My trail bike of the skies

[101 Ron]

The common name is a gyrocopter.....the correct name is a Autogyro.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/02/1083.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/11/471.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/11/472.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/11/473.jpg

[101 Ron]

This machine was home built and is now about Twenty years old.
The performance is something like
Top speed 100 mph
Cruise speed 50 mph
Range is three hours at 50 mph.
Stock standard tune EA81 1800cc subaru motor/
This machine can run anything from 22ft to 30 ft rotors, but usually runs 26 ft rotors of extruded alloy.
6ft carbon fibre prop and a 2.2 to 1 propellor speed reduction unit.
Hydraulic rotor prerotating device is able to take rotors to 200rpm for a short take off run of 50ft in still wind and half fuel load.
Runs Gneral Aviation grade radio and Uhf to talk to farmer brown
I did 300 hrs in this machine , but I am not currently flying it and have it in storage for another day.
They are a real freedom machine and very difficult to learn how to fly well.
They are safe at low alitudes and air speeds ,ie mustering work.
They lack efficency and comfort for long flights.
Most landing rolls are about 12ft.
rotor blades are auto rotating and are not powered by the motor for flight.
Will turn in its own lenght and decend vertically.
Vertical take offs in 20mph head wind and prerotator use possible.

[101 Ron]

machine carries about 65 litre of 92 unleaded in a seat tank.
I used to regularly takeoff and land on the local beach and friends paddocks.
machine is despite its looks is the safest thing flying in a engine out situation and I many a time have proven this.
Pulling negative Gs and poor pilot training kills people.
Previously trained polits (especally GA fixed and rotary wing) tend to sooner or later revert back to there preivous training or treat these things as a toy and come unstuck......they fly differently.
Frame made from 2x2.5 inch square 6061-t6 alloy tube.
Machine carried on a single axle trailer.
Rotor blades easily removed for transport.
Extremely stable and fun to fly in wind and I have at times flown in winds up to 35 knots with no problems.
Twin ignition coils,fuel pumps,safety fuel impact cut outs and good fuel filtration system.

[101 Ron]

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/11/469.jpg
Fitting the rotors , about a Ten minute job
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/11/470.jpg
Slow speed high power setting flight showing off , just off the deck , most likely flying along at 25 mph.

[101 Ron]

These pics taken in storage

Propellor speed reduction set up and starter
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/11/465.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/11/466.jpg

Drive pump for prerotator

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/11/467.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/11/468.jpg

[101RRS]

Who is that bloke with all the hair? :D

Garry

[101 Ron]

Who is that bloke with all the hair? :D

Garry

You missed the mustasch...:):):)

[mike 90 RR]

Great writeup, Ron .... :D

[Binford]

I've admired those things since another Australian brought them to my attention! ;)

http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Everyone%20Else/images-3/mad-max-2.jpg

I enjoyed the inside look, 101! Thanks!

[clean32]

how exactly do they fly different? having a PPL it would be interesting to know. was thinking about a micro-light or some thing in the future when the $$$ come right again

[vnx205]

A friend of mine built one a few years ago. He also used a Subaru engine.

He did all the right things and did some sort of training course to learn to fly it and became president of the state organisation. The way he tells the story, the trainer taught him a particular method of landing which apparently works well if you get it right but is hard to master.

After a couple of undignified and expensive landings, he decided that although he really enjoyed flying it, he had begun to dread the landings. In fact he began to wonder if he would survive the landings, so he sold it.

Shortly after that, while he was still involved with the organisation, he was shown another landing technique by a different trainer. He said that the new landing technique was a piece of cake and that if he had been taught that way originally, he would probably still have his autogyro.

According to him, flying it was easy to learn and landing the easy way was simple, but the other landing technique obviously required a skill he was not able to master.

That is his version of events anyway.

[101 Ron]

They don't stall and have full Control at zero air speed.
They don't have a dead man curve like a helicopter.
They are light weight and don't they have the mass of a larger aircraft and therefore are very responsive to pilot inputs.
The rotor , depending on design will hold energy for turns or landing.
They are forgiving in opposite ways to normal aircraft, but unforgiving in others.
They are very safe to fly very low to the ground or throw around at low heights.
They will turn tightly just off the deck and fly in wind which will ground light GA aircraft.
If the engine is going to quit this is the thing to want to be flying.
The bad stuff.
These things are solid in the air and turn like if there is no tomorrow and this leads the pilot to push them selves beyond normal caution limits.
Rotor autorotation relies on positive G loading on the rotor........pull negative Gs and there is no recovery.
There fore handling the machine so that it always pull positive Gs is important.
A previously trained pilot will always revert to previous training in a bad situation which is not a good thing for a gyroCopter.

[richard4u2]

would love to have a go in one of these, had a go in a mico light at gingin w.a. once flaming great :D

[101 Ron]

A example is in a engine out situation a fixed wind pilot will normally try and keep the wings level and try to maintain height for long as possible and avoid stall.
A gyro pilot should drop the nose (opposite to normal human reactions) without pushing over too hard to avoid Neg Gs and go for the ground soon as possible as this ensures plenty of airspeed and therefore energy in the rotors when you get near the deck and gives you the option of a zero ground roll landing and a soft one .
A gyro pilot should pull a turn as well as putting the nose over if the pilot wants to descend quickly.(there is also a vertical decent option too)as this keeps the rotors loaded.
Death rates in Gyros was very high for many years as there was no two seat training and they wouldnt allow two seat machines because of this.
Finally when two seat machines were allowed the death rate went from 17 deaths a year to some thing like 2 a year.(I was self taught and lucky)
Training is the key.
This sort of flying is not for everyone and not everyone will master it.
Think of siting in a small seat floating above the ground at 2000 ft and looking around you and you cannot even see any wings holding you up and looking down at your feet and seeing empty space.
This takes special people and people with a few years under their belt find it hard to respond to the gyros sensitive controls......but for a experienced pilot it is a good thing as it makes the machine maneuverable

[101 Ron]

A friend of mine built one a few years ago. He also used a Subaru engine.

He did all the right things and did some sort of training course to learn to fly it and became president of the state organisation. The way he tells the story, the trainer taught him a particular method of landing which apparently works well if you get it right but is hard to master.

After a couple of undignified and expensive landings, he decided that although he really enjoyed flying it, he had begun to dread the landings. In fact he began to wonder if he would survive the landings, so he sold it.

Shortly after that, while he was still involved with the organisation, he was shown another landing technique by a different trainer. He said that the new landing technique was a piece of cake and that if he had been taught that way originally, he would probably still have his autogyro.

According to him, flying it was easy to learn and landing the easy way was simple, but the other landing technique obviously required a skill he was not able to master.

That is his version of events anyway.

To have a state organisation means your friend learnt in the bad old days of no two seat training and no system of training and no set standards.
The last of this happen in the 1980s.
Today training is similar to GA standards and the most important thing is two seat training is available.
Trainers train to a standard and pilots work towards endorsements.
Gyros fly now under a Federal Australian standard body called the
Aust Sport Rotorcraft Association and state bodies are now history.
The biggest problem is getting new be pilots and previously trained pilots(especially ones who think they know it all) to take advantage of whats on offer.)
I learnt in the bad days where you paid your money and could hop in the machine read a book, start it up and try to fly.
Gyros are opposite to normal fixed wind aircraft in the fact they are hard to takeoff, fairly difficult to fly straight and level , but very easy to land.

[101 Ron]

This photo shows me trying to fly with the landing gear in a drainage ditch just for fun.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/02/1082.jpg
More low and slow flying just off the deck

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2009/11/121.jpg

[marko66]

Hi All

Ron your machine looks like it was state of the art twenty years ago, and except for the reduction drive would look pretty much like a new one:D . I'm glad someine put some good and useful information up here about gyro's.

I lack your experience but have had a few flights in a two seater and am looking forward to continueing same, its a wonderful experience that i would tell anyone to have a go at.

When I get some more time and money i will be building my own single seater which i have almost everything for and then getting my licence

Regards Mark

[BMKal]

When the Granites Gold Mine out in the Tanami first started up in '86, the Mine Manager had a two seater on site, but it didn't have an engine.

We used to take it out on the airstrip and tow him on a long rope behind a Landcruiser so that he could fly the thing. It used to generally take two lengths of the airstrip (up & back) towing him on the ground before he had sufficient rotor speed up to get off the ground. Once up though, we were surprised at what he could achieve with it, especially while we were slowing virtually to a stop in the tow vehicle to turn around at the end of the runway.

He often invited some of us to come up for a ride in the second seat - I don't remember anyone ever taking him up on his offer.

I do remember one occasion when he asked us to tow him back to the camp once he had it airborne - it was about halfway back when we remembered the overhead powerlines crossing the road. :o He managed to fly under the powerlines without problems.

Some time later, we heard that he had fitted an engine to it (believe it was a VW). We also heard that he pranged it shortly thereafter and did a fiar bit of damage, both to himself and to the machine. Never heard from him again after that.

Good to read your post on this Ron - brings back a few memories, and your description of how these machines fly / handle is much the same as how it was described to me at the time.

[Waxenwane]

Just a question Ron, How much airspeed is required to keep the blades auto rotating?
I have a few hours up in Gliders and your description of a power pilots reactions to a no power situation are so opposite of Gliding when close to Terra Firma. I was taught to put the nose down, get airspeed and make very aggressive turns to avid stalling the wing tips.....Spin recovery in gliders takes a little longer.:)
Our power situations amounted to broken towlines on takeoff.

[101 Ron]

for machines not fitted with a prerotator the procedure is something like this.
Face machine into wind if the wind is not too strong.
( very strong wind will stall the rotors and stop auto rotation at very low RPMs used for hand starting the rotors)
Start engine and while it warms up reach up at the front of the machine and push the rotors hard as you can across the front of the machine which is usually about 50 rpm the hardest one can push them by hand.
If in still air the pilot quickly gets belted in and and slowly taxi the machine before rpm is lost.
first up the taxi speed is slow as the rotors have mass and too much air going up though the rotors too soon will stall them.
the rotor disc is also tilted back so the rotors get the prop blast and the disc picks up the air from forward motion.
whonce the rotors spin up to 150 rpm they will come up to speed straight away with out delay......this is called getting them over the hump.
With 150 rpm or more on the rotors the machine can be lined up for its take off run and the throttle is just gunned and the machine will get air borne after a short take off run.
150 rpm only requires a normal taxi speed in still air.
At about 300 to 350 rpm the rotors are developing enough lift to get the machine airborne.
the rotors are self governing and will change the rpms in flight with load.
The rotors will hold flying rpms for a short time without airflow up though the rotors.
This effect can be used to flair for a short landing or the hold energy during a sharp turn.
Rotor blade disc diameter, design and loading all have a effect on rotor behavior.
Air flow must go up though the rotor and is done in a few ways and needs to be at least 25 mph to maintain the rotors at flight lifting speed.
Forward flight the rotor disc is tilted back and the rotor catches the wind under it.
Vertical decent is 25 to 30 mph and the air flow is directly up though the rotor.
If the machine is flying at 100 mph the rotor disc has little tilt to it and the nose of the machine hangs low.
If flying slow will use full power and nose high with rotor disc tilted hard back with very high air drag.

[101 Ron]

In a vertical decent the machine descends at about the same speed of a parachute and can be moved backwards, forwards and sideways just by tilting the rotor and this is easy and safe with control.
The problem is you do not want to land directly from a vertical decent as if you watch a parachutist land is is still with a thump and you will bend the machine and wreak the rotors.
This vertical decent landing can be done in a 20 mph head wind or with a skilled pilot with very big rotors with a soft landing.
Many a gyro pilot has done a vertical decent zero forward air speed landing into hard ground, the water or a tree and saved their lives........but they do come crawling out from some bent pipes safe and sound.
The training is to keep some air speed in a forward direction and 40 mph is enough to store some energy in the rotors and do a landing flare with zero ground roll , but it is much , much easier to let the machine roll a few mtrs for the landing.
Gyros are fun and easy to land.
I at one time was testing rotors for a local maker and I would be testing the rotors for vibrations and testing different brands and designs after repairs.
My single seat machine with a extremely good hydraulic prerotator with 30 ft rotor in still air get the blades to 200 rpm and after a few mtrs of takeoff roll get the 250 rpm for lift off into a steep climb at 20 mph.
At full power and level flight could be maintained at 20 mph.
Any wind around and it is vertical take off and landing.
small 22 ft rotors would be prerotated to 300 rpm and with a longer takeoff roll get air borne at 400 rpm.
Slow speed flying could be done with smaller rotors, but it takes more power.
smaller rotors have less effect on landing as the higher rpms still hold the energy.
smaller rotors are good for rough air and changing rotor disc size is a little bit like changing the size of the wings on a aeroplane.
Bigger rotors are used for two seat machines.
The pitch on rotors have effects on lift too.

[VladTepes]

You're crazy !

Good on ya !

[101 Ron]

I am in the process of selling my old gyro.
I have dug up some old pics to sell it.
I though I would share some of them.


Taken from another gyro ...heading north coastal near batemans Bay
Pigeon house MT in far back ground.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/05/51.jpg
Albatross airshow day.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/05/52.jpg

Kangaroo valley over looking the family property.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/05/53.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/05/54.jpg
Swinging her around to land
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/05/55.jpg

Over looking the vehicle punt Commerong island Shoalhaven river.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/05/56.jpg


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/05/57.jpg
Look mum no hands
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/05/58.jpg
Taken mid flight by another gyro
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/05/59.jpg
My girl friends place at Nowra....I ended up getting married to her and that the reason why I now have to sell the gyro....:angel:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/05/60.jpg

[101 Ron]

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/05/46.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/05/47.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/05/48.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/05/49.jpg
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/05/50.jpg