salem oregon sparrowhawk update

[ptope]

Stan, if you ever need any assistance, or a photo of something just email me and ill get it to ya.. i know i have taking many, many photos of Randy Coplens 2 machines, and that has helped a lot.. i have a lot of pictures of the second machine which i figured was better cause they fixed all the things they didnt like when they did the first machine.. i also noted the things that they did do the same...

[email protected]
www.angelairaviation.com

 

[StanFoster]

Heather: Thanks...I skimmed over that the other day and completely missed the idler part.

Pat: I will contac them soon and get me some idlers.


Quick question. I was putting the lower part of my rotor head together tonight. The bushings were already installed in the vertical aluminum plates. But were they ever tight to get on the block with the pins coming out. How tight is too tight? I could barely twist the blocks after I got them on. I ended up barely able to get them apart...then took some fine emory cloth a little bit at a time. Anyway...they are on...but at least they turn with a little tightness yet. I am sure the first flight will make difference.

Stan

 

[ptope]

we moved the copter to the hanger yesterday.. inspection time is just around the corner..... here is a picture of the copter getting ready for its very first road trip... to get the copter out of the garage i had to remove the upper mast, remove the upper tail support flatten the tires and drag it out. the mast cleared the garage door by about an 1/8".... once out side i put the upper mast back on , installed the rotor head, and reinstalled the upper tail support and filled the tires back up. once at the hanger, the rotor head cleared the top of the hanger door by about 1/4".... i guess we wont be able to put a lift kit on this thing, hehehe....

 

[StanFoster]

Pat: Sweet machine. When I move my SparrowHawk out of my shop....I think all I will have to do is remove two bolts on the upper mast and let it pivot back....or take it clear off if the rotorhead is still too high. I have 8 foot doors.

It wont be as handy as my RAF to transport.....but I dont want to haul it anyway. I hauled my RAF to an indoor show last winter....and it just wasnt worth the effort.

Stan

 

[Harry_S.]

Pat:

That is one fine foto...showing a lot of overall detail.

I'm an RAF man, as you can see...and I'm appreciative of good machinery and fine workmanship. Congratulations.


Cheers

 

[Rotor-Head]

Looks like a great bird... I'll have to come up and see it in person soon. When will it fly?

 

[CLS447]

Have you run it yet?

I'm curious as to prop diameter, pitch & RPM's.

It looks great! How about a closeup of the trims?

 

[ptope]

we havnt started it yet.. but that should happen in the next week or so.. the prop diameter is 72 inches.. we pitched the blades at 12 degree per the factory recomendations.. but they also told us that most of the 2.5 engines end up at about 10.5 degrees at 5200 rpm static.. 12 degrees is just the starting point.. also they told us that 1/2 degree = 200 rpm..

Shawn we would love to have you come up and we would love to come down there sometime too.. oregon is great due to the scenery, we have it all, we have high desert, we have lush valley, we have high mountains, we have the columbia gorge, and we have coast line thats rocky and we have coast line that is just beach..

 

[ptope]

here are some more pictures of the great move..

 

[ptope]

we started the machine yesterday and it purred like a kitten.. we ran it for about 5 minutes..shut it down to check for leaks and we had no leaks... yipppie!!!! all temps were fine, then we couldnt resist to taxi it around the airport once.. very big day... all that left is to do the hang test and put on the blades. then get it inspected...

 

[Gary_in_Orygun]

Cool...I can't wait to see it. If there is a nice day when you have it out-and-about, let me know. Maybe I can fly down to see it.

 

[ptope]

that would be great.... plus this is the only gyro at the indipendence airpark so its kinda novelty, so to have one fly in would be great, the airpark would love it..

 

[John Conte]

Looks like careful craftsmanship Pat, how many hours invested so far ?

 

[ptope]

not sure on the hours.. there has been 2 of us working on it.. we recieved the kit last may... and ive been working on it in all my spare time plus a couple of weeks of vacation.. it took about twice as long as we has planned / hoped.. but it near completion now.. i know thats part of the price increase of the sparrowhawk II.. the new kit will be coming with a lot more things fabricated.. we had a ton of fabrication to do and that all takes time. plus we did several upgrades to the electrical system so that added time also..

 

[ptope]

copter is DONE!!!!!!! we installed the rotor blades today and everything works like a charm. we have almost an hour on the engine and no leaks, all temps are fine.. runs great.. now time to wait for inspection and get our paper work lined up... ill get some pics taken when the weather gets a little nicer around here.. weve had more rain here in the northwest this winter then weve had total in the last 5, or it at least seems that way...

 

[Gary_in_Orygun]

I can't wait to see the pictures. I would also like to use some in the PRA73 newsletter. Keep us posted.

 

[ptope]

ill email you some when we get them.. im going to wait til there is some nicer weather and borrow my dads 8.0 megapixel camera and take some good ones..

 

[ptope]

here are some pictures of the finished copter.. we still have a couple of things to safety wire.. other than that we are waiting for inspection...

 

[StanFoster]

Patrick: Looks like you have a nice machine. I am sure it is with the care thats went into it. Best of flying to you and the new machine.

Stan

 

[Gyrobound]

Awesome looking bird. Just wondering, does the word EXPERIMENTAL have to be somewhere on the outside? Didn't notice it in the pictures you have here.

Scott