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No worries, didn't come across as such.

I thought your comment about visibility was legitimate though.

Have a better day :yo:
 
Another PHENIX first ?

Another PHENIX first ?

I am sure some folks on the forum can correct me if I am wrong and this has bene done before, but I think Carlos and the guys have done it again with another 'first'.

The answer to how we achieved better 'yaw' control/ authority after chopping up the tail feathers on the PHENIX :

A PHENIX innovation …with smaller rudders in the back, where do you put another one to improve control authority? On the front gear leg? Yes! The results are very positive so we will include it on the new model.*Interesting feature!
 
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That will be fine until the the engines stops and one has to land "dead stick." Will there be enough rudder authority during the normal glide speed to be as effective?

Burt Rutan tried a similar method with the Defiant. Then quickly found out that when there was no power from the front engine, rudder authority was greatly reduced.

Why not leave the original size of the vertical stab and rudders and add the "secondary rudder" to the nose gear?

Wayne
 

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Nice pictures and good point.

The current fin and rudder setup is being reduced for better rotor and ground clearance. That is done. I think it is a good change too. Even with the stinger skid the rudders still dragged occasionally and you don't want that to happen to your ship. I think I saw that in one of the video clips on You-tube too.

Not having flown the ship with the new modified tail setup and 'secondary' rudder or nose-gear rudder (nose rudder or nudder?:lol:we need a good name for this thing!) as you named it, I cannot personally comment on the control authority with it.I flew the ship with the two-fin setup and she handled beautifully. I do believe thought that the flight test program they are busy with right now for certification will highlight any problems if they exist.

I do know that Carlos tested the nose-gear rudder and reported it worked great. We have tested the ship in low power and power-off flight before with the two-fin setup and found no adverse handling characteristics. Of course your rudder authority is reduced, but that is to be expected. In the event of an engine failure, I am confident that you will have more than adequate control authority.

Obviously this is something they will consider, test and document during the current flying portion of the certification.
 
Spoke with Carlos earlier today: They are busy with the re-assembly and painting of #002 & #003 for the flight testing phase.

Small improvements/changes are being made at the same time. We found a few items that we could slightly modify for ease of maintenance for the owner, so we are incorporating those.

We expect to start flying proper for the actual flight testing phase in October. Pictures of the flying and some modifications will be posted in due course (once the ships are ready).

Carlos also dropped hint of some really interesting and exciting options on the propulsion end of the ship. More on that once we have confirmation and feel confident to post more info and pictures.
 
New nose gear and LED landing light.

New nose gear and LED landing light.

Ever had to replace a landing light when it burnt out?

We don't want you to have to go through that hassle, so we are using a new LED landing light. While we’re making things more awesome, the nose gear is also completely new, a very nice design, with rubber donuts and a very good looking aluminum fork.
 
Nice pictures and good point.

The current fin and rudder setup is being reduced for better rotor and ground clearance. That is done. I think it is a good change too. Even with the stinger skid the rudders still dragged occasionally and you don't want that to happen to your ship. I think I saw that in one of the video clips on You-tube too.

Not having flown the ship with the new modified tail setup and 'secondary' rudder or nose-gear rudder (nose rudder or nudder?:lol:we need a good name for this thing!) as you named it, I cannot personally comment on the control authority with it.I flew the ship with the two-fin setup and she handled beautifully. I do believe thought that the flight test program they are busy with right now for certification will highlight any problems if they exist.

I do know that Carlos tested the nose-gear rudder and reported it worked great. We have tested the ship in low power and power-off flight before with the two-fin setup and found no adverse handling characteristics. Of course your rudder authority is reduced, but that is to be expected. In the event of an engine failure, I am confident that you will have more than adequate control authority.

Obviously this is something they will consider, test and document during the current flying portion of the certification.

It may work for rudder authority, but how does it work for yaw stability? Is that putting too much vertical area ahead of the CG?
 
Skier, not sure I understand your question, can you rephrase it?

AS far as my knowledge goes right now, they will modify the fin and the rudder, so all things should equal out.
 
Our flight control system is pretty solid and works well. That said we thought we could improve some elements of it and Jose Luis managed to do that. He has made several improvements and now it is absolutely beautiful, simple, effective, easy to check and maintain and works fantastically! It looks like we might switch from the Y-stick to a more traditional twin cyclic stick setup. Folks like the Y-stick design, but it created some mechanical problems. Jose Luis has managed to work his magic and create a twin stick setup that still lets you get in and out easily. We are considering offering an option to keep a Y-stick on some models, but for now it looks like the twin stick design will be included in the certification.
We have a new tail setup, new nose gear, new landing light, reworked wiring and we have modified the landing gear attachment to make it stronger. On top of that, we have reworked the fuel tank and the fuel filler attachment.
 
New website is live.

New website is live.

Our new website is live. Please take a look and let us know what you think. If you use the Store, let us know if you have any problems.
Thanks!
 
See the PHENIX in a MOVIE !

See the PHENIX in a MOVIE !

We are working with a movie studio to present the PHENIX in a Sci-Fi movie being produced right now.

The movie will feature PHENIX paraphernalia as props, including our T-Shirts, WWII era vintage-feel PHENIX posters and maybe even PHENIX sew on badges for flight crew uniforms.

YOU can help choose the poster or posters to be used in the movie, and we will be selling copies of the poster or posters in our PHENIX online store after the winning design has been chosen.
View the T-Shirts http://www.phenixgyro.com/new-page-1/

Right now the designers are finalizing the designs and in a day or so we will post a link to vote/view on your favorite poster to be used in the movie!
 
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We are working with a movie studio to present the PHENIX in a Sci-Fi movie being produced right now.

The movie will feature PHENIX paraphernalia as props, including our T-Shirts, WWII era vintage-feel PHENIX posters and maybe even PHENIX sew on badges for flight crew uniforms.

YOU can help choose the poster or posters to be used in the movie, and we will be selling copies of the poster or posters in our PHENIX online store after the winning design has been chosen.
View the T-Shirts http://www.phenixgyro.com/new-page-1/

Right now the designers are finalizing the designs and in 3 days we will post a link to vote/view on your favorite poster to be used in the movie!
Very cool and way to market!!!:cool:
 
New update,

We have redone almost the entire wiring harness for the PHENIX. It has been simplified, lines shortened so it is lighter in general and better laid out.
 
Latest update from Carlos:

They are faced with a few delays in working with the authorities but expect now to have the PHENIX ready for the flight portion of the certification by the end of next month. Once that is done, the paperwork goes to the German authorities and we wait for their approval to start flying.

More importantly, we expect to have PICTURES (i.e. proof of life) by the end of November, so check back here and the Facebook page for those.
 
And the star of the show is our brand new rotorhead ! After almost 10 months we finally have it in our hands. It´s really incredible! A fantastic job from the Averso company. The design is so unique that it is almost 5 kgs, less in weight than the original one and also only 1,5 kgs more than the original Averso standard model, including the hydraulic motor! We are extremely happy with it, it´s a real master piece and it has been worth all the waiting time.
 
I know everybody is waiting on some pictures...well, I have some and will post as soon as I get the go-ahead.

Some developments on the website: new products added to website, price drop for the Holiday season in the store and Training and Resources info added.
 
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