Increased Visibility Striping on Top of Rotor Blades

[okikuma]

Increased Visibility Striping on Top of Rotor Blades

This is something all gyroplane owners should adopt to increase the visibility of gyroplanes to all other aircraft. Helicopter manufacturers have been promoting this for years. The best contrast, red and white.

This is a great safety initiative and campaign the PRA needs to promote.

Wayne

 

[bryancobb]

I figured the place to go for the best info on this would be to Robinson. I copied them on my Mini-500 blades.

 

[okikuma]

I figured the place to go for the best info on this would be to Robinson. I copied them on my Mini-500 blades.View attachment 1159609

Bryan,

Those colors are OK and are very helplful, however to my eye, the red and white contrast is the best.

Wayne

 

[Vance]

I think it is a good idea.

I feel it is important to remember that painting stripes on a rotor blade is enough to unbalance it so it should be done carefully.

In my opinion alternate color stripes on the opposite rotor blade is the easiest to see and the hardest to do successfully.

 

[Aerofoam]

I always liked the single white rotor blade scheme, the asymmetric look of the rotation is very noticeable.
You could probably do this with premium sign vinyl, if you did both sides evenly, it would maintain balance, but I think the LE would get chewed up..

 

[WaspAir]

Likelihood of maintaining precise balance is very low, no matter how evenly you try. When I put a single replacement blade on my Bell, we were adding just one chord wise wrap of half inch masking tape at the tip as our balancing increment. It can be VERY sensitive, especially for long span

 

[Brent Drake]

I can easily see a balance and track issue if not done correctly.

 

[MikeBoyette]

Dad used to do one dark blade and one white blade. Drives your eyes nuts and forces you to pay attention.

 

[bryancobb]

I always liked the single white rotor blade scheme, the asymmetric look of the rotation is very noticeable.
You could probably do this with premium sign vinyl, if you did both sides evenly, it would maintain balance, but I think the LE would get chewed up..

Especially on slow-turning rotors like UH-1H (294-324).

 

[bryancobb]

I can easily see a balance and track issue if not done correctly.

My yellow & white blades were base coat/clear coat. Any paint coats aft of 25% chord was very light. Forward of 25%, I was liberal with the paint. Then, I used clear coat thickness to CG match the blades, span-wise, again, thin coats aft of 25%. I mounted the entire rotor system on a motorcycle wheel balancer to apply the very last coats at the tips for very fine static balancing. That made dynamic balancing really easy.

 

[Resasi]

While flying in proximity with other gyros I have found that polished aluminium makes for a very visible feature, particularly in bright sunshine. The flashing of the blades stands out well with no risk of blade imbalance that one has with paint or other adhesive coatings.

All it requires is elbow grease and a good blade polish. I found Purple Polish a very effective rotor blade treatment that would bring blades up to a mirror finish.

Neglecting upkeep results in dull grey blades with no reflective surfaces and they do become much harder to see.

 

[Aerofoam]

Especially on slow-turning rotors like UH-1H (294-324).

That's actually what I was thinking about, I recall the visual to be so disturbing that it demanded a double take
to make sure you knew what you were looking at!

 

[Aerofoam]

A friend of mine from former RC sailplane days use to sell a tough premium sign vinyl that had longitudinal laser etching and we would cut it into
1" strips to use on the outboard leading edges of the 10' to 14' wings.
When flying above 1000' you could see the flash from the LE every time the plane circled and it allowed you to orient the plane when it
was basically out of sight.
I think this may be a good candidate because it is tougher than sign vinyl, can be used in very small amounts and still be effective and this
would also make balance issues a non event if applied evenly.
I will have to call him to find out what the pattern actually is, I remember it was hard to find and I use to purchase sign vinyl for my slope glider kits.
Even my suppliers didn't know what it was, or where to find it....

 

[Strike]

Ho pensato che il posto dove andare per avere le migliori informazioni al riguardo sarebbe stato Robinson. Li ho copiati sulle mie lame Mini-500.View attachment 1159609

QThese are my shovels and my hub.

 

[Brian Jackson]

A nice aspect of my Gyro-Tech blades is they come pre-painted with red

QThese are my shovels and my hub.

I like that the Gyro-Tech blades come with red stripes already gel-coated into them. I have a set as well. Very pretty I might add.

 

[RogerB]

And would you look at who’s been listening

 

[GyroPaul]

I decided to give it a try. Hoping the color contrast works.

 

[GyrOZprey]

Another GREAT response from our own Denis at GyroTechnic!
RESPECT!

 

[Sv.grainne]

I have a set of striped blades on the way! Whoohoooo.

 

[Aerofoam]

A friend of mine from former RC sailplane days use to sell a tough premium sign vinyl that had longitudinal laser etching and we would cut it into
1" strips to use on the outboard leading edges of the 10' to 14' wings.
When flying above 1000' you could see the flash from the LE every time the plane circled and it allowed you to orient the plane when it
was basically out of sight.
I think this may be a good candidate because it is tougher than sign vinyl, can be used in very small amounts and still be effective and this
would also make balance issues a non event if applied evenly.
I will have to call him to find out what the pattern actually is, I remember it was hard to find and I use to purchase sign vinyl for my slope glider kits.
Even my suppliers didn't know what it was, or where to find it....

Update, after talking to my friend, he didn't remember what it was called.
I have looked a bit and not found the exact pattern.
I have found a couple that would work, but not sure how well.
The original pattern looked like arc welding every time the angle changed relative to the sun
It was very noticeable...
I will get some samples....