It's been my intention to create a thread about our experiences mounting and flying the GT blades on the ELA we have here in Texas but I haven't gotten around to it yet.
The information I have on the GT and ELA rotor is they both are using the 8H12 profile, refer to this document here on the ELA
https://www.elaaviacion.com/wp-conte...djust-2015.pdf.
GT has two options, the standard 8h12 or a modified one, we are flying the standard 8h12.
In a nut shell lift, glide and maximum speed are degraded compared to the ELAs, takeoff distance is longer.
Landing performance is more desirable, the ELAs will float more after the flare but then loose energy quickly and can drop you in, the GTs don't float and being a higher inertia blade hang in better for a smoother landing. Sticking a spot on the ground is more accurate with the GTs.
The GTs are definitely smoother and the main reason for trying the rotor, we've never been able to get the ELA rotor vibration to a desirable level. The GTs are also more stable in turbulent air and at high speed flight compared to the ELAs.
Handling qualities are better with a lighter stick despite the higher inertia (the GT rotor is about 14 lbs heavier than the ELA) but we found it necessary to install the GT rotor head to get rid of some undesirable rotor feedback and oscillation. The GT rotor has very little coning angle, they fly very flat and as such have about one inch less undersling compared to the ELA rotor, this caused issues flying them in the ELA rotor head so the ultimate solution was to install the GT rotor head which has shorter towers compared to the ELA.
There were a few teething issues we encountered mounting the rotor, it turned out to be not quite the plug-and-play solution we where hoping for but I will say the dealer here in the US and the factory in Poland have been very helpful, Gyrotech seems genuinely interested in maturing their product given their support to us.
Flight testing continues.
Here's an earlier video we shot (in rather poor conditions) showing the GTs in action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0ydBw2BJgg