Selling All Gyroplane Business Assets!

[Michael Stump]

Greetings! This is Michael J. Stump. I want to say hello again and to let you all know that my aircraft services and flight instruction company (formerly known as SkyTech in southern California) has officially ceased all business operations and will now be selling and auctioning its remaining assets.

The items to be sold/auctioned will include:

One new 70” diameter x 48” pitch Prince P-Tip ultra-high-efficiency laminated maple propeller.

One very low-time 68” diameter, three-bladed, ground-adjustable, right-hand rotation, carbon-fiber Warp Drive propeller complete with pitch blocks, hub plates, hardware, and protractor.

One complete Rotax 532 engine with 124.6 hours TTSN, 2.58:1 gearbox, exhaust system, twin Bing model 54 carburetors, and radiator.

A variety of Rotax two-cycle engine tools (to be sold as a set only), including magneto flywheel puller with crank protection caps, wrist-pin puller with spring sleeves, crank gear puller, fan wrench, feeler gauges, timing lamp (for breaker-point-ignition engines), piston circlip installer, crank stop pin, two high-quality dial indicator sets (for finding piston top-dead-center and when used simultaneously, can measure crank twist), cylinder alignment plates, a generic wrist pin puller (for Cuyuna/2si engines, etc.) and a Cuyuna/2si flywheel puller.

Two low-time standard-duty rotor heads of the Air Command variety (can of course be used on almost any gyro).

One Air Command seat tank with mounting frame (can work on many other gyro types).

Three Air Command all-flying rudders, two of which have included horizontal stabilizers (can work on many other gyro types). This is the classic Commander rudder that is so popular on many types of flying machines.

Two Air Command shock-absorbing tailwheel assemblies (can be adapted to other gyroplane types).

Four new pneumatic wheels with installed tube and tire, small enough that they can be great tailwheels on a gyroplane for extra-soft landings and silent operation.

One complete Wunderlich prerotator minus the aluminum drive drum (originally from a tall-mast Air Command gyroplane).

One new Wunderlich reversing prerotator Bendix assembly.

One brand-new and complete Air Command Elite centerline-thrust airframe conversion kit (for single-place gyro), including bill of materials and full assembly instruction documentation. Makes the gyro far safer and far more stable than the original "classic" Commander.

A selection of heat-treated and black-anodized airframe structural assembly brackets (as found on Air Command gyros to hold the airframe together. Can be used to hold together many kinds of other airframes and other things you might wish to build).

A huge variety of AN (aircraft-grade) and non-AN hardware, both new and used (list not yet developed).

A variety of miscellaneous Rotax engine components, both new and used (list not yet developed).

A set of four (two left-hand and two right-hand) cast aluminum rudder pedals (can be used on many types of gyros, airboats, airplanes or other things you might wish to build).

Original new and complete Parsons-tandem gyroplane airframe plans as supplied by Bill Parsons.

Original new and complete set of Brock KB-2 gyroplane blueprints as supplied by Ken Brock.

Very rare, original Bensen-factory gyroplane documentation (could be a great collectors’ item!) as supplied by the Bensen factory. Includes Gyroglider Building Instructions with Operating and Flight Manuals, Gyrocopter Engine Installation Construction and Flight Manual, and a full set of original Bensen blueprints and original marketing literature. A must-have for the gyro history buff or collector!

Original new and complete SkyTwister homebuilt helicopter plans and demonstration video as supplied by the designer, Ben Showers.

As people in the gyroplane community, I hope and feel confident that you will find these assets very useful to you. In the coming weeks and months, these items will be advertised here for sale but also auctioned on eBay (www.ebay.com) by one of my partners, and I’ll post information here to let you know when the item is ready for sale, when auctions will take place and what items they will consist of, including extensive details for each item.

It is important that we achieve as much visibility of these items as possible, yet as an active member of the gyroplane community myself for about 15 years, I want you and your flying partners to have awareness of these items so that you may have a head-start if you have an interest in owning any of them yourselves by purchasing them before they make it to auction, where the final selling prices for these items will be higher due to the bidding-war nature of eBay. The “Buy It Now” prices shown at this site here will be the lowest prices to expect for these items. The eBay “Buy It Now” values will be higher.

I assure you that the items will be very fairly-priced, high in quality, very clean, and have been stored indoors and under very favorable conditions. I will personally inspect, service and restore each item before it is advertised. Any items that don’t meet our high standards of quality have already been sold for scrap or for non-aircraft use.

There may be more to come after these items are sold and as we work through the inventory, but the list above is essentially complete for now. Please feel free to ask any additional questions about any of the items that you may have. I will gladly respond and also send you pictures if you desire. You may reach me at mse4bpo2@hotmail.com.

Please watch this site and also eBay beginning in the next day or two for the listings (the first items to be listed will be the Prince and the Warp Drive propellers, whose auctions open this Saturday, November 20 in the late afternoon, followed by additional items as we work through each item prepping it for sale, taking photographs of it, packaging the item, etc.).

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying yourselves in the gyro world. And, I’d like to please ask that you tell your buddies about it if they are in need of any of the items mentioned. That would be very much appreciated and in return, I will happily support your project wherever I reasonably can. I have many years of experience in aviation as a certified A&P mechanic, commercial gyroplane and helicopter pilot, certified gyroplane flight instructor and owner of a Rotax repair facility that also offered full-service Ultralight and Experimental aircraft maintenance, repair and construction. Advice is always free, detailed, and only an email away.

Wishing you all the best and a lifetime of happy gyroplane flights! I hope to speak with you soon.

Sincerest regards, Michael J. Stump.