Bandit Gyrocopter

Viper22

Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2004
Messages
103
Location
Independence, MO.
Aircraft
Miway Breezy (Builder) - 304PR
Total Flight Time
150 hours
https://redding.craigslist.org/bar/5865327588.html

There is a Bandit Gyrocopter listed on Craigslist in Redding California ... have tried emailing, texting, calling (get message that user is not accepting calls at this time) ... does anyone possibility know who this person is? Ad says name is Dan ... if you know this person can you contact and see if the gyro is still available and if good contact info can be relayed. Thanks for any help.
 
You can always make the horizontal stabilizer larger.
 
I saw that machine when I drove back from Washington state,it needs lot of work ,the blades are useless with the hub bar in the pictures , hub bar is not original and the person who made it did not know what he was doing ,I told Dan that his asking price is way too high.
 
Best file under B for bin.
 
Bandit gyro by Joe Sousa

Bandit gyro by Joe Sousa

I remember reading on the forum years back (possibly the other, old forum, owned by the guy in Orlando, FL, before this one, Todd's current forum), about how JoeSousa came up with his Bandit gyroplane design with that welded airframe.

Combined with a Rotax 503, using Rotordyne blades, it met FAA Part 103 regs. There was a heavier version, powered by a Subaru automobile engine, using one of Joe Sousa's reduction drives. There was a very active PRA chapter there in the Roseville (?) Ca. area. Many flyers bought Joe's gyros.

Then, one young (in his 20s) fellow hit very hard while landing (how...??) and the fuel tanks, which were mounted outside of the frame, at the CG (also where the pilot sat inboard) came off and ruptured. The gasoline somehow caught fire, and the guy was severely burned, dying several months later. The gyro group appeared to dry up not long after that.
 
Post is diverging ... I'm just trying to reach this Dan person who posted on Craigslist with the Bandit ... so any help in that direction would be appreciated.
 
Yes,Kevin, I was in that group. Great time. 24 members. Respectable old wolfs : Bob Aspergren,Joe Souza,Bob Lewis,Mark Givans,Gary Brewer ..... Great guys.
About the fatal accident with Troy Taylor. Good and kind soul guy. Was ready to fly after 4 hours instruction. For some reason ,when his Sub engine stoped (water in the fuel?) after taking off,he pulled stick back (instead off pushing forward and getting some speed),hit the runway hard,sparks from the frame,fuel from the tanks and.....a lot of burned body..
Nothing to do with a gyro, but Joe Souza immediately went back to the old fuel tank style to save other accidental souls.
I still fly ( not as much ,because I still hate " busy airports". Even that small ones like mine at Yolo county) and enjoy my Bandit
 
Thank you,Marion.You are our Gyro Goddess. And to be remembered by you is like to get a Medal of Honer.Thank you again and Happy Holidays.
Georgi.
P.S. Rando,of coarse CLT are more efficient and forgiving then HLT. And if you are happened to be in a situation in HLT with FULL power and zero speed (like in a steep "forever" clime) then you are a tumbling toast. But in a car you don't step hard on your gas pedal before full stop ( unless you are a former navy pilot :) ) either.
 
Rando, the myth about problems with the Bandit were brought by people who never flew them and had financial interests in other makes. Having flown Joe's gyros I can honestly state they were a most forgiving and easy to fly machine. Like most Gyro designs there have deaths, two exactly. Both of these were not the fault of the design. On Troys crash he went out by himself after filling his tanks from fuel cans that were outside on his trailer. I was proven they contained water by our FSDO. Troy was 50 feet in the air doing a steep climb out. His engine quit and he ran out of altitude. When his Gyro hit it collapsed the landing gear. Troy had installed fiberglass side tanks to extend his range. The Gyro rolled onto its side and ruptured the tank. Gas and sliding metal don't mix. Several months later Troy died from an infection. He left a wife and two kids.
The second was a guy who had been an ultralight instructor. He bought a two place, took lessons but didn't adhere to his restriction of flying in light to no wind conditions only. He took up a customer (he was giving flight instruction) on a windy day, lost control, hit the ground in a downwind condition and bounced the Gyro. The Gyro rolled front to tail resting inverted. It was an ugly sight. After these two accidents the steam went out of all of us. We had spent months with these guys and we all felt the loss. The members of the chapter moved on to other interests sans a few. Joe moved to Nevada, George moved to N.M, Gary Brewer moved to Ill, Mark Givans moved to Arkansas, Jerry Hightower died, Carl Rambo had health issues and is now gone, and our group thinned down to Bob Aspegren, Georgi and
me. After a while it was just Bob A at the meetings. So Chapter 5 and the Bandit Gyro faded into history. But, that could change again !
 
The welded frame is a fine idea, just as it was in Jerry Barnett's designs and the one-off Predator.

The Bandit is clearly quite HTL, requiring a huge HS (which it had) to compensate. As a previous poster pointed out, the HS does not necessarily work at low airspeeds and high throttle settings, unless it reliably catches the full prop blast. The Bandit's HS may not do this, since it's placed low on the frame.

If a competently-constricted Bandit airframe landed in my lap, I'd probably re-configure it to raise the front half, and re-position the HS to place it within the prop blast.
 
Doug I'll bet if you flew the Bandit you would leave it as is. It flys great. I can say this after flying in several different designs. The high thrust line vs stab position is a good theory but, flying the Bandit proves there is more to that equation than just those two points. If you look at the two place Bandit the thrust line was centralized and the stab was larger. The two place never had the Flying qualities of the original single place. Anyway, this topic has been beaten to death so I'll stop here.
 
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