Hi ya'll

Guess I'll be the first to type on this section from the great state of Louisiana.

I second that

Hi Guys,

When is our next get-together?

Were looking at Marksville on the weekend after Labor Day, should be 8th of September. We'll have to get back with Manuel on the details & to set the date.

Hey Miles,
Will you have a gyro for the flyin? Mark should have his new bird ready by then.

Scott

Hiya Scott,
Mark and I have been running neck and neck on our "KB4's". Mine won't be painted, but it'll be ready to be inspected whenever Mike M gets everything lined up. I still haven't heard anything back on my N number and I sent the form off a week before the 4th of July. I think Mike said it only took him about a week or two to get his.

All I've got left is the brake pedals and battery. Hopefully I'll get to that tommorrow, so the end is in sight for my drop keel conversion.

Hey Miles

Sounds great. A lot closer than last year eh? Do you think you will be able to attend Magnolia in Sept? I would love to see your work of art.

Hi Thom,

That's why I was asking. I thought the plan was Marksville in July or August and Magnolia in Sept or October. I bet we don't do Magnolia till Oct. or Nov. now.

And it's Mark that has the work of art. I just did the plain jane Sparrowhawk conversion by Neal Carnes. Mark has really done a beautiful job on his machine.

Miles,
We have to get our dates figured out, now that we have 2 chapters up & running.
Haven't heard from Manuel in a while, he was working on some instruction for Marksville. Sorry to say the dates of Magnolia I'm working nights that weekend & can't make it.

Ok Rudy, I misunderstood. I thought Chapter 20 was going to have its north fly-in at Magnolia this year. That's 2 long distance events in one month for me. I don't know Thom, that's going to be pushing it.

Hey Miles,
If yours looks any thing like Marks. It will be a very nic gryo. Every time I look at his it makes me want to do a drop keel and tall tail. I don't know what it will do in the air but just siting on the ground it looks like it will fly grate.

I'm glad you will have a gyro. Now we can help you unload and put your blades on. :^)

Scott

Kingchocolate said:

Hey Miles,
If yours looks any thing like Marks. It will be a very nic gryo. Every time I look at his it makes me want to do a drop keel and tall tail. I don't know what it will do in the air but just siting on the ground it looks like it will fly grate.

I'm glad you will have a gyro. Now we can help you unload and put your blades on. :^)

Scott

Click to expand...

Scott,
Miles is being modest when he says plain Jane. He took that plain Jane and made quiet a lady out of her. I was very impressed with what he has accomplished. Every Great Photographer wants to work in black and white so his real creative abilty will show with out the distraction of color. Miles did not have to use color for eye appeal as I did.

Miles the registerations are starting to back up. Bill just got his back, I got mine a few days ago. I don't remember if Manuel got his or not. If things don't get a little better, I don't know if I am going to be ready or not!! I am rebuilding my rotor head today. I have been doing that all week. So not much done with rain, work , and family commitments. Also I have been powdercoating some lime green parts and that means I have to clean out the gun etc.

"So not much done with rain, work , and family commitments."

Mark, I'm right there with you on all of the above. They're tryin' to run this papermill with half the manpower we used to have, so needless to say, that means lots of OT.

I'm glad to know it's not just mine that's taking awhile, I was thinkin' I must have filled out a form wrong.

Scott, I'd post a picture, but lightning zapped my computer last week, so I lost all my build pics. If the rain holds off I'll try to get one today.

Miles,
I think we will finish before too long. Rumor has it there is a green KB 4coming out of New Orleans called the "Who dat?"

Don't tell me that Guy is fixin up his machines.
More pictures if you have them.

Hi Rudy,
I think the man from Chocolate City is getting serious about flying again. He has visions of adding a basketball hoop in place of the prerotor and he is going to cut a watermelon in half and make wheel pants. His engine is a 503 painted watermelon red and he is at the local gift shops , shopping for a bright gold Fleur DE Le. It will go on his tall tail neon green "Who DAT?" gyro.
Do you think he stayed under too long during Katrina? or is he competing with OCC for a TV series?
Anyway, give him some encouragement and tell him he can park that thing in the shade cuz it glows at night.

forward email from bill weigered

forward email from bill weigered

Hey fellow PRA 20 members:

I just recieved this email from Bill a couple of days ago and wanted to pass it on to to the chapter forum:


PILOT TRAINING: NOW SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER across the FIRST 2 WEEKENDS, and DURING the WEEK, at MARKSVILLE AIRPORT. Manuel has lined up the CFI, and will provide him with accommodations. >>> Much appreciation to Manuel for developing the contacts and providing the accommodations to encourage the CFI to make the scene here.



CFI is to be LARRY BANKS, from Tennessee. We now need to COMPILE a very good LISTING OF HOURS BY EVERYONE WHO IS INTERESTED AND PLANNING TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE EXTRAORDINARILY CONVENIENT OPPORTUNITY. For example, Manuel Mayeux = ___hrs, Mark Carmouche = ___, Scott Bordelon = ___. Jace Gray = ___, Miles Mason = ___, Glen Duhon = ___, Bob Simmons = ___, John Churchman = ___, Elton Johnson = ___, Ed Burks = ___, Hube Cavalier = ___, Bill Wieger = ___, Seghers ? = ___, Chris Taylor = ___, _____________.



Cost for the training will be about $125/hr. We have to double check the figure, and the amount of hours could have a lot to do with the actual rate. Training would be in the RAF-Sparrow Hawk type side-by-side machine.



Bordelon and Gray and Mayeux have indicated some hours. NEED TO HEAR FROM EVERYONE ELSE, so that we can properly advise Banks about what to plan for. Of course, the hours-per-person need to be on the order of a commitment, because we are dealing with a major piece of a person’s time to come here. Obviously, we will try to have the training satisfy everyone’s schedules, as best we can, and obviously everyone cannot get full hours on just the weekends.



The ATTACHMENT is roughed out (compiled in airports) to clearly put the categories in proper perspective, and with enough detail to make sense. Quite a few of us have taken the sport pilot course and the test; all of which is necessary before the flight training with a CFI will be validated by his sign-off. We have learned, DO NOT GO for a 3rd class Medical, unless you are firmly intending to continue promptly with regular fixed wing pilot training. DO USE the ROUTE of getting the SPORT PILOT STUDENT PILOT CERTIFICATE per use of the driver’s license.



Good news from Manuel – He went to Tennessee and acquired 10 hours of training from Banks last week. Manuel is completely satisfied and felt the training by Banks was first class. This is notable, because Manuel had tried training with others, and found Banks to be the best. He did cross country, and did takeoffs and landings.



Regarding flite training, Banks will provide training whether or not a person has taken the course and passed the sport pilot test, but as stated above, he will not sign-off the person as having completed the required training. Thus the person is not eligible to take the proficiency test with a Designated Examiner. On the good side, a person can get the required flite training with the convenience of Banks being here, and then take the sport pilot course and test afterward; and then get a sign-off from Banks.



Any questions, etc are welcome, of course.





FLINGWING QUARTERLY EVENT IS NOW SCHEDULED for the weekend of OCTOBER 6TH, AT MARKSVILLE, in conjunction with the beginning of the training.



A newsletter will go out in advance, but it is sufficient to know about the event planning so that everyone who can make it, can begin to plan accordingly.





GENERALLY:

Arkansas is planning to hold a flingwing at Magnolia in late Sept ?? We’ll get more particular info soon for those who could be interested. Of course, our main interest has been on trying to establish the training opportunity, which has been a moving target.



EXPERIMENTAL LIGHT SPORT AIRCRAFT: Transitioning into this category is available until January 31, 2008, and to be able to have assurance that your purchased aircraft can be registered within the time frame remaining, the paper work must be in the FAA’s hands by November 1st. After January 31, the only way to register an aircraft will be via AMATURE-BUILT Light Sport Aircraft, and in the event of a sale of “amature-built,” the purchaser could not acquire a repairman’s certificate to maintain the machine.

Rudy has gained the agreement of the FAA office in Baton Rouge to perform inspections at no cost. You’ll need to make contact with them and set up a time, and take it somewhere for an inspection in that area. If we could learn of 2-3-4 machines which could be mustered up at some location, we probably could arrange for an inspector to travel to a location. NEED TO KNOW WHAT MEMBERS NEED in order to be of any help.

Looking back into all the various new regulations for the aircraft and the pilot, they slowly come into focus, but there has been a major muddle of understanding throughout this process. And from questions at Mentone, a certain amount of muddle still exists. Personally, I think it could have been presented much easier with a few good diagrams / schematics.





MENTONE: Wieger decided to go on rather short notice – flew into Indianapolis and drove north to Mentone. It was the best national in the past 3-4 years, according to those who knew. All went very smoothly, no mishaps. About a total of 70 aircraft including a few helicopters. Weather was very good, with temperatures into the 90’s as the hottest and 60’s at night.



Jump-takeoffs: 3 machines are now capable of doing this, and all three were there. This is something to behold. There is absolutely no movement until the jump, no mini-roll or anything. The machines jump quite a few feet and then go forward. Dick DeGraw was the first to perfect the technology and technique with his gyrhino which has 3 rotor blades. This year he was on hand with the technology (3 rotor blades) installed on a 2-place Dominator, which of course worked just right. Carter Aviation had their Carter Copter there as a one-place.



I noticed the Carter especially because it performs with the standard 2-blade rotor, although it is a very specialized configuration with a lot of weight in the outer few feet. I noticed in particular that it went straight up before flying forward, whereas the others might have had somewhat of a bit of diagonally forward jump. The carter jumped straight up about 200 feet, and I have a couple pictures which happen to show the same reference points on the ground and in the air, to verify the vertical ascent.



There was a relatively new one called Xenon, which is a distinctly different streamlined appearance for a side-by-side with a cabin width of 50 inches.. It is manufactured in Poland, and the US dealer is Rob ______ who flew the Sparrow Hawk into our Gonzales event a couple years ago. The Xenon is very impressive if you like complete enclosures.

Another new one from New Zealand was there, appearing much like the RAF and Sparrow.

Competition was limited to an egg drop, simply because for some reason, there were not enough pilots to enter the other categories. Eggs were dropped toward the target frying pan. Eggs were used, because Mentone is the “Egg Capital of the Midwest,” so that was much more appropriate than bags of flour.

At the banquet there were the normal awards, and a very different, amusing door prize dispersal. All in all, it was a very good event, and very successful in the minds of the regulars and the Board.



Please respond quickly about training. We need to establish reasonably firm plans. Respond to me or Rudy.



Bill Wieger

Well guys see you at Marksville, working on the bee and a new carrier for the Bee and My PPC, Photo's to follow when completed.

Fly safe,
Glenn

Hey Miles

Hey Miles

Kingchocolate said:

Hey Miles,
Will you have a gyro for the flying? Mark should have his new bird ready by then.

Scott

Click to expand...

Hey Miles,
I met Scott at Bunkie this morning. He flew his machine for an hour and I taxied mine with the new front forks and made some more adjustments. It was definitely better than the small wheel since the keel of a KB 3 has an 8 degree rake in the tube. I was really surprised how short of a turn it would make with very little turning of the wheel. I miss the caster system of the the Bensen. But I taxi faster this morning than yesterday with Bill at Bulow Airport.
I went to Pollock this evening and it was sooo much cooler and I did some more fine adjustments to the steering. I think my axle is too far forward for the electric setup but I will take more measurements of weight and decide what to do. Maybe just pull those big 8 in wheels off the mains and go with the 4 in wheels.

Mark,
The gyro looks great. The 8" wheels will do better on grass strips or emergency landing areas.

Thanks Tim,
I have done grass pastures, and grass strips in my Bensen. It bounces the devil out of you. I don't think I will fly out of grass if possible. I want the smaller tires to lower the keel. That will reduce the angle when the gyro is off the front wheel. If you look close you can see the steep back angle places the rotor head back behind the axle and I already have a long motor with the electric start. Also my seat is closer to the mast than a dominator. The Dominator has the mains further back under the motor I believe. I have not seen it discussed before, but I think too much weight behind the axle makes the gyro unstable in ground roll like a trailer. Even if it hangs right.
customizing sure does give you respect for those who have gone before and got it right.!
Thanks for the compliments and if you have an extra CD laying around send me one.eace: