The "Super" Monarch is back!

You may remember that I wrecked my engine back in October. I found a local Rotax expert and he fixed it for me. I spent the last couple of months with the Monarch in my garage at home. I did a bunch of work on it while the engine was out. Now the engine is back in and it is ready. I took it back down to Spanish Fork today and, after a few adjustments, it was ready for the engine break-in routine.
It was cold out. 31 degrees.
I was really nervous. I had done a lot of research on the proper setup for the engine, fuel and oil systems. I felt it was all ready, but I was apprehensive.
It started on the first pull.
I let it warm up as recommended and opened the throttle to full to check prop loading. After a pitch adjustment, I began the long break-in procedure. (There's an APP for that! :lol: )
It went flawlessly. I was so relieved. It took just over an hour and it used just over 3 gallons of fuel. The oiler appears to be working as designed and it all held together. The EGTs were in the proper ranges at all RPMs throughout the test. I couldn't be happier, or more relieved, with the way it went.
After the break-in was concluded we readjusted the propeller blade pitch for proper flight rpm and tested it again. Interesting, and fantastic results!
The blades were at 8 degrees initially. That gave me 6000 rpm wot. We adjusted the pitch to 7 degrees for the break-in. That gave me the 6500 rpm wot I needed. After the test we adjusted the pitch to just a hair above 6 degrees. This gave me the recommended 6700 rpm wot on the ground. According to the procedure I followed, this should give me the 7000 rpm wot in flight that is recommended for the 618. I noticed the difference immediately. The throttle response is noticeably quicker and it definitely feels like it is pushing harder.
I'm very happy. All is well with the Monarch. If the weather is good enough tomorrow, I'll be taking it up for a bit of flight testing.
:whoo:

Congratulations Glenn. I am pleased to hear you are back in the air with you Monarch.

Cheers,

Mitch

Glenn, next time you're going to be doing some flying at Spanish Fork, let me know. One of the kids would like to come out and see gyroplanes.

"Super" news, Glenn!

Were you working w/ Mike B. on the break-in?

Hope you get some great air tomorrow!

@ Greg: Thanks.

@ Paul: I'll be out there from about 10:00 am on tomorrow. A lot of clean-up to do and I have to mount the rotor blades. I'm hoping these clouds clear and the wind stays down so I can get a little flight time in the afternoon. I'll be leaving town Tuesday for a couple of weeks, so it may be a while before I get down there again. It'd be great to see you out there tomorrow.

@ Kevin: No. Michael wasn't there. I had a friend from work spotting for me. I was glad he was there too. I was so nervous about the engine and him being there to keep an eye on things was a great help.

Thats great some time I will have to fly up and have fun with you guys in Utah. I grew up in that area and still owe my Dad from Salt Lake City a gyro ride. I was at Larrys late last week from Thursday till Saturday and was wondering how you were getting along with that project. I did get a chance to fly with Jim and his sweet wife Friday.

Desmon, how about June 5-9? We'd love to see you at Rotors Over The Rockies. We've been trying to find a second CFI to work with Mike Burton for the guys who need their Sport Pilot gyro add-ons to Private ASEL, etc. We may be able to help you with expenses.

Desmon,

I have to second what Paul suggested. That would be incredible if you could plan your next trip to Utah to coincide with our Rotors Over the Rockies Event. It's June 7-9 and if there is anything we can do to help make that a reality we are sure willing to try to assist.

Glenn,

I am excited to hear that you have your engine back and I hope you got into the air today. I can't wait to get to see you fly your Super Monarch! Hopefully you will be around and in town for the April meeting and we can all watch you fly for a while. Be careful and go slow as you get her back in the air. It's really exciting to see you so close to realizing your dream.

Glenn -

YOU GO, GUY !!

fj

Great news Glenn !!

How did the test flights go Sunday?

To whom it may concern:

To whom it may concern:

I FLEW THE PATTERN IN MY GYRO FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!
Just awesome!
I went in early to polish it up and get the rotor blades mounted. Stringing DWs is very difficult when doing it solo. But I got it pretty close, not perfect.
I was apprehensive about taking it up. There was a fair amount of activity at the airport and I didn't want to get out there and cause traffic jams. So I think I dilly-dallied a bit. But when I finished getting it ready and finished doing some more idle and run-up testing the pattern had settled down and it was time to go. I did 3 1/2 passes down the runway to make sure I was still able to do it. The power was fantastic! Huge difference with the new prop pitch. So I decided to take it up and fly the pattern. The climb rate seemed pretty good, but I noticed I was getting too much rpm. I'll have to add a little more pitch to the blades. I did 2 circuits around the pattern with good landings both times. I was going to do a third, but decided I wanted to do and inpection to see how things were holding up. the only issue I found was an exhaust leak on the PTO side, likey because I reused the gaskets. I've ordered new ones, to be installed when I return from my current job.
I took video of the whole thing. I'm trying to learn how to edit and upload it.
What a great day.

Yay!!!

Yay!!!

How totally awesome!!! Rotor-rapturing with you....... dream'n of my turn someday in the next months!!!
Congrats !!
Goodonya!
Fun to hear all about it as we drove back from TX yesterday!

Glen- Congratulations on your first pattern flight. That is awesome. I can just see you having an even bigger smile than you had at Mentone.

You will never be the same now.


Stan

Those redrive Rotaxes are REALLY sensitive to prop blade pitch. Torqueless little buggers.

Dialing in the exact correct pitch for best climb or for high cruise speed involves changes of a fraction of a degree -- or fraction of a bubble if you're using a bubble protractor.

Thanks you guys!
Yes, Doug, I am using the bubble protractor from Warp Drive. I was figuring on adding back in about 1/2 a degree to see where that gets me. So I'm glad you verified what I was thinking. You're right... amazing difference with just a small pitch change. Throttle response is much faster now. Really feels good.
Thanks.

Congratulations Glenn!!!

It has been a long drawn out ordeal, but when you look back on it I'll bet you can pinpoint the exact time when you got really serious about making it happen and then watch how things really started to move and before you know it, you are in the air. And you did it much quicker than some of us are. Way to go Bro.!

Whoooooo-hooooooo!

Now you've done it, Glenn! You'll never be the same again, always looking at the weather while working and thinking how it'd be a great day for flying through the air, like Superman, in your gyro, instead of flying along in a spam-can airplane...

The 618 has quite a nice kick!

ROTR, Mentone, & El Mirage for you this year, all from the air, instead on being on the ground?

I've been debating over going to ROTR, or not, since I couldn't get vacation time then, nor the following week like in previous years, but I've got to see THE GLENN do it live, in person, and not from only reading about it here on the forum.

Got vacation time for Mentone and El Mirage! The yellow and black checkered tail will be flying there!

Glenn_K said:

I FLEW THE PATTERN IN MY GYRO FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!
Just awesome!

What a great day.

Click to expand...

Well, how does flying your own magic carpet compare to riding bikes, both dirt/trail and road bikes? Flying an airplane?

Can't (don't want to wait) wait to see your video!

Congrats Glenn! Can't wait to see you fly at a meeting soon!