How is your project coming?

Vance

Gyroplane CFI
Staff member
Joined
Oct 30, 2003
Messages
18,363
Location
Santa Maria, California
Aircraft
Givens Predator
Total Flight Time
2600+ in rotorcraft
Hello Thom,

The funding roadblock has been removed.

When I left Scappoose I was going to use a real aircraft engine, but Paul talked me out of it on our way past Sturgis, South Dakota as we headed to Air Venture. Three weeks with a pod caster and sleep deprivation can be a real challenge to ones judgment.

When Paul came by the house he loved all the junk we have already built and rejected. We feel that part of a successful project is how much stuff you throw away because you figured out a better way to do it. Based on that it should be a successful project.

We recently abandoned the supercharger and direct drive. We felt that we could not dampen the torque pulses of the high power output at low rpm and the new main bearings they are using are a little weak for the kind of loads you get from a propeller.

We just scraped the cam cover drive for the pre-rotor pump because with the re-drive the engine rpm goes up and the pump speed would have been too fast. We may drive the pump off the cam instead of the crank or us an external drive.

Other than the vibration the HD engine is not that bad, 95 cubic inches and 87 horsepower at 4,800 rpm. It is still making 54 horsepower at 3,000 rpm. It weighs less than 140 pounds bare and 165 pounds with the re-drive, starter, charging system and exhaust. I have several laying around, one that makes around 118 horsepower at 6,600 rpm. The HD engine also has a pleasing exhaust note.

We learn things faster than we can build; so the ongoing redesign slows progress.

We are trying to keep it simple and conventional.

We are trying to make the frame stiff enough to raise the natural resonance of the extremities above the frequency of the perturbations. I am pleased with the new truss and engine mounts. The new tail, Doug’s fault, will put a lot of torsional loads into the tail boom if we allow it to resonate. The three-sided truss is fairly good in both torsion and bending. It has a solid connection to the engine mount/rotor tower.

The re-drive and pre-rotor drive are our focus at the moment.

It is a hobby project so it takes on a pace and timing of it’s own.

Thank you, Vance
 
Hi Vance,

I am looking forward to seeing your project. I'm sure I'll have a bunch of questions as you proceed.

Is there a reason you chose the HD engine rather than a modern design?

I hope you swing by in October. Your guest room is available.

Jim
 
Hello Jim,

The reason I chose the Harley Davidson engine instead of a more modern design was originally commercial. In 2004 the wife said, “put a Harley engine in it and I can sell it.”

I found out she was correct. That is when we resurrected Breese Aircraft Company.

After my financial and martial reversals I no longer had a large fortune to make into a small one so the aviation business was not for me.

Now I just want to make a pig fly.

I was ready to follow your advice and get a modern engine when I left Scappoose. Three weeks with Paul reversed that plan and it was back to the HD engine.

I love a challenge and dealing with the vibration is going to be very challenging.

I have a lot of smart friends that are going to help me and a test pilot that is particularly skilled.

Thank you for the offer of the room. It is always a pleasure to spend time with you and your lovely wife.

I am looking forward to seeing the progress on your project and visiting my tools.

Thank you, Vance
 
Hello again Vance,

I suspected as much. I look forward to flying it.


By the way, have you seen the 582 "Bee" for sale? It would make a good starter aircraft for you to have fun with. The price is good.

Take care,

Jim


As a side note, this is the only closeup picture of your Dad I have found. The resemblance is clear.
 

Attachments

  • Breese,-Vance.jpg
    Breese,-Vance.jpg
    15.6 KB · Views: 0
Last edited:
Hello Jim,

Yes, it looks like a great deal, the added cost of the trip to Indiana takes some of the joy out of it for me.

Thank you, Vance
 
Vance,

Good to see you coming up for air and posting on the forum.

I must point out, a three-week road trip with a Harley enthusiast poses an equal and more widely acknowledged threat to one's judgment!

Cindy is probably convinced I'm nuts. I had a high-quality condenser microphone set up in the living room, slapping various objects with various other objects to record the noises. I explained to her that I was experimenting with audio spectral analysis on graduated permutations of impulse waveforms to prepare an algorhythm to be used in digital signal processing for a sonic-based fuel-air mixture regulator.

"Huh?"

"It's an idea Vance told me about, and I'm trying to make it work."

She'd like me to invite you to dinner.
 

Attachments

  • Spectral15msA.JPG
    Spectral15msA.JPG
    19.7 KB · Views: 0
Last edited:
Looks good Paul, I am pleased to see you are keeping it simple.

What are you doing up at 2:30 am?

Thank you for the invitation, it may be a while.

For those of you who don’t know, Paul Plack has joined Jim Mayfield it trying to teach me about humor.

Paul, I never agreed to write the memorial.

Thank you, Vance
 
Vance-I enjoy reading of your gyro progress. Oh, you have a very high level of humor. I have cracked a big smile several times reading your latest posts. The success measured by the amount of junk lefover was a good one . Then you told Paul that you were glad he was keeping it simple- ha. Take care Vance and if You are at Bensen Days 08, you can help me get my credibility back running a spot landing contest<G>.Stan
 
Paul,

I'm still working on it. I hope we're going to stay with the "This is your life" format.

Vance,

I still hope you will reconsider your engine choice. We can drill a small hole in a 912 oil passage so you can still have a puddle of oil under your engine.

Of course, you didn't listen in 1978 (see picture) and you probably won't listen now.

Jim
 

Attachments

  • 1978_Breese.jpg
    1978_Breese.jpg
    3.8 KB · Views: 0
Help Stan,

They are pushing my buttons.

Thank you, Vance
 
It’s not the puddle of oil he wants it is the BRUMB B B B B BRUMB B B B B of the HD he wants.

Vance I want to be a dealer for your gyro.
OK the truth is I just want an excuse to go to Sturgis every year on a Babe magnet.
 
We are stepping over bones here.

In August of 2003 I told Charlene that I thought it would be fun to build an autogiro, the first words out of her mouth were put a Harley engine in it and I can sell it. I found out she was correct.

When I still thought I was rich and could afford to lose a lot of money in aviation we moved forward with the concept of a flying Harley powered autogiro. We took a model to a trade show and many of the dealers that use my software wanted to participate. If it had been flying successfully and we were ready to produce we feel that we could have sold more than 100 at the show.

I felt that a dealer network that made enough money to create fun things to do with your aircraft would work as well as it did with motorcycles. The price was going to be in the range of $60,000 for the kit including 15 hours of dual instruction and 40 hours of builder assist. This allowed everyone to make enough money to promote the sport.

Charlene, my x wife, and I felt that by going to all the major Harley rallies and working with the press we could create a market. Two Chopper build TV shows were fighting to do a show on the build and another on the first flight. We felt that we could one up anybody in a chopper build off. We wanted to do a show on flying to Sturgis, South Dakota. I felt that barnstorming for a couple of years would be a lot of fun.

Victor, aka zeeo on the forum, did the web page and we collaborated on the drawings. If you click on the dancing chopter and down load a free version of shockwave you can zoom in and out, turn it around and change the paint job and the colors. Victor is brilliant.

We also created a flight simulator model in both x plane and Microsoft flight simulator.

The patent was to keep others from capitalizing on our marketing.

We built the mold for the fuselage and empennage and created a first article that only weighed 17 pounds. It needed some gussets, but it still would have weighed less than 20 pounds. We built a proof of concept for the re-drive. It was not a successful.

Charlene had been shuffling money around to support a real estate development company that had some fatal flaws while I was busy with this project. The true condition of my financial world became apparent on May 22, 2005, and I had to sell my tools and toys just to make payroll at the software company. My net worth was way below zero including some large tax challenges. I sold all my property including my work shop. I am now divorced. I struggled hard for almost two years and things have been looking great since February of 2007.


I have looked at using other peoples money and it seems that they always want to do something that I feel will make it not work. I have a lot of hours invested in this stillborn project.

The business of aviation is for people with a lot more money than me. This new project is for fun and to see if I make it work well. I have no intention of going into the business of aviation.

I am building a simple pusher with none of the flash and style of the “Chopter”. I never liked that name.

I am grateful for all the help and support I have found on the forum.

I hope you won’t think less of me for this foolishness.

Thank you, Vance
 
Vance- Ever since I saw your gyro concept at Bensen Days, and having talked with you-I felt so miniscule. Your genious is extraordinaire, and whether you agree with me or not, you indeed have a high level of humor. I for one am going to be rooting to see your gyro dream come to life. Stan
 
Vance,

Although I was never ecstatic about the Chopter's flight control system, I still think it is a neat idea. Maybe someday you'll readdress it. In the interim, your intellectual property is somewhat protected by your patent.

I think the "Stick" you and I considered collaborating on would also be a fun project as long as we used a modern engine.

Paul,

We probably should check with Vance about the background music we'll use during the audio/visual portion of our presentation on his life. I am partial to Antonin Dvorak as I think his work would lend appropriate dignity to Vance's story. What's your take on it?

Jim
 
Paul,

I was thinking more about his symphony number 9. It seems to me to have the right balance of wistful hopefulness and majestic strength. I'll, of course, bow to your expertise. We want something that your voice goes well with.

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cuo/F2002-5.mp3

Jim
 
Top