AR-1 N923DJ Texas 15-12-18

[chrisk]

Today after a nearly a year and a half after my accident I resurrected my AR1. It's been a great experience. Since I have installed a 915is, I am taking it slow and easy to get used to the handling with the increased power. I haven't been able to hook up my rotor tach to my MGL display yet. For now I'm without a gauge. The attached pictures are of me doing balancing on the mains down the length of the grass runway into the wind, as a crop duster was using the main RW. Later, I did some more on the asphalt runway where the winds were 90 degrees cross gusting to 15. It was all about managing my rotors to stay at flight RPM with throttle, cyclic and rudders. I was able to use both runways to practice continuously without stopping the rotors, while the winds stayed cross. Needless to say, it was a work out; and the new engine was smooth and the power is incredible. Static thrust was 597 at 14 deg Warp Drive pitch.

Now with a 915is, I was able to get to flight RRPM with 3000 on the engine and balance on the mains. I believe I will be able to get fully airborne with a tad bit more. That will be next week. Once all the kinks have been worked out, I'll try and have some videos taken.

Can't wait to see it. So glad you are flying again

 

[DavePA11]

Congratulations Thomasant! Wow - 915is. Must be a blast. Have fun!

 

[anthom]

Tony:
For 915iS you are using MGL Extreme with RDAC iS. RDAC iS only has one RPM (that of the is Engine). Thus to display your rotor tach, you actually need a second RDAC called RDAC XG just for rotor tach. That is where you would hook in your inductive proximity sensor signal to. Then you need to daisy chain CANBUS from RDAC IS to RDAC XG and then forward to the Extreme. You also have to configure RDAC XG dip switches to tell it that its a slave RDAC.
Given the cost of RDAC XG, you may just want to use your previous analog gauge for rotor RPM and hook it up.

Abid, thank you for the info. I have a RDAC XF that came with the spare monitor that I'm using. I'll see if I can hook that up. The documentation for it says that the DB9 connector has CAN connections. If not, I'll just use the analog gauge.

 

[PJB]

What do you think of the motor?

Not sure if its flagged well but in the UK with the cold ambients over the winter if you try and do power checks before temps are up then it will alarm.

You'll see a Lane B flashing light, Rotax advised that this can occur when there is a temperature difference between the oil temp and coolant temp in excess of 40deg, and when the engine rpm is above some 2800 for about 10secs.

This is to warn the pilot of the temperature difference, and the warning is cancelled by turning Lane B off and on again (which can be caused by the warm-up process, or by loss of coolant or oil in flight).

Obviously this temperature difference will vary between aircraft types, depending on the cooling processes installed. But in the Cavalon aircraft the coolant warms up far quicker than the oil due to the more complex system (dual oil radiators, one controlled by a thermostat), such that such a warning is easily given – and appropriate, to ensure that the oil temp is at least at 50degC before flight.

 

[anthom]

From the couple of trial runs that I've had, I've been told by my buddies at our gyro club that it is a quiet and smooth sounding engine. I will definitely put it through the paces once I address all the small issues first. Overall, I have a 45 lb increase in weight compared to the 912 ULS.

Thank you for pointing out the warning light issue. Interestingly, I did get the flashing light on Lane B and I turned it off and on and it went away. I'll look into it next time for sure. I did the complete HIC wiring myself, and have been doing a considerable amount of reading on the Rotax Owners forum. Abid has also been giving me a lot of input and advice to help me with the transition.

I have installed the oil thermostat and also mounted the intercooler inside with ducting. So I'll know better how those perform when more extensive testing is done. I anticipate that the airflow should be adequate once the take off is initiated.

I've also installed a flashing red LED above the start power switch, which I turn off as soon as soon as I see the voltage rise to 13.5 volts, which tells me that the gens are on. That also turns the LED off. Great engine, and definitely complex.

 

[Sv.grainne]

Did you, or are you planning, to use the 912 on Kermit?

Bobby

 

[anthom]

Yes Bobby. That's my Next project.

 

[Kevin_Richey]

Yes Bobby. That's my Next project.

Antony: Do you have the Yamaha engine/gearbox combo up for sale from Kermit?

 

[anthom]

Kevin, I already sold it to one of our club members.

 

[Abid]

Watch our blog on 915iS install on AR-1

AR-1 Gyroplane - Rotax 915iS 141 HP Engine Installation – SilverLight Aviation

AR-1 gyroplane is getting the latest and greatest Rotax 915iS aircraft engine with fuel injection redundant FADEC and a gutsy 141 horsepower.

silverlightaviation.com

 

[GyrOZprey]

Glad to hear all the "Rave-reviews" about the Rotax 915 .... the high degree of computerization & wiring complexity associated with it ...is REALLY daunting to me! Still ...early days "in the field - usage" ...building fleet hours out there in real-life usage!

Same power range 135-145 available for the Aussies with the "StevePaulet-mod" ... nice & simple decompress ULS 912 ...with a head-shim & intercooler and add a simple reliable Garett manual turbo ..setup on dyno (so no overboosts).....proven amazingly reliable for last 4-5 years! I REALLY wish I had got one on my red TAG ...it was just too new & "unproven with time-in field testing" for me ...in 2016/7 when I bought it!

I'm looking forwards to our newest TAG owner in TX to get his machine inspected and get it flying ... it has the SP-mod!