Chapter18's luck

[gyroplanes]

Our chapter decided to design and build a gyro. Nothing radical, just cheap, stable and as close to proven technologies as possible.

Instead of not seeing each other but once a month during the winter, we now convene every Wednesday night at the Sun Aero Helicopters Inc. in Lansing, Illinois and build our project.

Ken Janik, the kind hearted owner of Sun Aero, is allowing our chapter members to work on their gyros in the newly constructed company hangar.

The two R-22s in the hangar belong to our club members as well, but are on lease back to the Sun Aero flight school. Chuck, "Gyrochuck" Roberg owns the white Robbie and Chris Laskey the blue model.

1) Chapter 18's "fleet" 3 gyros, 2 helos and 1 airplane.

2) Secretary Nick Costa installs the club project's new nosewheel assembly while Joe Day reattaches the lower forward keel.

3) Joe Day reattaching the fwd lwr keel he and Jim Schuler removed to run the "hidden" rudder cables through.

4) Matt Novotoney deburrs the inside of a push rod tube on his 'Bee gyro project. Matt's ship will be Hirth powered and shoud be airworthy in a few weeks.

 

[GyroChuck]

Who's the guy in the second pix with the glasses and green coat. George???

 

[Rick Whittridge]

Looks like FUN to me. Nice setup Tom.

 

[gyroplanes]

Some more Chapter 18 pictures

Some more Chapter 18 pictures

1) Chuck Roberg's pride & joy. Knees visible beneath the R22 are those of Tom's son, Mike Milton, who is finishing Chuck's 100 hour inspection.

2) Chapter VP, Jim Schuler, running the rudder cable sheath through the keels.

3) The new nose wheel assembly. Features mechanical disc brake, spring suspension. Rugged and good looking. I think Adam Helwich wrote about it on the forum in another thread.

4) Club pres, Adam Helwich and Nick C. offer advice to Matt on his Hirth installation. Matt is probably humming "Turkey in the Straw" and visualizing black & white cartoons of farm animals dancing in his head while they drone on. (It works for Homer Simpson)

 

[gyroplanes]

Yeah Rick, we are a lucky bunch. This project has really brought most of our club together. We have a few unhappy members that think we might be squandering the club's money on this, but in the long run I think the club will really benefit from the build.

We joke around about being the "Monster Hangar Build Team" ala Jesse James and the monster garage. Our gyro is designed and built to fly well and probably will not morph into a lawn mower or golf ball picker upper as some hoped.

We will probably offer the build documentation via the club's web site www.gyroclub.com after completion and test flights. We have 7 or 8 current builders who each ponied up some cash to buy the raw materials.

The gyro will be a flying test bed for various tails and engine combinations among other things. It is a work in progress.

 

[PW_Plack]

Tom, are you guys collaborating on just one copy of the new machine, or is more than one underway? Any intent to share plans or materials sourcing if it turns out to be a good machine?

Will this be a single-place machine which club members can use to solo after being signed off by an instructor? (If it is, you know we'll all be watching to see how the arrangement works!)

 

[Rando]

We have a few unhappy members that think we might be squandering the club's money on this, but in the long run I think the club will really benefit from the build.

I didn't know Kenny J. was in your club!

 

[Timchick]

I didn't know Kenny J. was in your club!

He's been threatening to stop paying his dues over it.

 

[Heron]

We don't have unhappy members in our club . . .I shot them all!
Heron
so far so good . . .next stop another trainer maybe side-by-side

 

[gyroplanes]

Chapter 18's project

Chapter 18's project

The project grew out of Pres. Adam's desire to move up from his 'Bee gyro. Adam was asking me about SnoBird and other gyros from the past. All of the usual questions came up; powerplant? tail design? sprung suspension? etc. so we decided to build a project test bed gyroplane.

As you can see from the photos, it is probably closest to a Rotorhawk Falcon in design. It has been laid out to accomodate a number of changes including engines, tail and landing gear designs.

We first went with cable actuated go kart drum brakes. Getting the brakes to activate uniformly was a problem and caused swerving.

Adam found a "Go ped" wheel and fork assembly with brakes that fit the bill.

We currently have a Rotax 447 fitted. The plan was to keep the powerplant and rotor the same as Adam & Nick's 'Bee so a real comparison could be made. We will probably move up to a 532 next and Dragon Wings blades to bring it to the next level.

Adam is considering the HKS engine and it will first be test flown on this ship as well.

Our club voted to fund the raw building materials for 10 gyroplanes. Myself and 6 others bought into the project and the club actually funded very little.
The dissention came from using club's money to house the gyro in other than the club's hangar. We are paying $40. a month to store and work on our project in a heated hangar during the winter.

In the end, what we will probably wind up with is an airframe with a bunch of extra holes with a 447 engine on it. If a member wants to try out something new and doesn't want to add holes to his airframe, our's will be available.

We have a set of slightly damaged Skywheels that the club loans to members for their first trips down the runway.

Once the project has successfuly test flown and proven it's self, I and others will begin to cut our tubing. Mass producing cheek plates and cluster plates will cut down the build time.

We are hoping that club members with older style unstable gyros will use their components to build a newer safer and more efficient design.

We see the possibility of putting the build documentation on our web site and possibly offering a raw materials kit at fly-ins. Helicopter ED and the Cincinnati chapter used to offer a raw materials tubing bundle.

 

[Harry_S.]

Great project Tom.

Sounds like y'all have a *working* Chapter except for a few mal-contents.
Good luck!


Cheers

 

[StanFoster]

Tom: That Monster garage thing is so cool. If it werent so far....I would stop by on wed nights. Keep it up...that has to be a good motivator for the newbies and the oldies as well.


Stan

 

[KenSandyEggo]

"I didn't know Kenny J. was in your club!"

I'm a semi-pseudo honorary member.

 

[gyroplanes]

"I didn't know Kenny J. was in your club!"

I'm a semi-pseudo honorary member.

All former Chicago cops are honorary members, especially the two that own the Whisky a-go-go in LA.

 

[MrGrey]

First off, I am more than happy to be a member of the PRA chapter 18.... With the influx of new blood (including myself) we are really getting excited about flying as a club and planning events and trips. I must say that having so many working members gives me a real sense of security knowing I can ask questions regarding my build to create the safest possible set up I can. I hope to continue to invest more time in the club come summer.