new member: Rick from Canada

RickyP

Newbie
Joined
Feb 28, 2009
Messages
11
Location
Winnipeg
Aircraft
Aeronca 7AC Champ
Total Flight Time
Just under 400 and growing at a snail's pace.
Hi all. I just found this forum a couple of days ago, and after reading a lot of the threads I decided to join. I have always been interested in gyro's, and started to build a KB2 a bunch of years ago, then stopped when my father asked if I would partner in an Aeronca Champ. We rebuilt the Champ over a number of years, and the project kept me distracted from the KB2. Now I see that CLT seems to be the way to go and now I am considering dropping the KB2. Any advice?
By the way, I was at Oshkosh in 2008 and didn't see a single gyro in the ultralight/rotorcraft area. What's the deal?
 
Don't drop the KB....just drop the keel !

What engine do you want to use on it ?

Oh about Oshkosh........I believe there were gyros there, you just didn't look in the right place.

You should have went down the road a piece to MENTONE, INDIANA to the gyro convention !!!!
 
Welcome Ricky. There is a major gyro airshow in Mentone, Indiana right around the same time as Oshkosh. If you want to see gyros, travel the little bit extra and it will be well worth your while.

*JC*
 
Do you know of anybody that has drawings for dropping the keel on a KB?
 
Welcome Rick, I sure hope you finish your KB and make it to Mentone.
 
Welcome, Rick. You can find a drop keel kit for the Bensen/Brock at Vortech:
http://www.vortechonline.com/gyrokits/

Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and you'll see it listed under "Gyroplane parts and Options".

The stock KB-2 with a mac engine is pretty close to CLT.
 
Im just curious.... with all the guff I get about how my Hirth will quit and kill me eventually.... why would anyone be reccomended to build with a Mac which has at least if not worse a record!??

No anger here just a real question?
 
Careful, the Mac folks are a religious cult. It isn't wise to point out the reliability ratio to them, or they'll just start chanting "horsepower to weight...horsepower to weight" and then make little straw Hirth dolls and sticking pins in them.

I must add, in fairness, that the Mac has 2 great advantages. OK, it does have an good horsepower to weight ration...that's one. But "Mac Attacks" have forced the gyro community to focus on engine out landings and fly with engine out in mind. This is largely because engine outs are discussed as just that..."engine outs"...not "Mac engine outs" Despite the fact the lion share of regular engine outs probably belong to Mac engines, the concept that engines fail has been assimilated into the culture as a generic problem.

*JC*
 
Welcome to the forum Ricky

I am about 100 miles west of Winnipeg.

My first gyro ride was with a Father Svoboda (sp?) from Winnipeg around 1978. He had built a Bensen and was saving up for the Mac engine. I was painting Cessna's at the Portage flying Club and once in a while he would get us to drive the tow car up and down the runway towing the gyro. I had several rides with him.

He was about 70 years old at the time. Whatever church he worked for gave him meager wages and he saved every nickel to build the Bensen. He was passionate about gyro's and has a resemblance to Commander Wallis in Britian.

I went on to helicopters myself but have often wondered where Father Svoboda's gyro ended up. Could still be in some church storage in Winnipeg.

Arnie
Bell 47
 
Im just curious.... with all the guff I get about how my Hirth will quit and kill me eventually.... why would anyone be reccomended to build with a Mac which has at least if not worse a record!??

No anger here just a real question?

I wasn't encouraging him to build with a Mac. I'd recommend he do a short prop Rotax conversion like mine if he wants to keep his frame as is. I was making the statement because it seemed he thought the KB-2 was a high thrustline machine.

Even if he decides to go with a Mac, Macs have proven to be a lot more reliable than Hirths. :yo:
 
I warned you!

*JC*
 
Hey Tim, thanks for that link. I was wondering where gyro parts came from nowadays since the old Ken Brock business disappeared.

Rick P.
 
Hey Arnie,
I'm really glad that someone near Winnnipeg is part of this group. I heard about the Father from a number of people in the past. I think his old Bensen is in the Western canada Aviation Museaum here at CYWG. There's an old red machine with wooden blades and no engine sitting near the east wall.

Rick P.
 
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