed that he never came on here and told the "rest of the story" I learned a lesson to never ever sell another aircraft unless I had flown it myself.

The owner did have some cosmetic damage to the tail and the underside of the rotorblades which Ernie said were ok.

I would be very comfortable flying this machine. Personally, I would put a new tail on it as the wrinkles catch your eye but do not harm its integrity.



Stan

[Chuck Roberg]

First off. Stan I know your an upstanding person. My hat is off to you.

4. Since it is registered as an ELSA, could I legally change the engine to a 582 to improve performance? Same question if I need larger rotors?

Yes you can change them. The new test flight time will be contained in the Operating Limitations. I believe for an ELSA it's 5 hours.

[Alan_Cheatham]

A little off subject but if you do have contact with Ron E try to find out what happened to his ultralight tractor project he was developing several years ago.

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[Scagmo]

A little off subject but if you do have contact with Ron E try to find out what happened to his ultralight tractor project he was developing several years ago.

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well I missed out on the Ultrawhite as Ron has sold it to someone. I'll keep looking.

Thanks
Harold

I asked Ron about the tractor project and this is what he wrote back with

Ron states:

Well, this is how it is on that subject...............

Last year the flying "Rotor Scooter" prototype, materials, parts and all drawings, etc.
were sold to an individual overseas who said he wanted to be a gyroplane manufacturer,
and wanted to buy the Rotor Scooter project in particular, if he could convince me to sell
it to him. He made an offer I could not refuse, in a nice way. He owns it all now and he
will re-name it.

He had his 2 guys in a truck come haul it away to crate it up for shipping fully assembled
on a container ship at the Port of Mobile.

It was strictly a smart business decision on my part to sell. No one in their right mind should
seriously consider starting such a business in the USA once he realized all the pitfalls that
await. It took me awhile to wakeup and accept these facts, so I was quite pleased to
get such an unexpected, unsolicited offer.

Some of the pitfalls being.... the lack of available training, the FAA's unfavorable
attitude toward the gyroplane, civil liability of the manufacturer, the small market for
gyros, too many idiots with money who want to fly something, lack of insurance for the
customer/owner, no long-term suitable rotor blade source....just to name a few of the
bottomless pits to stumble into that can shut down a thriving business practically
overnight.

He and his entourage may show up at Oshkosh. But, I'm finished with it and have no
further role in it. I am not allowed, contractually, to disclose more than what is written here
at this time.

I'm going back to building hovercraft again, for fun and profit. They can't fall from the sky !


Thank You
Ron
Hoverhawk Corporation

[Alan_Cheatham]

Thanks for the info on the tractor, I always wondered what happened to the project.

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