Parson's Trainer

Chris: I did my instructor checkout in an early-model, short-keel Parsons back in the day. The instructor had me fly from the back seat. I didn't care that much for the side-stick (for a student, anyway), as you lose the nice hand-in-lap position that helps you relax and calibrate your inputs.

Did you find the rotor vibes objectionable? I don't recall them being so, but it's been years. On paper anyway, the double mast and massive head plates make a pretty rigid pylon that won't flex back and forth the way the rotor would prefer.
 
Bill Parsons was the first US Magni dealer, constantly bitching about the heavy stick and blaming it on the horizontal stabilizer.

Bill also frequently stated that he believed horizontal stabilizers were dangerous on a gyro such as a Magni; “A strong upward gust could blow the horizontal stabilizer up into the rotor.”

Most likely, the wide hub and resulting inplane stiffness of SkyWheels rotors tamed the 2/rev vibration.

I think that Bensen, by necking the rotor down to 2.5” at the hub is responsible for most 2/rev vibration.

Too bad most gyroplane “designers” chose to copy the Bensen hub rather than the SkyWheels hub.
 
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Doug, Our Parsons was pretty smooth. I did my "black magic" tweaking of the rotor and was able to get it that way. SkyWheels were a bit tricky to "tune in" but with a little/lot of patience, you could do a pretty good job. Brings up memories of me making my then wife go up with me each time I adjusted the rotor. Somewhere in there she took a "dislike" to the whole rotor tuning task.!!! I was having a great time however :)
 
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