Helicycle-- Hoverings & Happenings

Very windy today...so I thought I would take up the Helicycle. The winds were around 25-30 and gusty. I headed with the wind and set a new speed record while I was checking on the farms.

My GPS showed 140 mph while my ASI indicated 110 mph. I still could maintain 80 mph groundspeed going into the wind.

I landed over on one of dads farms in some grass , just because it was there and I could. ha

The first and 2nd picture are of the confined area I flew into at the Bed and Breakfast. The third picture you can see my skid cam mount that I use for my videos. I can simply reach out the door and turn the camera off and on. Someday I will get one like Gabor has with a remote switch. Maybe I could mount the camera on my tail.....


Stan
 

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Oh nice pictures Buddy!!!

It really does look like fun, thanks for sharing!
 
Tim- Now that would be cool to train your African Grey to make spool down noises. Stan
 
Tim- Now that would be cool to train your African Grey to make spool down noises. Stan

Stan, he already makes the jets landing sounds, it's pretty funny to hear.

I downloaded a clip of a 206 jet ranger starting, going to try and teach him that one also.

these birds are so smart it is scary.
 
Come ride with me on my flight yesterday. I was practicing some 180 descents to a hover.....and just plain whimsical flying as usual. If I see something moving....I go hover and look at it....


Helicycle over Illinois - YouTube



Stan
 
Life is good!
I do enjoy sharing it with you, way to fly!!!!
 
I had a big laugh today. The farmer that I have been flying around his combine and I were eating together at the local farmers restaurant. This is also my cousin who farms all my dads ground. He said one day he was combining and felt this weird pulsating, and a screaching noise . He thought he was hearing and feeling a major bearing going out. Just then I hover taxied alongside him on his left. He was hearing the turbine exhaust coming out the right side and the pulsating would have been the outflow of the rotor hitting the broad flat sheet metal side of the combine. I was actually flying in ground and "combine" effect! He laughed and said it sounded terrible for a few secods then got real quiet as I passed him. He is all done farming now, so tomorrow I will have to go find another farmer to help get his crops in. Stan
 
Another awesome video Stan. Every time I watch another video of you flying I look at my little piggy bank and with it would get bigger quicker. Quick question for you. Does the Helicycle have some sort of engine air filtration system or particle separator to keep your inlet air free of contamination? I wouldn't imagine ingesting a few leaves or an odd corn husk every now and again would cause a flameout, but I'd guess that continued exposure to that kind of stuff could really shorten the life of your turbine. Not trying to discourage, just curious.
Anyway, keep posting those video's man! I get more jealous with every one!
 
Jon- You are absolutely correct that continued exposure to that kind of debris would shorten the life of the turbine. If you notice, I get the heck out of there when I get into my recirculation. I am trying to keep enough forward speed to stay out of it. There is a 360 degree mesh screen that keeps larger debris out. Stan
 
The turbine is lighting off nicely after my wiring change. I took it for about an hour flight today. Landed on my lot next to my home...did some yard work.....then flew over to a friends home where he waved me in....so I landed. Mike was a classmate of mine and he gets a kick out of my obsession for helicopters. It was a beautiful day to go explore and watch all the field work going on from a low hover. Today was perfect as it is windy enought that I can hover over fresh harvested fields as the combines are going by....and be in translational lift so that all the debris is behind me and not getting recirculated. I had a farmer tell me that I should see the whirlwind behind the helicopter.....it looked like an elongated hollow bowl trailing off the rear tips of my rotor to about 40 feet behind me. No videos today.....and I dont take pictures when I am near the ground hovering.....



Stan
 

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I had a wild hair and had to go chop some air awhile ago. Very good day for carb ice with all the moisture and cool temps out. A quick flight of 8 miles to our farthest farm saw my cousin finishing up putting on anhydrous ammonia, so then I went to see if the wind turbine erectors needed any help. I wasnt able to capture the flying down low and slow.....but thats what its all about. :yo:

Stan
 

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Burnt some kerosene late yesterday. The weather finally straightened out and it was a lot of fun checking out stuff again.


I picked the exact wrong time to come into my chopper channel. The setting sun was burning dead center down the channel. It was so bad I just came down outside the woods and hovered out of the sun....then just hover taxied down my channel watching the skid.

If the wind is coming out of the direction of a setting sun.....I always prepare myself to not set up into the sun as it would be extremely difficult to gauge the flare......so I plan on landing 45 degrees to the left or right of the sun if I were to enter an auto.

This is where clean clear windshields are important. A little dust on them...or improper windshield polishing makes them scatter light terribly.


Stan
 

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Took a long noon hour and burned some kerosene awhile ago. It was cold out, but sunny.....and warm as toast in my solar heated cabin. We had a 1/4 inch of snow last night and just traces of it were left.

I flew down in some out of the way nooks and crannies....I was asked by a neighbor why I fly down in all the out of the way places.....besides the first answer which is "because I can", the second answer is that I just never tire of reaching down into the landscape.....borrowing the air for a runway at a few feet of altitude, and just sit there hovering, then moving on to another place to explore. What is cool to me is that as I go from hover through translational lift....I observe how I need a lot of collective at first...then have to lower it and add right pedal as I transition out. Keeping in contact with these little details makes me absolutely fond of experiencing this new chapter in my life that is a thriller.

Machines report----

The blades were happy in the cold air....

all the systems were running complacently smooth...

very smooth rotor....

can barely here the turbine running with my full doors on....

Then I look around the beautiful big blue sky and I felt like I was the only one in Illinois flying. I know I was the only Helicycle!

still cant believe flying this thing.....

Looking forward to flying over heavy snows that we will be receiving anytime now.


1st picture is my fueling up inside my shop. I keep my kerosene with biobor added in 55 gallon drums with a hand cranked pump. Fuel stays at a constant temperature....no moisture problems.... I did get a bad batch of fuel last winter when my main fuel supplier ran out...and I went to a local gas station. It looked clean...but it wasnt much later I had my gascolator filter getting plugged with algae. Started immediately with biobor and I havent seen so much as a piece of anything on the filters....except a small plastic shaving that came out of my fuel tank from adding a larger fuel port.

The next few pictures are my shop and chopper channel in my little woods. That hole was from the tornado in 2004 that destroyed my shop with me in it.


Stan
 

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