First Flight of new Gyrobee - Lansing, IL

[Adam H]

Well, we finally got it done just enough for a first flight. We had a slight prerotator malfunction, so the blades had to be hand started. Nick Costa had the honors and did a fine job. The gyro is as close to an ultralight as a 503 gyrobee with a Wunderlich prerotator can get can possibly get, I honestly don't know how we could have made it any lighter. It was test flown with the club's (PRA 18, Greater Midwest Rotorcraft Club) set of slightly abused 23' McCutcheon blades, the gyro was reported to be "very floaty". It flew well and made several patterns and fly-bys. Here is a video of Nick giving us a nice demonstration of how slowly a Gyrobee can fly inches over your head: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYua0woZ_B8

Picture 1: Matt N. helping to get the blades going
Picture 2: Nick flying by
Picture 3: Nick and I proudly posing next to our new bee
Picture 4: Tom Milton haulin' across a field to see our new bee fly
picture 5: The Gyrobee after first flight

 

[scottessex]

Good job guys!

 

[Ralph]

Excellent job guys!

Ralph

 

[Friendly]

What is the final weight?

 

[OuterMarker]

Kudos to all! I look forward to a short talk and to see a demo flight this weekend.....
albert

 

[cgmg]

Good Job Guys!

Is it coming to Shelbyville with you?

 

[Adam H]

The true weight will be determined this weekend when we will weigh it with Tom's aircraft scales. Yes, it will be at Shelbyville.

 

[Doug Riley]

Adam, I imagine you know that you can shave off a good 30 lb. by using Dragon Wings blades. They will work fine for you since you have a strong prerotator. They'll even give you a bit of a performance edge over the McC's, though both are efficient blades.

 

[All_In]

Way to go guys!!!

Thanks for the pictures and update of your progress.

Keep us informed!

 

[scottessex]

Slightly off topic,
but is that Tom's CX500 that he is riding?
I had 2 of those bikes,a custom, and a deluxe,
Most dependable easy to maintain bike honda ever made, I would love to have another.

Anyhow, great job on the ultralight gyro.

 

[Adam H]

Doug,
Eventually, when funds allow, we will buy a set of DWs for it. Until then we will be using Bensens. We have a few different hub bars, so we are going to experiment a little bit with the length. The McC's were just the quick, proven choice to throw on it for the test flight.

Scott,
I'm not sure what model it is but I know that people are always offering to buy it.

 

[Jens]

Beautiful simple

Beautiful simple

Very nice, and beautiful simple machine well done.

An overheadstick was not in consideration?

 

[jcarleto]

Nice looking Bee. A question for you:

How much does the total installation for the pre-rotator add, weight-wise?

*JC*

 

[Adam H]

Jens,
Nope, we didn't even consider an overhead stick. No one who flies in our club has ever flown one.

JC,
I've never weighed a prerotator, but I've heard it adds about 30 pounds total.

 

[barnstorm2]

Beeutiful!

.

 

[greg spicola]

Congrads That is a great looking lil' machine

 

[GyroRon]

There is a bike under Tom?

Nice job guys, I like it!

 

[StanFoster]

Guys....looking good! You have a gyrohatchery going for sure.


Stan

 

[thirdy8special]

What is the gyrobee's final weight?

 

[RockyMeLad]

Yet another "Bee", and it works as advertised.

Very nice, guys!