Kevin_Richey

Hi Kevin
I have Gilbert here week before Fly-In and he is lost. I know Denis is on his way here to and I know he always stay with people Don Evance of the lake . If you have Denis phone # I like to give to Gilbert and let them get together
Thank you Teddy

Hi Kevin,
It was great meeting you at ROTR, thanks for all your positive advice on my upcoming gyro lessons. Your Sport Copter is a very cool machine.
I enjoyed watching the GoPro video you made flying over the Bear River. It was like I was in the pilot's seat, wow!
The banquet will all the great food and the awards was the icing on the cake.
Safe flying and I'm sure we will meet again.
Curtis Lund in SLC

Hi Kevin. Thank you for your welcoming comment. I have been a round a little more than obvious via an adopted second ID... but my comments are now very neutral. I ran into schoolyard bullies and I just didnt need the stress. I was being demonized for absolutely no reason... now more than a year later, I am flying a powerful beast in a remote part of the world that would either cause most of these guys to piss their pants or take up sewing. Tevenge is a dish best served cold....

Please consider coming to visit. Three guys have so far and we have had a blast. In fact Minnesota Mike has moved here. As I wrote this he is house sitting for a friend of mine in an amazing house in an island of incredible beauty and its blowing his mind.

Again - thank you for letting me feel welcomed and not a total goat in everyones eyes. The invite is very sincere. Our little club now has 5 gyros! Have a great 2012/ Robert

Hi Kevin, Hope things are going great for you.
I moved back to Kansas City, Missouri with my son we have have a line of BBQ sauce and Rub being bottle and getting ready to launch into some large food chain store's.
We call it (Beorken Sauce's and Rub's) we have a facebook page for it and I am on there too.....if your on facebook.
Have a great weekend my friend

Jon

Yes, I do intend to practice with the old blades. Your thoughts on the matter make absolutely great sense. I spoke with Ron Menzies on the phone. He has a week in September free. He said that we could get 15 to 20 hours of flight training in for the week. I would be lucky to get that much time in a year working with Jim or Dave. If things work out I think that will be the route I'll take. In the mean time if I can get a few hours with Jim or Dave it will help me be in a place to start with Ron on the a higher level. Ron is sending a form of recommendation to take the Sport License test so I'll have that out of the way.
And yes Dennis is a great guy to have along side. It makes a big difference to have someone there watching. He pointed several things out to me that were helpful and some safety related things. The buddy system is critical in this sport especially for guys starting out. Helps keep it safe.

Later,

Jim L

The other issue was that the Bendix what not popping up and engaging right. I think the slop and the slightly bent drive wheel shaft was partially to blame and the other was lubrication. (the grease in the flex cable was dry and sticky) Have you ever changed the bearings on the drive wheel shaft? The bearings have a 6201 2RS the side shield. Normally that is 32mm OD -12mm ID and 10mm wide. But bearing used by Sports Copter is designated 6201 2RS but have a 12.7mm ID or 1/2"! For now I put it all back together the old bearing and straightened the shaft in the lathe. I used 680 lock tight... to lock the inner race to the shaft. ( I love that stuff) It's temporary fix until I get back down to SC. I lubed the Bendix and flex cable and now I'm ready to try another rotor spin up.

I don't remember if I told you that Dennis came up and helped me mount my rotors and spin them up. I bought a new drive wheel for the pre-rotor. I noticed that the shaft was sloppy in the bearing housing (this is the night before). There was a lot of vibration the first time and I took them up to 100 but when trying to continue up it seemed to slip. I backed off and checked things out...I had not been careful to keep the Armor All off the drive drum...paint thinner and a 3M pad solved that. The next try we made it up to 200 rrpm...engine rpm a about 3700 to 3900. When I dropped that prerotor level she wanted to go! Great experience...Dennis gave me some great info and instruction.

(Had to break it up ran up against he word stop)

Are you still interested in my dinged rotor blades? Is how much are they worth to you? Jon tried to say they were worth 2K but that is because for their newest and best they asking 4k with the new hub with the dampener sytem. You mentioned a guy with a new set like mine for 1.5k. Are those still available?
I bougght a new drive wheel for the prerotor. Plan to put that together tomorrow. Dennis is coming over ....depending on the time we may mount the rotor and spin them up to see how they behave. I got her running last week and the motor appears to run great. The true test will come later when we get it out and up.

Later,

Jim L

Kevin I spoke with Jim Vanek today. I was down there on a parts run. He did not hold out any encouragement with Dave Overman as he had not heard from him for a while. He is mentioned that another CFI was moving to the area and that he was going to try to work him into giving lessons with the Sportcopter trainer.
He did say if nothing developes that he would give me some lessons but recommended some fixed wing tail dragger to get some hours and basic skills down. My question is how many of those hours transfer over to the gyro sport rating?

Jim L

Later,

Kevin
How are things going? I fire up the vortex today for the first time. I had to replace all the fuel lines as they had hardening of the arteries! When I put fuel in it yesterday and pumped the hand pump, fuel was leaking out of about three differnent places. I replaced every inch of fuel line from the tank to the carbs.

All in all after she blew the cob webs out she ran great! Now that the weather is getting better have you been flying at all? I spoke with Dave Overman last week he seems not to be to much in a hurry. I tentitively got him to shoot for the last two weeks in July.
Say when are you and Dennis going up to Toledo again? I have some vacation time. I'd like to make the trip.

Later


Jim L