Heavy stick Magni:
Magni originally thought the heavy stick was the result of control pivot friction, issuing a service bulletin entitled “Fictionalizing the Controls.”
I didn’t pay much attention to the heavy stick issue, having previously heard the first US Magni dealer, Bill Parsons bitch about the heavy stick and blaming it on the horizontal stabilizer. Bill thought horizontal stabilizers were dangerous, believing that a strong gust could blow the tail up and into the rotor.
A number of years later, Aussie David Bird (Birdy) flew one and also bitched about the heavy stick. Greg Gremminger informed Birdy that the heavy stick was the result of control pivot friction pointing him toward the Magni service bulletin. Birdy replied, “Where does the friction go when the gyro is on the ground with rotor stopped?” At that point I jumped in and suggested the heavy stick was the result of nose heaviness. Greg replied. “not so,” producing a blade sample section cut from mid span that was properly balanced chordwise.
Then Averso posted photos of a Magni rotor cross section at both root and tip ends showing the heavily tapered spar that made the rotor quite nose heavy at the tip end. The tapered spar isn’t all that relevant; lead or brass internal nose weights near the tips could accomplish the same thing.