AR-1 Gyroplane - US Made begins production

Can't wait to have them here in Texas. Looking good.
 
Will you have fully assembled AR-1 model at Sebring?
 
Greg Spicola did some initial flight tests on the larger tail and larger Rudder on an Apollo Gyro AG1. Thanks to our wonderful customer James to let us do this change on his Apollo and test it.

Yes they can with a little elbow grease be fitted to an AG-1 in about 6 hours of work.

The initial tests seem to confirm what we were hoping for as an effect. The tail boom on AR-1 is also 10 inches further back than original AG-1 though later AG-1's in the last batch had already incorporated that feature in them as well. It was a gusting frigid (by Florida standards) day here on Dec 5, 2015. Gusting between 12 to 25 knots.

The new tail overall allows the tail to be quite a bit more effective.
 
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The new tail overall allows the tail to be quite a bit more effective.

That sounds very encouraging, although quite subjective.

However, after reading the many threads from the links to old threads from CB and Doug Riley, I now know that torque roll is a real hidden threat and easily fixable. I did not know that till about after three years of gyro flying.

With all due respect, in the light of all the threads and discussions we've had regarding this, is your new tail torque roll proof?
 
That sounds very encouraging, although quite subjective.

However, after reading the many threads from the links to old threads from CB and Doug Riley, I now know that torque roll is a real hidden threat and easily fixable. I did not know that till about after three years of gyro flying.

With all due respect, in the light of all the threads and discussions we've had regarding this, is your new tail torque roll proof?

Thomas:
With all due respect to you and Chuck. There is no guarantee of anything when you hit zero G in a machine that by its very nature needs loading to fly. Its all a crapshoot after that. I am not going to make any such claim. I am not an idiot. If you want a gyro that claims this buy Aviomania. I am convinced they have no real proof of this claim that can satisfy me at this moment. Its a claim based on some theoretical reasoning and the reasoning has a bit of merit in high school but at zero G claiming that somehow you can suspend a free falling body which could reach zero G in multiple different attitudes and bank angles with all kinds of protrusions, in weather conditions out of your control with gusts, wind shear etc., upright long enough that the rotors can actually recover and NOT flap in the meantime and chop something on the machine is naive at best IMHO. Unless you have control surfaces that pilot can control (ailerons and elevator).
I would advise in zero G to cut the power. You do have control over the throttle. The WAG pilot actually cut the power as he reached the top of the arc and then hit full power faster than my eyes could catch in casual viewing in the video. He did the worst possible, pushing nose down and hitting power among other things.


Getting to zero G is not easy and takes very specific pilot action. Wrong action. The WAG accident was not by its own. Its pilot was very busy, very active and very much in control. He never once let the cyclic go. His hands moved very quickly multiple times including closing and opening the throttle from what I could tell. The gyro did exactly what he told it to do till his deliberate flying resulted in zero G. You should never put an input in any gyro that takes you in about 0.6 seconds from full back cyclic to full forward cyclic. These warnings are in every POH I know and its taught or should be taught with huge emphasis in training as well. Gyroplane is not an airplane and those instincts have to be curtailed when one flies a gyroplane.

I would rather work with BRS and offer a nice tested BRS deployment package because at least that is something that will most probably work and has worked in trikes, airplanes etc. It also takes practice and training to deploy when you see signs of trouble but it is a more solid solution for when the proverbial waste hits the fan. If you accept flying besides takeoff and landings at some reasonable altitude at 800 feet AGL or above, you have a very good chance of a full BRS deployment and a save. If you are doing pylon racing at 100 to 150 feet and get there, well I don't know what to tell you.
I btw have an acquaintance who while flying a trike hit high tension wires at around 300 feet AGL, deployed the parachute and lived to tell about it. But BRS's number for proper deployment is 800 feet of altitude. BRS also helps in other areas. Inadvertent flight into IMC, bird strike, mid air collisions etc. beyond fear of 0 G. In other words if you are going to look at safety from dooms day scenarios in your flying machine then look for a solution that has a decent chance of working to save you in most of them not just one very specific zero G upright, power full on scenario. That is a narrow path of safety not guaranteed to even work.
 
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Congratulations on all your hard work Fara. Although I still have yet to get up there and take hop in your new ship it sounds like you've really bested the AutoGyro folks in both product improvement and overall versatility just to name a few.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cessna.682 View Post
Will you have fully assembled AR-1 model at Sebring?

Fingers crossed. Yes.


How are things coming along? Time is running out, will AR-1 be completed for Sebring?
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cessna.682 View Post
Will you have fully assembled AR-1 model at Sebring?




How are things coming along? Time is running out, will AR-1 be completed for Sebring?

Yes. The prototype will be completed and there. The first customer machine may be completed as well but not 100% sure about that
 
Since you plan on being @ Sebring, can I assume that you'll be at Bensen Days?

Absolutely and also at Sun N Fun and at Oshkosh and at Mentone.
Game is on. If you are wanting to look at the gyro and if you are in Florida and Georgia and if you are serious, we will fly the gyroplane over to an airport near you.
 
Would some one take a lot of photo not able to be there. So trying to live vicariously through the Internet. Lol . Would really like to see the new Gyroplanes out there.

Sincerely SWilliams
 
Would some one take a lot of photo not able to be there. So trying to live vicariously through the Internet. Lol . Would really like to see the new Gyroplanes out there.

Sincerely SWilliams
Yes we will. PRA is bringing state of the art equipment and Tim Chick is going to be making videos and I'll be taking pictures. We will be placing goPro's on as many of the rides we can and using the SoloShot video tracking system for the ground view of the flight. They will be posted on PRA's web-site.
 
"How about a Sebring report Abid???? No pics - no comments ... was it REALLY such a BLOW_OUT???? ...Closed for rain on Fri & high winds on Sat??? At least the Thursday report was good!
,
... I know you're crazy busy trying to get these first production AR1's finished ... a pic or two ..a couple of lines??? ...ANYONE else get to Sebring?????
__________________
Chris T.
3Rs - Rotors rock&rule!"


I'd love a report too. Pictures! Please
 
"How about a Sebring report Abid???? No pics - no comments ... was it REALLY such a BLOW_OUT???? ...Closed for rain on Fri & high winds on Sat??? At least the Thursday report was good!
,
... I know you're crazy busy trying to get these first production AR1's finished ... a pic or two ..a couple of lines??? ...ANYONE else get to Sebring?????
__________________
Chris T.
3Rs - Rotors rock&rule!"


I'd love a report too. Pictures! Please

It was ridiculous. There were 2 decent days. The first day which we skipped because very few people ever show up the first day so we usually use it as our setup day and Thursday where we got some serious inquiries and leads. But the rest was bogus. They should move this show to another month. Lot of vendors were unhappy but its weather. I did post a few pictures on Facebook.
 
photo here

https://www.facebook.com/silverlightaviation/

Hi Abid - is that the genuine first production AR-1 or an earlier AG-1 ( N914AG ) marked up ( and maybe modfied/adapted ) to represent the AR-1 - thanks

Hi Steve:
We had decided long time ago to use N914AG and fix it using as many AR-1 components as we can. At this point, the only original Apollo component on it is the tail because we are not planning to ever enclose this one. Pretty much everything else save the analog instrumentation is AR-1 and not original.
We can do that legally here under Experimental category just have to do Phase-I hours again which is good for us because before I put production units I know what needs tweaking. Like we found out my idea of the rotor brake is kind of dumpy and we re-designed it
 
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