Titanium Explorer- First impression?

Neri

Newbie
Joined
Aug 7, 2015
Messages
18
Location
Tel Aviv
Aircraft
MTO, Aircam
Total Flight Time
1200 h
Greeting all,
Can we get objective first opinion from experience pilots and instructors about the Titanium?
Quality of materials and assembly? how it flies?
I am MTO sport pilot and the comprasion between the gyro's is interesting.
Thanks! Neri
 
Impressive Gyro!

Chris stole the show!
and has a Trophy to prove it!!!
 
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The exchange rate makes it a bargain compared to the European gyros. It looks very well built.
 
VERY VERY NICE I would compare the quality of
construction to that of a japanese car. Looks great
I hope to fly in one some day.

Marc
 
VERY VERY NICE I would compare the quality of
construction to that of a japanese car. Looks great
I hope to fly in one some day.

Marc

Come to Anahuac Texas the third weekend in October and you just may get a chance.
 
It is hard to describe to people how well designed this machine is. When you see it for the first time in person and have flown other similar models you just have to say WOW!
 
As objective as possible ....

As objective as possible ....

Greeting all,
Can we get objective first opinion from experience pilots and instructors about the Titanium?
Quality of materials and assembly? how it flies?
I am MTO sport pilot and the comprasion between the gyro's is interesting.
Thanks! Neri

....bearing in mind that we are the ( slightly biased :rolleyes:) first US owners of a Titanium Explorer & part of the TAGNA LLC - importers/distributers for the Australian parent company!

Materials quality ..... excellent. Aircraft grade titanium frame with welding that was admired by several welders who looked closely at the recent PRA convention! the only Aluminum ( Aircraft grade) used is in the main gear & suspension block. A& N hardware fasteners.

Strong structural carbon composite body,seats,tail. Nice paint finish.

Rotor - All new design from TAG aviation ... pre-preg (hightemp)carbon composite rotor with a Tervamaki - style hub-bar(titanium) ..... the rotors/hubbar/tower & ring gear are matched units - balanced together !

Nice powerful CF Bolly prop. (Well known in OZ & has impressed here in US - so far!)

Nice redundancy built in .... the tail -keel tube has an inner multidirectional layered CF lining.

The pneumatic Pre-rotator system is backed up by a manual lever/cable activation of the pre-rotater ... in the event of an airline/compressor failure in a remote area!

Tremendous front wheel suspension - bump absorbing system that soaks up those rough field take-offs / taxi!
The front wheel has a trail angle that minimizes side-dart on sloppy landings when the nose wheel contacts with forward motion.
The nosewheel is linked to rudder & ground steering ... but acts like semi-castering!
The extra pedal throw in taxi mode allows for very tight ground turns.
Pre-rotation will go to 300 Rrpm ... for short/ soft field max TO's

The body & seats are wide deep & roomy .... one of my large passengers last week commented how roomy it was in the rear seat. some said the rear position was not as windy as in other similar tandem types.
The exciting feature for cross-country fliers are the two long cargo compartments - with two access hatches each side. This keeps baggage out of the passenger area & no chance to foul the controls!
A fitted waterproof full body & engine cover and rotor tie-down sock come with the gyro - no extra charge!

The mast height & angle are ASRA compliant ... the rotor cannot in normal motion strike the tail or prop.

It flies much like the MTO ... light responsive stick ... quick & sporty! The rudder is more sensitive & took me a few flights to attune to! Most CFI's who flew it said it was like a Calidus in it's power on - off yaw characteristic.

the pedals are quickly adjustable for pilots of different leg length.

The little door for the front seat access got lots of positive comments!

An option we chose was rearseat instrumentation - CFI package! Both front & rear control stick have full radio & pre-rotate / trim controls.
A roomy lockable "glovebox" storage compartment is standard if you do not have rear instrumentation!

Another option available ....(actually necessary to fit the second US imported TE gyro in the small shipping container) ... is a foldable mast .... for storage/transport in low buildings / trailers!

The general finish & detail of the workmanship has impressed all who have seen our gyro @ ROTR & Mentone rotorcraft events!

I'll add extra info - as I think of it & pics - from the computer!

Hope this is helpful!
 

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The blade is the same length as the MTO but with a wider cord. How does this affect on flight performance? I wonder if this gyro is more optimized for cruising (Stable and comfortable), or sporty and agile? what about stick shake?
Thank you all for referring. Neri
 
I like the side bins very much. Appears similar to the Magni M-22 in that respect.
 
From 30 ft. away it blends in with the rest of the two place tandems. Up close its apparent they have raised the bar. I was very impressed with the attention to detail as well as the fit n finish.
 
Rotor

Rotor

The blade is the same length as the MTO but with a wider cord. How does this affect on flight performance? I wonder if this gyro is more optimized for cruising (Stable and comfortable), or sporty and agile? what about stick shake?
Thank you all for referring. Neri

We are still assessing the rotor .... at the UTAH event Brigham City- alt 4230' (DA ~7,000') we flew the new rotor version ( that was then delivered with the other US TE import to the owner in Florida) ... we were still learning how to tweak all the mast & rotorhead adjustments ... but it was much smoother than the first (prototype rotor we currently fly & used @ Mentone/PRA convention last week!)
... we did some adjustments & were pleased with the way the original rotor flew last week ...although there was still some front stick-shake!

We are looking forwards to the delivery of our new rotor this coming week ... which has been all balanced to the manufacturer's exacting standards using his dyna-vibe balancer on his test machine in Australia. By all accounts the stick was smooth ...on the test machine.

At Brigham ... CFI Michael Burton really tested it with some advanced maneuvers- seemed impressed with it's agility!

some flight video in this ...... youtube. 3-5 min mark

http://youtu.be/AR1gk1Fmu0E

It is a comfortable cruiser ... trims well & floats along with minimal inputs.
The rotor has lots of float in the landing phase!

We'll be able to tell you more ...when we get the new version of the rotor. ( supposed to be delivered in the coming week) :whoo:
 
The blade is the same length as the MTO but with a wider cord. How does this affect on flight performance? I wonder if this gyro is more optimized for cruising (Stable and comfortable), or sporty and agile? what about stick shake? Thank you all for referring. Neri

I installed Patroney composite wider chord blades on my mto. I am not sure whether that is what the titanium uses but Patroney is well known blade manufacturer here in oz.

The difference is better low speed handling at the expense of higher cruise. The blades fly About 5 knots slower at cruise power of 4800rpm.

The big difference is landing, the blades are much heavier and wider chord give you lots more hang time in the flare. Approach can be 10 knots slower and still have plenty of energy.

Also the tendency to fall through the flare is greatly reduced. That was the biggest thing I noticed I had a few hardish landings with the original blades as the energy in the flare dissipates much quicker and you stop flying quicker so if you are still above the ground the tendency is to fall through resulting in a hard landing.

The Patroneys are forgiving if you botch the flare and give you excellent hang time also keep flying much later in the flare so if you are caught a little high they are still producing lift so you don't fall through

I fly gyros to go slow and low and these blades really do improve that experience in the mto as well as add some margin of error. You could get away with a 25 knot flare and walk away if you time it just right, not something I would recommend though.
 
Hi Jordan, I think that the TAG blades are lighter then the MTO blades (but i'm not sure about it).
What about ground roll? Is there any difference?
Thanks, Neri
 
Rotor weight.

Rotor weight.

Hi Jordan, I think that the TAG blades are lighter then the MTO blades (but i'm not sure about it).
What about ground roll? Is there any difference?
Thanks, Neri

The 28ft rotor we are currently flying weighs 75lb.(2 blades +hub plates) We will weigh the new one ( versionII) ... when it arrives!
The MTO owners said it was lighter than theirs ... but i don't know what the MTO one weighs!
Jordan describes the low speed characteristics perfectly ... they have lots of landing float & inertia!
I fly dragon wings on my single & been glad of my Butterfly landing gear ( even if not fully deployed) ....when flying my solo student time ..... they really do fall out & stop flying quickly & you better learn to time the flare right - FAST! :eek:
Last week ....I noticed how my better landings in the TE were at 50kt final ...40kt in ground effect .... the faster ones @ 60 kt ...carried too much energy at touchdown!
 
The carbon blades are somewhat stiffer then say an extruded blade or dragon wing type blade. The specs from Neal the designer claim a weight of the production set including the hub bar at about 70lbs. The production set that was put on the white model flew very smooth with almost no shake from the back seat. Some minor movement from the front. This of course is understandable because it is magnified with the long arm.
In the testing video you can see the blade is stiffer. The response to tight turns is very sporty but you do have extra float. These blades do have a slightly higher rotation speed. Typically they Fly closer to the 400 rpm range.

http://youtu.be/zIbk8iV3CIs
 
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Nice looking machine Chris.

I see the 914 version is approx $73,000 varying with the exchange rate.
 
I looked at the (manufacturer) website. Some of the data seems a bit too ambitious.

Titanium Explorer 115hp (with ROTAX 914 UL engine)
Performance:
Take Off Distance - 1 person 20 m
Take Off Distance - 2 persons 50 m
Rate of Climb - 1 person 10 m/s
Rate of Climb - 2 persons 8 m/s
 
Insufficient information .....

Insufficient information .....

Yes ..... performance data without the environmental conditions stated is meaningless!

We plan to do proper performance tests with our US based machine - as we attain the flight skills & have time.

In this video I had a friend take of my first flight in the 914 test prototype back in feb 2014 ... with the TAG aviation test pilot Sam Polyak @ his rural strip ... you can see & estimate the distance for yourself.... 2 up ~400lb of pilots ... about 1/2 fuel ( 10gal) ... the air temp was about 40C (105 F) ...stinking hot, still, high DA day ...MSL ...just below 2000ft ... no wind ...just a whiff of tailwind!

This grass strip is about 900ft long with fence & trees @ the end ..... from the pilot seat angle ...we had plenty of room & power ... from the ground observer position ... it seemed we were slow to climb .....while airspeed built after wheels-up ... when the Vy/Vx speed was attained we rose like a rocket!
Pre-rotator speed was close to 300!

https://youtube.com/watch?feature=c4-feed-u&v=oaLktM-65WA

Keep asking the good ?'s & we'll give you our best info! :yo:
 
Yes ..... performance data without the environmental conditions stated is meaningless!

Well, performance data have environmental conditions implied. If you quote a takeoff performance without giving any qualifying conditions, this will be interpreted as: at International Standard Atmosphere (15 °C, sea level, at 1013 hPa), windstill, at MTOW, over a 50 ft obstacle, on a level hard top surface, using the manufacturer recommended takeoff procedure specidied in the POH.

The takeoff distance of 50 m (150 ft) with two up under the provisal of the paragraph above seems quite optimistic.

Greetings, -- Chris.
 
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