Chuck Beaty

Mayfield

Gold Supporter
Joined
Oct 30, 2003
Messages
2,240
Location
Avondale, Arizona
Aircraft
Aero SP AT-4 (Gobosh 700X), TAG Titanium Explorer
Is anyone in touch with Chuck? I know he was a fixture at Bensen Days for many years. His acerbic manner, more incisive than sarcastic, was always educational and entertaining.

When Chuck and Ernie held court, we all listened and enjoyed.

Jim
 
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I've noticed his absence & wondered if health reasons were why he hasn't been the forum since mid-November.

I've always enjoyed anything he posts, appreciating the humor @ times. Like the frenchman Jean Claude's posts, I always have to read their scientific writings several times to get just a slice of what they are conveying.

Edit: I sent an email this AM to Chuck's address ([email protected] ) that he used. It immediately bounced back as no such address...
Any Floridians know anything about him?
 
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Been wondering the same, he was a fund of information and a regular, hope he's OK.
 
I don't really know how old Chuck is. I suspect he's in his mid-eighties. I miss his postings.

I know each generation has its "characters" who impress themselves upon us. Chuck stands out even in a world containing Dennis Fetters, Doug Riley, Vance Breese, John Rountree, and too many others to list. Each of the aforementioned stand out in their own way. They each have contributed to the gyro mythos in positive or negative ways; and sometimes both........at the same time.

We live in interesting times, in a world populated with interesting people.
 
I'm from the old forum, when gyro stability was a hot topic and folks like Chuck and Doug Riley took their time to go into great detail to help folks like me understand it, and least more than before.
IMO Chuck has contributed more than a great deal to gyro development.
I hope he's ok and realizes how much he has helped.
 
Does Chuck live in Plant City, Florida? I see one Chuck (Charles A.) Beaty listing in Plant City.
 
You got the right state and middle initial anyway...
 
Hi Tyler,

I knew Chuck lives in Florida. I assumed his first name was Charles. According to the website that has Charles A. Beaty living in Plant City, that person is 92. I don't know Chuck's age but that may be him.
 
I think that is our C.A. Beaty, he is close or at 90 y/o, great contributions to us all gyronuts!
I miss many people from the Old Forum, finding this community was a blessing!
Thank you all
 
I don't know how many on the forum remember but, although I was the “conceptual” designer of the Sparrowhawk, Chuck Beaty and Ernie Boyette were truly the fathers.

I was the COO of Groen Brothers Aviation at the time. I remember reading repeated stories about fatal accidents involving the RAF 2000. We (GBA) asked Don LaFleur and Dan Haseloh to allow us to design some changes for the RAF 2000. We offered pro bono publico engineering support for the endeavor. Don and Dan turned us down. They indicated that the RAF 2000 was perfectly safe as it was and that even a horizontal stabilizer would “spoil” its handling.

At the time, I owned a RAF 2000 with a not very effective horizontal stabilizer. I had long admired how Ernie and Chuck had designed the Dominator. I called Ernie and told him I planned to have our engineering staff design and fabricate a RAF 2000 modification kit using my RAF as the test bed. Ernie said, “go for it.”

I sketched a side view of a RAF with drop keel, inverted PSRU, and a landing gear high enough to make it work. It looked like an enclosed, rather ugly, Dominator.

I turned the sketch over to our engineers and asked them to devote some time to the new project. We were working hard on the Hawk 5 project so bleeding off engineering assets was painful. It was worth it.

Early on in the design effort it became apparent that we could/should continue the project to include a complete aircraft. American Autogyros Inc. was formed in Buckeye, Arizona, as a division of GBA, in 2002. I believe I did the first test flight in 2003.

This abbreviated timeline of Sparrowhawk development is an attempt to explain the debt we owe to Chuck and Ernie for their inspiration. I've lost touch with both of them, but I wish them well and thank them for their help over the years.

Jim
 
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What happened to your own personal gyro design that you were working on? I can’t remember the name but I thing it sounded like a German name?
 
I named it Gestalt. It became a victim of life moving on.

Shortly after welding up the fuselage and buying most of the components, the FAA asked me to start giving fixed wing practical tests as a DPE. I had been a gyroplane DPE since 1994, so the airplane add-on to my designation was pretty easy. I don't remember exactly when I stopped giving gyro check rides, but believe it was around 2007.

I started the airplane DPE endeavor in mid 2006 and retired from my designation in the spring of 2020. I gave around 300 airplane practical tests a year for 14 years until retirement.

Now I just putt-putt around in my little fixed wing LSA. Life is good.
 

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So, HOW IS Chuck? Florida guys, can you call Ernie or his son Mike (sorry to intrude on you) and ask them? Maybe Chuck is busy, doesn't feel well, doesn't want to be bugged now for some reason, etc...
 
Did not see him at Bensen days.
 
I don't know how many on the forum remember but, although I was the “conceptual” designer of the Sparrowhawk, Chuck Beaty and Ernie Boyette were truly the fathers.

I was the COO of Groen Brothers Aviation at the time. I remember reading repeated stories about fatal accidents involving the RAF 2000. We (GBA) asked Don LaFleur and Dan Haseloh to allow us to design some changes for the RAF 2000. We offered pro bono publico engineering support for the endeavor. Don and Dan turned us down. They indicated that the RAF 2000 was perfectly safe as it was and that even a horizontal stabilizer would “spoil” its handling.

At the time, I owned a RAF 2000 with a not very effective horizontal stabilizer. I had long admired how Ernie and Chuck had designed the Dominator. I called Ernie and told him I planned to have our engineering staff design and fabricate a RAF 2000 modification kit using my RAF as the test bed. Ernie said, “go for it.”

I sketched a side view of a RAF with drop keel, inverted PSRU, and a landing gear high enough to make it work. It looked like an enclosed, rather ugly, Dominator.

I turned the sketch over to our engineers and asked them to devote some time to the new project. We were working hard on the Hawk 5 project so bleeding off engineering assets was painful. It was worth it.

Early on in the design effort it became apparent that we could/should continue the project to include a complete aircraft. American Autogyros Inc. was formed in Buckeye, Arizona, as a division of GBA, in 2002. I believe I did the first test flight in 2003.

This abbreviated timeline of Sparrowhawk development is an attempt to explain the debt we owe to Chuck and Ernie for their inspiration. I've lost touch with both of them, but I wish them well and thank them for their help over the years.

Jim
You flew the rotors off your RAF if I recall correctly. I always thought you were a great pilot because you flew in Arizona in the afternoon haha.
 
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