salem oregon sparrowhawk update

[ptope]

well, we almost have the airframe completed for our sparrowhawk. we are awaiting the next shipment for the cabin and tail and all related components. the kit has went together pretty good. i am very thankfull that the wishbone of the landing gear was assembeled at the factory. we have only had a couple of snags and Dan Banks at AAI has been a huge help. he has answered our questions and on 2 seperate occasions we have needed a new piece ( not our fault fortunatly) and he second day air them the day we called. so we wernt held up at all on construction. we have been working on this section for a little over a month and its almost done. check out www.angelairaviation.com under the sparrowhawk construction section for photos up to this point if your interested.... back to work see ya all later, patrick.

[dapartlow]

Looking good Let me know the next time you guys are coming up to Randys.

[Mayfield]

Patrick,

I checked out your web page. Very nice. Easy to read and nicely laid out.

Jim

[ptope]

thanks, the site is kinda work in progress and i havnt been able to give it much attention since im spending every spare moment building, which is much more fun i might add.. dave, not sure when we are going to get back up north,... we kinda have our plate full right now....but we do have a spare tire for the trailer to the gyro we sold you. we will bring it up next time we come up...

[ptope]

heres a couple of pics of our latest progress. shouldnt be long now.... :D

[ptope]

we have a new addition to the family... even got him some flight goggles... :o

[ptope]

here are some photos of the the latest work. we are building this with total night flight capability.. although not sure how much we would actually fly then, but if needed / wanted it will be ready.. on the over head console we have added 4 super brite led's, 2 red and 2 white. they can be switched on and off seperatly from a mini toggle. those will function as map lights.. if they dont put out enough light then i will simply add more till we get the desired effect. both the dash and the overhead console will also have 2 each lights with hood so they only show light on the dash and overhead console. we also opted for an intercom that had a mp3 / cd player input, so i have also wired that in. the intercom has the standard push to talk for radio of course, but it also has a push to talk (seperate button) for the intercom. so if its really noisy, IE doors off, you just turn the squelch all the way on, then use the button. or if its not so noisy then turn the squelch back up and it will function in VOX. we have also added electric trim, the photo is of the relays that are being used. we didnt use the standard trim swithces that come with it, we wanted it wired into the hat switch on the hand grips. i have also wired in a on-off switch to be able to turn off the PTT and the Trim on either stick, so we can turn it off when having passengers of we can disable the pilot side when we are doing training and need to disable them for whatever reason..lots of work, but its coming together.. back to the soldering iron.. see ya..patrick

www.angelairaviation.com

[Harry_S.]

Patrick...your post #6 reminded me of our potential third passenger. I would love to take my little bugger up for a ride, but...I'm really concerned about the noise on his ears?!

Anyone have any suggestions as to how to handle this?! Ear muffs for dogs?!

Don't want to hijack your thread!


Cheers

[PW_Plack]

Patrick,

Do those relays have spring clips to hold them into the sockets?

[ptope]

they dont have clips, but i built a box that will go over the top then i will put some foam in it so when the lid is in place it will hold the relays.. that was one of our concerns also.. but hopefully this will resolve that.. i also wanted the box/lid to protect the wiring...

[StanFoster]

Patrick: Nice work. Can you elaborate a little more on your electric trim...type of motors...switches...etc. I am keeping my options open....but sometme in December I will have my cabin back on and start all the hard wiring...and trim box work.

Stan

[ptope]

the electric trim we went with is from I-Fly-Manufacturing.they make several upgrade items for the sparrowhawk. Dan Banks gave us the idea and info. i can get it to you if you want. The set up they use comes with 2 -2way toggle switches and a box.if i understand it correctly the when the right switch is in the up position then the left 2 way switch provides pitch trim, and when the right switch is placed in the down position the left switch then provides roll trim.. i took me a while to understand why they did this but after looking at a scematic drawing, its actually a very simple basic system. we wanted to be able to use the hat switches on our grips so we had them create the relay block in the picture i took. there setup with the 2 switches is much simpler. the relay block is going to take a little extra wiring, and creates more points to fail, but its a novelty we wanted.. but realisticly there setup is perfectly fine.. we also purchased there idler pully for the prerotator belt...ill get a picture of that and post it if anyone is interested.

[Heather Poe]

Patrick,
Can you give us the URL for I-Fly-Manufacturing?
thanks,
Heather

Update:
I found it searching a different set of keywords:
http://www.imflyn.com/sparrowhawk_options.htm
thanks,
Heather

[r.coplen]

Pat and Nich,

Very handsome SparrowHawk. Great machine for the Arlington flyin. Maybe you can have the 40 hours flown off by than.

[Colin Gibson]

I like the colour you have chosen. It looks very much like the colour I have painted my SH. which is called Acid Green. It was a colour that came out on some new Ford cars here. Did you Anodise or powder coat the airframe ? I anodised mine on the alloy bits and powder coated the steel components all in a shiny black. Only addition to the wiring will be a Cover switch for the Main Fuel pump relay. [ pre takeoff I can then test that the aux. pump will run the engine on its own if needed ]
Can you post a picture when you have the panel set up for night flying.
New Zealand SH under construction.
Colin Gibson

[ptope]

here are some of the latest pics... we are waiting to have the windows profesionaly installed. we are not using the AAI 3 m tape and bolts. we talked to a auto glass shop and he is going to put it in with some stuff that he has that holds 1300 lbs per sq inch.. should be enough :) he is also going to put in a rubber gasket just like a car, will look very professional when done.. electrical is done. we left the bare spot in the console for a radio in the future. for now we are going to hook up a hand held.. it has dash lights ( mainly to light up the rotor rpm) it has over head console lights, we added 2 red led units and 2 white led units.. so now mater when or where we need light we have it..we added the 2 pullys on the prerotator belt. that should keep it from flopping around to much. we have officially done all we can in my garage, so we are going to move it to the hanger this week and finish up the rotor head, do the balance and try and find someone to inspect this thing that wont break the bank. im gonna kinda miss the building portion.. hopefully we can sell this one and i can build another :) check out the web site for more pics.. ill have more time to work on it now that the copter is almost done..
www.angelairaviation.com

[PW_Plack]

Pat,

Is that the kill switch on the overhead console? I've heard from builders who regretted that placement after they started flying, wishing they'd put it somewhere more easily seen and reached for times when workload gets nuts.

Looks like a nice job!

[StanFoster]

Pat: Looks nice....

BTW...where did you get your idler pulleys for the pre-rotator belt? I was planning on doing that as well.


Stan

[Heather Poe]

Pat: Looks nice....

BTW...where did you get your idler pulleys for the pre-rotator belt? I was planning on doing that as well.


Stan

Stan,
Look at posts #12 and #13 on this thread.
Heather

[ptope]

we got the idler pullys from i fly manufacturing, there is a link on this thread somewhere. the toggle cover is for the master switch. we actually have 2 masters one main master and one accessory / avionics master. we can kill the shut off the main master (killing the engine) but we will still have avionics, skydate, radio, ect. the reason we put the switch cover is two fold. one its real easy to shut it off in an emergency, the other reason, is when its off, its very obvious that its off, and when its off the engine can not be turned over. i had a incident where i was standing right next to the prop of a machine when someone( a kid )turned the machine over.fortunatly no one was hurt and the machine did not start.. that machine did not have a obvious master shut off. but if we end up not liking it, its only a switch cover. will take 30 seconds to remove...

[ptope]

Stan, if you ever need any assistance, or a photo of something just email me and ill get it to ya.. i know i have taking many, many photos of Randy Coplens 2 machines, and that has helped a lot.. i have a lot of pictures of the second machine which i figured was better cause they fixed all the things they didnt like when they did the first machine.. i also noted the things that they did do the same...

Ptope@comcast.net
www.angelairaviation.com

[StanFoster]

Heather: Thanks...I skimmed over that the other day and completely missed the idler part.

Pat: I will contac them soon and get me some idlers.:)


Quick question. I was putting the lower part of my rotor head together tonight. The bushings were already installed in the vertical aluminum plates. But were they ever tight to get on the block with the pins coming out. How tight is too tight? I could barely twist the blocks after I got them on. I ended up barely able to get them apart...then took some fine emory cloth a little bit at a time. Anyway...they are on...but at least they turn with a little tightness yet. I am sure the first flight will make difference.

Stan

[ptope]

we moved the copter to the hanger yesterday.. inspection time is just around the corner.....:) here is a picture of the copter getting ready for its very first road trip... to get the copter out of the garage i had to remove the upper mast, remove the upper tail support flatten the tires and drag it out. the mast cleared the garage door by about an 1/8".... once out side i put the upper mast back on , installed the rotor head, and reinstalled the upper tail support and filled the tires back up. once at the hanger, the rotor head cleared the top of the hanger door by about 1/4".... i guess we wont be able to put a lift kit on this thing, hehehe.... :rolleyes:

[StanFoster]

Pat: Sweet machine. When I move my SparrowHawk out of my shop....I think all I will have to do is remove two bolts on the upper mast and let it pivot back....or take it clear off if the rotorhead is still too high. I have 8 foot doors.

It wont be as handy as my RAF to transport.....but I dont want to haul it anyway. I hauled my RAF to an indoor show last winter....and it just wasnt worth the effort.

Stan

[Harry_S.]

Pat:

That is one fine foto...showing a lot of overall detail.:)

I'm an RAF man, as you can see...and I'm appreciative of good machinery and fine workmanship. Congratulations.:D


Cheers :)

[Rotor-Head]

Looks like a great bird... I'll have to come up and see it in person soon. When will it fly?

[CLS447]

Have you run it yet?

I'm curious as to prop diameter, pitch & RPM's.

It looks great! How about a closeup of the trims?

[ptope]

we havnt started it yet.. but that should happen in the next week or so.. the prop diameter is 72 inches.. we pitched the blades at 12 degree per the factory recomendations.. but they also told us that most of the 2.5 engines end up at about 10.5 degrees at 5200 rpm static.. 12 degrees is just the starting point.. also they told us that 1/2 degree = 200 rpm..

Shawn we would love to have you come up and we would love to come down there sometime too.. oregon is great due to the scenery, we have it all, we have high desert, we have lush valley, we have high mountains, we have the columbia gorge, and we have coast line thats rocky and we have coast line that is just beach..

[ptope]

here are some more pictures of the great move..

[ptope]

we started the machine yesterday and it purred like a kitten.. we ran it for about 5 minutes..shut it down to check for leaks and we had no leaks... yipppie!!!! all temps were fine, then we couldnt resist to taxi it around the airport once.. very big day... all that left is to do the hang test and put on the blades. then get it inspected...

[Gary_in_Orygun]

Cool...I can't wait to see it. If there is a nice day when you have it out-and-about, let me know. Maybe I can fly down to see it.

[ptope]

that would be great.... plus this is the only gyro at the indipendence airpark so its kinda novelty, so to have one fly in would be great, the airpark would love it..

[John Conte]

Looks like careful craftsmanship Pat, how many hours invested so far ?

[ptope]

not sure on the hours.. there has been 2 of us working on it.. we recieved the kit last may... and ive been working on it in all my spare time plus a couple of weeks of vacation.. it took about twice as long as we has planned / hoped.. but it near completion now.. i know thats part of the price increase of the sparrowhawk II.. the new kit will be coming with a lot more things fabricated.. we had a ton of fabrication to do and that all takes time. plus we did several upgrades to the electrical system so that added time also..

[ptope]

copter is DONE!!!!!!! we installed the rotor blades today and everything works like a charm. we have almost an hour on the engine and no leaks, all temps are fine.. runs great.. now time to wait for inspection and get our paper work lined up... ill get some pics taken when the weather gets a little nicer around here.. weve had more rain here in the northwest this winter then weve had total in the last 5, or it at least seems that way... ;)

[Gary_in_Orygun]

I can't wait to see the pictures. I would also like to use some in the PRA73 newsletter. Keep us posted.

[ptope]

ill email you some when we get them.. im going to wait til there is some nicer weather and borrow my dads 8.0 megapixel camera and take some good ones..

[ptope]

here are some pictures of the finished copter.. we still have a couple of things to safety wire.. other than that we are waiting for inspection...

[StanFoster]

Patrick: Looks like you have a nice machine. I am sure it is with the care thats went into it. Best of flying to you and the new machine.

Stan

[Gyrobound]

Awesome looking bird. Just wondering, does the word EXPERIMENTAL have to be somewhere on the outside? Didn't notice it in the pictures you have here.

Scott

[ptope]

it has to be "in view of ocupants while entering the aircraft. We have ours located each side of the overhead console..if you look on page 2 of this post there is a picture that shows where we put it..

[ptope]

Dropped off the paperwork, construction logs, applications and photos at the FAA office in Hillsboro today per the FAA inspectors request.. if everything checks out then he is going to try to schedule an inspection with in 2 weeks..

[Rotor-Head]

Nice looking machine..... I'll have to come up and see you guys soon....

[ptope]

Inspection is Feb 16th.. We did some taxi tests today, with full rotor run up.. at about 20 mph... it wanted to take off, nose wheel got very light.. it ran like a champ..temps all good, no leaks....

[StanFoster]

Sounds good....cant wait to see it in the air.


Stan

[ptope]

Passed inspection today.. it will go up for its maiden voyage this monday....YIPPEE>>>

[StanFoster]

congratulations....:)


Stan

[Gary_in_Orygun]

I don't want to take the thunder from Pat, but since I'm sitting at the computer I'll post this picture I took of Dave O. flying Pat and Nick's machine at Independence this afternoon.

Hopefully, Pat will get on here and tell all the exciting news.

Well, Pat was too tired yesterday to post anything, but told me to go ahead and post some of my air-to-air shots. I followed Dave O. around the sky during his first flight out of the pattern and took some pictures and compared altimeter and airspeed readings in flight.

[ptope]

Thanks Gary for all those photos.. it was very cool to be able to get some in air shots of the first flight.. Dave Overman, CFI from Seattle came down to fly off our first few hours. He did an excelent job, and is an excelent instructor and an asset to the Gyro / Aviation community. He did some high speed taxi tests first to get the feel of the machine then he came back and we did a preflight, zip tied a couple of things, then he did a crow hop, the machine really wanted to go with that 2.5 suburu. He had to back way off the power to get it to come back down. I think the machine was tired if sittinng around.:) he brought it back and we did another preflight, then he did a pattern, played with the electric trim, brought it back in for another preflght to make sure everything was still in order, then he took it out for a couple of hours (not all at once) doing manouvers over some local fields. We were graced With Garys fly in, in his RAF 2000. Gary flollowed Dave around for the first hour checking things from the air and taking some really cool pictures.. Time now to fly of the remaining 40 hours and send in for our exemption to do training.. I also got some video that i took, that i will be adding to the website in the near future...

[StanFoster]

Patrick: Its nice to see another hawk leave the nest. Congratulations on such a fine build. Hats off to you.:) Mine is looking out the nest and ruffling its feathers.....:eek:

Stan