Runway encounter this morning

Sv.grainne

Super Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2020
Messages
2,312
Location
Kerrville, Texas
Aircraft
Aviomania, G1sB Genesis
Like I've been doing this past week I was up bright and early and at the airport at sunup. Was on my 3 run balancing on the mains when I got a call on the radio aircraft was on the taxi way headed to the beginning of runway 21 where I was. I spoke with him on the radio and told him I would pull out of the way and he said no, you go ahead with what you are doing.

So I pulled back out on runway 21, announced on the radio that I was prerotation, going down the runway balancing but stating on the ground.

I was about 2/3rds of the way down the runway, idled down waiting for the nose wheel to settle and slowing when I heard a terrible noise and felt a strong vibration. I announced an emergency stop, pulled to the side before shutting down, got out and just as I turned the twin engine plane behind me was barreling down the runway at me . He took off, I was shook but pushed my Gyro clear of the runway. Prerotator Bendix was stuck in the up position, bracket bent some and gears not fully engaging.

Going to pick the Gyro up in a little while and bring it home to work on it!

Bobby
 
I like your approach to flying Bobby and thank you for sharing your adventures.

It reads to me like you did everything right to mitigate the risk of doing something non standard at a non towered airport.

I am glad it worked out.
 
On my last flight at Anahuac last year I took-off from the grass runway and on climb-out noticed a massive rotor-shake ..in my stick ...on leveling out my passenger & I heard a nasty squealing coming from behind ... I determined that the PR shaft was still slowly rotating and the rubber shaft brake was squealing! A quick return to field & careful landing followed!
My Bendix has an inner oiledbronze bush that had disintegrated and pieces had jammed in the spiral grooves of the shaft so it could not slide down to flight position!
Another new pre-flight check added to ensure the bush is still in place! (I had recently noted on the YCI n more lateral slop in the Bendix on the shaft than I remembered ...but I cross checked with my newer machine ...and verified that it was the same!) ...OK poor memory!

Guess what ! ...after the removal of bendix & damaged shaft & bearings I looked closer at Gyro 2 ....the inner bronze bush was gone from that the machine also! ...so I replaced BOTH bendix & associated bearings on BOTH gyros!
 
Good call Bobby. You did the right thing.

Sounds like the guy behind was a little impatient/premature in his TO but it happens so should be no concerns there.

Hiccups happen, Hope you can sort it and get on with things.

👍:)
 
Upper bushing sized on the Bendix shaft so it did not retract when I disengaged the prerotator. No noise as I got the blades up to speed and while going down the runway but when the rotors started to slow, holy hell broke loose. Not only was the upper bushing siezed but the middle bushing appears to be damaged as well.


IMG_20220913_140508746.jpg
 
On a scale of 1-10, Bobby's luck seems to average about a 2. You certainly shouldn't waste any money on lottery tickets :)

So how obtainable are those bushings? Didn't I hear that Calumet doesn't make the prerotators anymore? Nicolas said something about having ot find another source.

Rusty
 
Oilite bushing can be bought by the foot and machined and drilled to whatever you need...
 
Glad you are ok, great job on avoiding the other guy!

As you probably know, on the Tangogyro, the Bendix can only be engaged manually by the PIC and has a spring pulling it back down out of the gears when disengaged and it can not accidentally engage the belt drive. Your Bendix appears to automatically engage just like the one on the Air Command I used to fly and could possibly engage the ring gear if the pre-rotator wheel accidentally engaged the drive.
 
I'm working on it now and will post back. Big issue, lube the Bendix shaft after every day! Have been using a ceramic lube but wasn't religious about it! You need to be.
 
I sent Nicolas a picture and waiting on an answer from him on parts access.

I ordered a new Bendix from Denis at Gyro Technic yesterday so hoping that some of the parts are compatible. Nicolas said that he modifies these but not sure how or anything else at this point.
I have a brand new entire unit if you need it, just pay postage and PM me with your address and it's yours.
Thanks, will see what I get from Denis.


On a scale of 1-10, Bobby's luck seems to average about a 2. You certainly shouldn't waste any money on lottery tickets :)

So how obtainable are those bushings? Didn't I hear that Calumet doesn't make the prerotators anymore? Nicolas said something about having ot find another source.

Rusty
Rusty:

I don't play the lottery!

Waiting to hear back from Nicolas. Calumet is out of business.

Bobby
 
Like I've been doing this past week I was up bright and early and at the airport at sunup. Was on my 3 run balancing on the mains when I got a call on the radio aircraft was on the taxi way headed to the beginning of runway 21 where I was. I spoke with him on the radio and told him I would pull out of the way and he said no, you go ahead with what you are doing.

So I pulled back out on runway 21, announced on the radio that I was prerotation, going down the runway balancing but stating on the ground.

I was about 2/3rds of the way down the runway, idled down waiting for the nose wheel to settle and slowing when I heard a terrible noise and felt a strong vibration. I announced an emergency stop, pulled to the side before shutting down, got out and just as I turned the twin engine plane behind me was barreling down the runway at me . He took off, I was shook but pushed my Gyro clear of the runway. Prerotator Bendix was stuck in the up position, bracket bent some and gears not fully engaging.

Going to pick the Gyro up in a little while and bring it home to work on it!

Bobby
The guy in the twin was an idiot. Probably best to get off the runway when practicing balancing on mains if you know someone is taxing to takeoff. Maybe he thought you were going to either takeoff or clear the runway on next taxiway, but should never even take the runway unless traffic on the runway announces clear of the runway. Was the runway long where he couldn’t see you on it?
 
No, I announced what I was doing, and you can see the whole RW. Will do that in the future.
Maybe you can talk to him and find out what he was thinking. It’s pretty serious incident. Twin owners with big egos don’t like to waste fuel waiting for anyone, but still need to fly safe. May consider reporting it to FAA, but might stir up more than it’s worth.
 
Glad everything worked out, could have been a tragedy it sounds like.
I'd definitely talk to the twin pilot and see what he was thinking. Another example of accidents often resulting from a chain of events.
 
I'm working on it now and will post back. Big issue, lube the Bendix shaft after every day! Have been using a ceramic lube but wasn't religious about it! You need to be.
I've been away from gyros for a while, but I can't say I've seen anyone mention this. Is it just so common that people don't talk about it, or is it just an occasional task for most?
Rusty
 
I've been away from gyros for a while, but I can't say I've seen anyone mention this. Is it just so common that people don't talk about it, or is it just an occasional task for most?
Rusty

One should pay a prudent attention to the lubrication of the pre-rotator gearing, and putting a bit of grease in the Bendix after every flight will do no harm, but I don't think it's really necessary...
 
Waiting to hear back from Nicolas. Calumet is out of business.

Bobby
I believe the Pre-rotor part of Calumet was bought out by Gyro Technic. He posts here on the forum. In either case I think he will have what you need.


A little past history:
Dick Wunderlich developed the Pre-rotor back in the days when the only way to spin up the blades was by hand. He was looking for a better way to spin up the blades. After Dicks passing his company was purchased and run by Tom Milton. When Tom's Health took a turn for the worse ( He's better now). Members of our chapter Adam Helwich and Nick Costa purchased the company. And I think they sold the Pre-rotor part of the business to Gyro Technic. But I could be incorrect about that.

I am not sure who still has the 7 gal seat tank part of the business.
 
Top