Mohawk Arrow - a new USA-Built Enclosed/Convertible Gyroplane

[eddie]

Looks really nice,I like the round tubes used on the frame.

But I am like a lot of others here,I don't believe you can say this an American made Gyro,

American assembled perhaps.

 

[Brent]

looks great, I like that type of T tail.

 

[Hueychief]

Once you pick up the rotor blades from the old barn floor, clean off the dirt, rocks and cigarette butts. I'm sure the QC department is impressive. Good luck to you with your "Made in America" gyroplane.

 

[Vlad]

Once you pick up the rotor blades from the old barn floor, clean off the dirt, rocks and cigarette butts. I'm sure the QC department is impressive. Good luck to you with your "Made in America" gyroplane.

it was by removing from track .... my blades with MTO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki3bVsZWszM

 

[Boots]

Has any of these blades or composite parts made the trip to USA yet ?

 

[Vlad]

Has any of these blades or composite parts made the trip to USA yet ?

No...looking partner

 

[eutrophicated1]

Originally posted by Boots View Post
Has any of these blades or composite parts made the trip to USA yet ?

No...looking partner

To be clear are you saying you have no USA partner? I'm confused.......what do you make of post #1 "Mohawk Arrow - a new USA-Built Enclosed/Convertible Gyroplane" statements??
And then there is this in post #4
Can you please clarify Vlad?

:noidea: There's no real mystery here; Its an age-old problem of 2 or more business groups in different countries trying to market something, without any one of them putting up enough money to swing the whole deal. How do you sell something, partially owned by several entities? How do you set a price point, much less a price list? Who gets what percentage of each sale? Who is going to support what parts of it? Who is going to take the calls for support? What business instruments will be created to guarantee that support?

So, you have to ask yourself, "Would I put up $100,000 or there-abouts my money to buy a gyro under these circumstances?"

 

[eutrophicated1]

So, you have to further ask yourself, "Does any gyro marketer in the U.S. provide an all-American-made machine?" American-made engine, rotors and hub, frame, landing gear, body, fuel tanks and instruments? Maybe a better question is, "Of the gyro companies selling machines in the U.S., which ones have cash reserves sufficient for 5 years of operation?" That is: Will there be parts being made for that availability? It that an unreasonable expectation? Do you expect your car maker to meet that?

 

[Vance]

So, you have to further ask yourself, "Does any gyro marketer in the U.S. provide an all-American-made machine?" American-made engine, rotors and hub, frame, landing gear, body, fuel tanks and instruments? Maybe a better question is, "Of the gyro companies selling machines in the U.S., which ones have cash reserves sufficient for 5 years of operation?" That is: Will there be parts being made for that availability? It that an unreasonable expectation? Do you expect your car maker to meet that?

In my opinion those are unreasonable expectations Frank.

A gyroplane kit is a low production, low profit vertical market item.

Most of the parts can be purchased in the aftermarket or custom made if the "manufacture" goes out of business. Small batch manufactures do not use a lot of special, hard to duplicate parts.

None of the gyroplane kits you can purchase will be as trouble free as most automobiles or even most motorcycles. The sales numbers and profit are not there to support that level of engineering refinement or customer support.

The prices are high because the engineering cost is spread out over fewer units.

This is part of the cost of being interested in something most people are not interested in.

If you are not willing to accept the challenges of a fringe hobby it would probably be best to find a more mainstream hobby.

I gladly accept the challenge.

I purchased a one of a kind gyroplane and the manufacturer was already not building any more. I expected to encounter challenges and I did. I am very conscious each time I drop a part or wear something out replacing it may be costly and difficult. I gladly accept the challenge.

If I was purchasing a new gyroplane I would look at the history of the owner of the business and hope he had a long and happy life.

I have a BS meter for just this purpose. It is pegged with some "manufactures".

I don't know any aircraft manufacture that has five years of capital in the bank.

 

[PW_Plack]

It that an unreasonable expectation? Do you expect your car maker to meet that?

I think it's perfectly reasonable to expect these things of any manufacturer of durable goods. And in experimental aircraft, that manufacturer is you. If we lack the commitment to support the machines that bear our own names on the data plates, perhaps we should buy something certified instead.

If you buy a Cessna, the manufacturer meets all your qualifications. You could also build four or five RV10s for the same money and have a more advanced, better-performing plane. The world's full of choices!

 

[Doug Riley]

I suspect amateurism when I see a pointy nose on an aircraft intended for sub-100 mph flight. This shape is reasonable for bullets and hypersonic aircraft; sub-optimal for low-speed craft.

The best airfoil shapes for our speeds have a rounded leading edge, with a radius of around 2% of chord. The designers of blimps and streamlined struts pay close attention to this rule.

Is it a big deal in terms of performance? No. Does it suggest ignorance of aerodynamics? Totally.

When you are trying to assess the competence of the designer of your craft, little "tells" like this can be interesting. The guy trying to sell you an aircraft that he designed owes you honest answers about his training and engineering knowledge. No seller should be offended if a buyer asks for his resume. We are talking life and death here.

For comparison, Igor Bensen had at least a degree in engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology, IIR. It shows in little design details of the B8M gyro (which is not as "eyeball engineered" as it looks).

As always, watch your back and do your homework in the homebuilt-aircraft jungle.

 

[eddie]

A Gyro has to look good Doug,thats because when on a flyby you are in view probably

for at least 3 times, maybe 4 times longer than anything else.

 

[C. Beaty]

I have to disagree, Doug; the shape of retail hardware doesn’t always say much about the engineering expertise of the designer. Take automobile tail fins for example; I think they first appeared on Cadillacs in the late 1950s and within a short time, all automobiles had to have tail fins. Didn’t have a thing to do with engineering.

Or better still, the fancy oxcarts of Costa Rica: I expect those like the one pictured are solely intended to entertain tourists. Hauling sugarcane in such a contraption would cause the solid wooden wheels to disintegrate after a mile or two on a paved road. If Costa Ricans really need an oxcart for hauling sugarcane, they go to the nearest automobile junkyard, pick up an axle and wheels with rubber tires and build a working oxcart.

Covering a gyrocopter’s bare bones with Flash Gordonesque style fiberglass panels makes it a marketable product. As with most consumer products, perception is everything.

Of course, we both know that gyro designers are mostly by guess and by gosh designers.

 

[eddie]

Actually Chuck because of Engineers like you all of that work has been done and is readily available and just about anyone could

probably design a good flying Gyro using that information.

I personally have benefited from your expertise,because of that I believe gyro flying has became a lot safer,Thank You.

 

[C. Beaty]

Thanks Eddie, I appreciate that. My personal hero is Jean Claude DEBREYER, perhaps the smartest engineer I'’ve ever known.

Actually, most of the engineering was done by Igor Bensen. His rotor system, combining Arthur Young’s teetering, underslung rotor with Cierva’s tilt head cyclic system is the universal system in use today. Because it was used by Bensen, the NACA 8H12 rotor airfoil is the universal airfoil in use today; not because it was the best but amateurs evidently think it was a special gyro airfoil.

Bensen didn’t disclose much technical detail, that had to be extracted.

 

[eddie]

Your welcome Chuck,its apparent that you have done a great job extracting the info and making it understandable for the average person.

 

[Jean Claude]

Wahoo, That's a very great compliment and I appreciate it even more, coming from a genius builder like you, Chuck.

 

[C. Beaty]

You deserve the compliment, JC. You’re the only person I know who has memorized all 4 of Maxwell’s partial differential equations postulating electromagnetic radiation. (just being silly)

 

[Brian Jackson]

You deserve the compliment, JC. You’re the only person I know who has memorized all 4 of Maxwell’s partial differential equations postulating electromagnetic radiation. (just being silly)

I thought that was Britney Spears
http://britneyspears.ac/lasers.htm

 

[eddie]

Sorry Brian that was Cher.