I brought my new RAF rotor head for everyone to examine. The most obvious improvement is that the teeter towers are taller, to make room for an adjustable spacer between the towers, located just above the teeter bolt. This allows any lateral rotor bar movement to be eliminated while strengthening the teeter towers against each other by forming a continuous rectangle around the hub bar. I think I will be happy with this rotor head. I also talked briefly about my Gyro-Cam system which is automatically doing time-lapsed video recording of my construction project. The web site now includes some documentation of how it works, so check it out if you're interested.
Mark Givans' Predator project was on display, along with the many gyros that are accumulating in Joe's hangar. Mark is making progress, finishing up all the miscellaneous odds and ends on the custom welded steel frame before sending it out to get powder coated. When it returns from the shop, this unique gyro should really start coming together.
Bob Aspegren reported that he has installed airplane-style differential hydraulic brakes, with combination rudder/brake pedals, on his Bandit Pro. This will significantly reduce the turning radius and make it much easier to turn around when taxiing back and forth. This is sometimes required to keep the rotor RPM up when you are waiting for traffic to clear out of the way. Bob still has the wiring to do and says the Pro should be flying by the Air Show in June!
Finally, Mark Bello brought the latest video of Sport Copter's Jim Vanek doing loops in his Vortex gyroplane. Don't try this at home kids! While the loops are impressive, they require a special machine and a pilot that thoroughly understands what this extremely dangerous maneuver requires, both in theory and in practice. Jim has carefully worked up to this ability through years of hard work.
There are less than 5 months until the Marysville Air Expo '99. I trust everyone has blocked out the weekend of June 26th and will be there for all the fun! This will be a bigger show than last year, with more attractions scheduled, including the amazing Oracle Turbo Raven. I saw this airplane fly last year and you definitely do not want to miss it; it is amazing.
Since we are sponsoring and contributing more to the event this year, we have been asked to help out in the setup. Everyone that can should be there the Friday before to help set up the show. We will also work in shifts during the day of the show so none have to work all day. At the next chapter meeting, we will make assignments and more formal plans. Please be there to get in on the action!
The Sunday after the show is our annual club picnic. We will have the usual events including the flour bombing, timed-pylon race and man and machine award. We will get trophies and/or dash plaques for the winners. I think everyone had a great time at the picnic last year and I am really looking forward to this fun day.
And finally, a few quick news tidbits. National PRA dues were recently increased by $5. Since our local dues automatically pay the national ones, our dues will also go up the same $5 to cover this change. We are looking into getting nice PRA Chapter 5 patches made for all club members. You better show up at the meetings if you want one!
The next meeting of PRA Chapter 5 will be February 28, 1999 at 1 pm, Nut Tree Airport, Vacaville. See you soon!