Back Country Gyro Ops. Equipment, mods, techniques.

Can Sportcopter offer a Jungleman Pete NZ edition with big Alaskan Bush Wheel (ABW) tire package for rear and front?
 
Can Sportcopter offer a Jungleman Pete edition with big Alaskan Tire package for rear and front?
Please give us a call at our office (503)543-7000. We are available Monday thru Friday from 8:00am - 4:30pm PST.
 
Thats a nice looking machine.

Always thought the original was a bit ugly, but you have certainly come up with a wave of the wand there. She looks rather pretty now.
 
Last edited:
View attachment 1152021

The above was sent to us by an Australian customer, who kindly allowed its use.

Pete (Jungleman), your real-world experience posted here is very interesting, and we deeply appreciate your forum enthusiasm for your Sport Copter Vortex M912. You are really showcasing its mission: daily, routine back-country use! There are many "street-bike" gyros out there, but we offer a real "enduro" gyro with mast/rotorhead "In-Air Suspension" and actual shock absorbers. It pleases us to see such great photos and stories of your M912 adventures, enjoying your gyro as it was intended.

We're currently flying off the 40 hours of Phase I for our new M2, and adding its last refinements. It has the suspension and frame "heart" of the M912, but in an enclosed 2-place. Now, you can enjoy M912 fun and utility, yet bring along a friend in heated cabin comfort. (Or, fly it without the doors, which are removable in a minute.) We've so far easily seen 105 mph, and it still wanted more!

The M2's rotorhead is our best yet: simple, streamlined, yet strong enough for a much larger gyro. We've also achieved unheard-of prerotation RRPMs (way over 300!) with aft stick for a much shorter take-off roll. (This nearly immediately gets weight off the tires, an important factor in rough fields.) The M2 will be able to get in—and out of—challenging off-road areas with confidence.

From pasture to paddock—backyard to beach! With the Sport Copter M2, who needs runways?

View attachment 1152019

View attachment 1152020

Sport Copter M2 ground handling

We're now also having a new exciting website designed, incorporating lots of fresh flying videos, photos, plus technical info and comparisons. (We'll announce on the Forum when our new site goes live soon.) Meanwhile, thanks for everyone's interest, and contact us anytime for more info!

http://www.sportcopter.com
[email protected]
503-543-7000

View attachment 1152022
Sportcopter.
Thank you for posting your M2 info & up date.
We are very much looking forward to the first M2 arrival into our group in NZ & to see how all of your research & development plays out in our back country environment.
Pete
 
Martin your welcome glad you enjoyed.

Loftus, probably no book but how about a few videos of future gyro activities.

Wolfy. Yeah thats an interesting take off. Makes you wonder if it was a one off or he goes out of there regularly.
As John said does not look like a lot of aft stick in until the top of the decline.certainly a laundry moment for him I am picking
Backcountry Video.
Loftus.
Here is a backcountry video I said I would put together. Its about 40 mins, so pour yourself a long one & sit back.
If your not a Fleetwood Mac fan then down the volume and play your own, or silent.
Pete.

 
Backcountry Video.
Loftus.
Here is a backcountry video I said I would put together. Its about 40 mins, so pour yourself a long one & sit back.
If your not a Fleetwood Mac fan then down the volume and play your own, or silent.
Pete.

Hi Pete,
Fantastic video! What incredible scenery and flying! You should be hired by NZ tourism board. Coincidentally, I was re-reading all your posts about back country gyro flying and your bush wheel modifications to your gyros last week after meeting a fellow aviator with a Kitfox with the rough terrain tyres for landing in the local mountains around the West coast of Ireland. The re-reading has made me appreciate your efforts and experience even more. Please keep posting more videos and postings re gyro flying in your area. Now that the rain is once again dominating our Irish weather, big wheels on soft runways are becoming very attractive.
Best wishes from Ireland. John H.
PS: Anybody flying an ELA07 gyro with modified front forks to take a bigger nose wheel?
 
Backcountry Video.
Loftus.
Here is a backcountry video I said I would put together. Its about 40 mins, so pour yourself a long one & sit back.
If your not a Fleetwood Mac fan then down the volume and play your own, or silent.
Pete.

Wow Pete! Just spectacular! Unfortunately I'm at work so it will have to wait to play back later on the big screen with a long cold one. I agree with Burrengyro it's worthy of of a NZ Tourism board video. I'd love to share on some of the Facebook gyro groups if you have not already.
Not only is the scenery spectacular, but video quality is great. I'm guessing you used one of the newer GoPros, it's so smooth.
 
Backcountry Video.
Loftus.
Here is a backcountry video I said I would put together. Its about 40 mins, so pour yourself a long one & sit back.
If your not a Fleetwood Mac fan then down the volume and play your own, or silent.
Pete.

WOW!
 
Backcountry Video.
Loftus.
Here is a backcountry video I said I would put together. Its about 40 mins, so pour yourself a long one & sit back.
If your not a Fleetwood Mac fan then down the volume and play your own, or silent.
Pete.
That is a very nicely done video with some exquisite scenery.

Thank you for sharing the fun Pete.
 
Can see why your ‘Jungleman Pete and it’s ‘Tiger country’. Pete that’s a really cool vid, and Fleetwood Mac went along with it very nicely.

Was able to Screen Mirror to the big(-ger) screen, and have a cold one. Amazing scenery.
 
Last edited:
Backcountry Video.
Loftus.
Here is a backcountry video I said I would put together. Its about 40 mins, so pour yourself a long one & sit back.
If your not a Fleetwood Mac fan then down the volume and play your own, or silent.
Pete.

WOW That really is a fantastic video. Thank you so much for posting.
 
WOW That really is a fantastic video. Thank you so much for posting.
Wow Pete! Just spectacular! Unfortunately I'm at work so it will have to wait to play back later on the big screen with a long cold one. I agree with Burrengyro it's worthy of of a NZ Tourism board video. I'd love to share on some of the Facebook gyro groups if you have not already.
Not only is the scenery spectacular, but video quality is great. I'm guessing you used one of the newer GoPros, it's so smooth.
To the above comments your all welcome. Glad you enjoyed it.

Loftus. I do not have facebook so yes post it wherever you wish. I also made it for our hunters. Hence the names etc. Fiordland is a very special place to many Kiwis. Very rugged in parts with a large annual rainfall 7 to 10 meters. Can be very challenging on the ground. At times in the air also.
Yes I used the latest gopro hero 10. Mounted under the landing light on the Magni & bluetooth controlled by my ipad mini. It has amazing stabilisation abilities. Sometimes struggles a bit with white balance on overcast days, might be operator issues there. But for something not much bigger than a box of matches is pretty incredible.
Also on a previous post you were talking about extra maintenance due backcountry & costal ops. I have both. I am on the west coast and our prevailing wind SW. So salt a big problem. So lots of Saltaway & ACF50. Am trying some lanolin
products also.
You mentioned possible rotor head issues etc with rough ground work, I keep a good eye out for main blade root cracking etc. All good there so far. I just completed the second 500 head overhaul. All was like new in there. While doing the videoing I was also testing a new nose wheel suspension assy that I had been working on for some time. That is working out very well & further reducing shock loads and helping to stop the nose wheel from getting kicked into the air on humps or bigger rocks.
Biggest issue is props. For the last 600 hrs just the odd small chip then in 10 hrs quite severe damage to two blades.
With the 915 we are using DUC props and they have the blade serial numbers and weights recorded & send a replacement blade. So that makes it relatively easy. So the main unscheduled cost with back country work for me anyway will be props. Erosion on the sand & dings on the gravel.
Pete
 
Biggest issue is props.
Pete,

Try a prop guard on the keel below your prop. My neighbor is building a Long EZ and made me a thin plate out of fiberglass to test - see pic. It weighs almost nothing.

Prop protector.jpg

I operate from a grass strip, but the base is granite gravel. This seems to help.

Eric
 
Waterfalls are cool. Makes me want to buy an M22 and put big tires on it. Thanks for posting! Eric’s gravel guard looks like a great idea!
You could also put some sort of fender over the rear tires to prevent rock and dirt from being kicked up into the prop. Not the wheel pants, but just wide fenders over the back and top of the tire.
 
Last edited:
Waterfalls are cool. Makes me want to buy an M22 and put big tires on it. Thanks for posting! Eric’s gravel guard looks like a great idea!
You could also put some sort of fender over the rear tires to prevent rock and dirt from being kicked up into the prop. Not the wheel pants, but just wide fenders over the back and top of the tire.
Eric & Dave.
Thanks for that. Yes I have experimented with various prototypes. See pics. The prop guard seemed to help stop the swirl picking up sand forward left of the keel. Even though the ground clearance is increased with the 26” tyres Iit seemed the nose wheel was flicking up sand and small pebbles & some of these were probably then being pulled through the prop. I tried a flap that retracted automatically with airspeed. Looked at mudguard on the front also.
Have also looked at them for the rear tyres but to really be effective they need to be fairly substantial. Drag etc becomes a consideration. Most of the objects comming off the tyres seems to miss the prop. My main prop dings seem to come from stones being pinched between the tyre and another stone ( possibly inboard side of the tyre).
Similar to when one hits your vehicle windshield. Mudguards may not stop these.
Still am looking at various ideas, including a fine net arrangement I have seen on Trikes.
Pete

The prototype prop guard was made from a discarded road sign, complete with bullet holes. Had numerous comments from folk when they spotted them & I said I got shot at fairly often.

5BEE782E-B0B3-4D13-8482-05D8BA877896.png70941C76-048A-47C7-959C-62BABBED581A.png1
 
Last edited:
Anyone have experience with: https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/appages/propguard.php ?
PROP GUARD is a 0.018" thick clear anti-abrasion boot that is bonded to the leading edge of the propeller
PROP GUARD is made from a special high strength heat processed polymer engineered for centrifugal loads. It is NOT just a piece of tape!
Easy to install (approximately 20 minutes installation time)
No performance loss
Fully tested
Repairable
STC FAA-PMA approved (minor alteration, no form 337 required)
 
Pete,

Try a prop guard on the keel below your prop. My neighbor is building a Long EZ and made me a thin plate out of fiberglass to test - see pic. It weighs almost nothing.

View attachment 1153352

I operate from a grass strip, but the base is granite gravel. This seems to help.

Eric
I prefer a thin piece of aluminium, less chance of vibration cracking .... I think ?
 
Amazing Pete, so many good reasons to visit NZ but naturally the scenery is a huge draw card so much of it packed into that tiny place down there.

wolfy
 
My wife and I did a dream vacation a couple of years ago. We did a self guided tour of the south island on a BMW GS1200.
The scenery there was indescriabable.
We did however get blown almost completely off the road at the Gates of Haas!
Do you deal with winds like that often? 70 mph sustained is nuts!
Also, there was a small airstip near the star observatory and mountain which I cant reme.ber the name of.
I looked but didn't see any gyros there.
 
Top