PRA Chapter 5 News: January 2000

Tim Witham

Chapter 5 NewYear Flyabout

by George Atkinson

So no one has flown in the new year, not even certain insufferables who'd hoped for rapture. I'll just expand on my Journal notes of 20 December: Time for a bit of test flying after the teardown and rebuild of annual inspection. Still had a few odds and ends to deal with, such as adjusting brakes, but I didn't plan on using them. So off on a single tentative circuit, keeping careful lookout for problems. Boa produced an eager roar, obviously impressed with the thoroughness of the maintenance; the second time we left the pattern to go check out the river. Though the runway was breezeless, wind aloft required substantial crab when tracking straight along road. After half hour returned to airport to top off tanks for a longer flight.

During the second excursion the wind picked up. Twelve hundred feet up, the wind blew steadily from true north at forty miles per hour. With airspeed at forty-five, a crossroad directly below crept past; upon slowing to thirty-five, we drifted backwards. A suitable balance kept us directly above at constant altitude. Tiring of this sport, we sidled back to the airport, entering the pattern via long base behind Jerry Hightower's HKS bandit. The windsock stood straight out, pretty much straight down the runway. Mindful of deceptive groundspeed, kept airspeed at fifty-five right down to flare for a gentle, no-rollout touchdown right where the taxiway enters the main runway. Jerry was at the next exit; we left the main runway at the same time.

Taxied upwind to the hangar, with plenty of forward stick, as wasn't eager to lift off in case of odd eddy. Wished I'd done the brakes, so a turn away from the wind would help slow the rotor, but wouldn't trust uncertain brakes. Stopped engine a safe distance from others and worked at rotorstopping, which succeeded only by holding the stick full forward with my foot while patting down the rotor. (resolve: keep bungee in flight suit). Thus ended 1999's flying.

George

Gyroplane CFI and RAF 2000 update

by Gary Brewer

I thought I would give you all a summary of my first two years as a Gyroplane CFI. I hope you find it interesting. Also, an update on a couple of projects I have been working on and some future info.

Students' Home States	Alaska, Utah, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Washington, Nevada, Oregon, California
Students' Home Countrys	Wiltshire England, Hong Kong, Japan
Number of students	54

Training Hrs in 1998		Training Hrs in 1999
Total hrs	164	Total hrs	301.1
Solo sign offs	6	Solo sign offs	11
BFR's	1	BFR's	1
		3 hr prep for Commercial check ride	1
		3 hr prep for CFI check ride	1

1st student	Henry Souza	5/28/98
1st Solo sign off	Troy Taylor	7/26/98
2nd Solo sign off	Ken Janulewicz	8/9/98
3rd Solo sign off	George Atkinson	10/17/98
1stBFR sign off	Mark Givans	1/1/99
1st Night X country sign off	Michael Stump	3/26/99
1st 3 hr prep for Commercial check ride	Michael Stump	3/27/99
1st 3 hr. prep for CFI check ride	Michael Stump	8/28/99

So, it looks like since I soloed my aircraft in 1995, I have 465.1 hrs. training time with 500 hrs. pilot in command time. Boy is my butt sore!

As all of you know, Bob Aspegren and myself have been working on stabs for the RAF. Bob is the brains & I am the brawn. Since we started 1 1/2 - 2 years ago, we have constructed 4 designs. The fourth just being completed a week ago. The first stab was donated to us by Joe or Rod which was 6.5 sq feet and no airfoil shape. After trying it and not happy with its performance, Bob suggested an airfoil shape. I hot wired some foam to form an airfoil shape, glued it to the stab and then covered it with fiberglass. It, too, was an improvement but not what Bob wanted. So, being the slave driver he is, I was told the dimensions of #3 and I set off to work. #3 was 6' wide, 13 sq. ft. of area with 2 ribs and 5 degree of dihedral. It weighed only 8 lbs. and was night and day better than #2. I didn't think it could be any better but you know who said it wasn't big enough. Well, I humored him for awhile while I dragged my feet thinking he would get interested in something else and forget about a bigger stab. After flying #3 for quite awhile I began to realize that hey this thing was much better but it still wasn't right. Yes, guess what, HE was right again, it needed to be bigger. Another thing that I noticed was that now with the doors on the new cabin there was a very noticeable yaw problem or hunting from left to right. This would have to be addressed with #4. #4 was now 7' wide which gave us 2 1/2 more sq. feet of area bringing it up to 15 3/4 sq. ft. I also reconstructed the attachment to the keel so we would have an additional 2 1/2" of ground clearance. Three more ribs per side were added to give it a more uniform shape and better performance. I then welded clips to the ends of each tip for attaching vertical winglets and now it was ready for fabric. I weighed the frame before covering and it weighed in at 14 lbs. For the testing of the winglets Bob suggested using 3/8" plywood which we did. They are heavy but easy to shape and attach. Last Sunday, with doors on, Bob and I took off with the new tail and winglets for the first flight. We were happy with the stability in pitch but were not pleased with yaw. The following week I made a larger set of winglets. The first size we used had 2.44 sq. ft. of area. Number 2 had 3.84 sq. ft. and I noticed better directional control. I will ask Bob to give everyone a report at the club meeting on the 23rd so I won't have to type so much. In closing, I am happy to say that the Ask First Society will be starting a testing program for stabs. I will be sending my third generation stab to any RAF CFI who would like to try it. Hopefully they then can see for themselves what affect it has on pitch stability. I will be attending a CFI renewal seminar the 23rd of this month in Vegas (so I won't be at our club meeting) and will be meeting with Jim Logan CFI New York and Duane Hunn Sr. CFI Hugo Ok. to set up testing procedures for the stab. I am very happy that this issue of a stab will finally be addressed for the RAF and I had a hand in the movement. Naturally Bob Aspegren deserves most of the credit since without him I would still be flying my RAF instead of riding in my RAF. I still love my RAF and think it is the best 2 place machine on the market but like anything else there is always room for improvement. I think that with the appropriate size stab on the RAF or any gyro it is a huge safety asset. P.S. for anyone who is interested I have the Micro Balancer up and running. So, if you want your gyro flying as smooth as it can, give me a call. Gary G. Brewer

#1 & #2 at bottom, #3 is under frame of #4 1st set of vertical winglets 2nd set of vertical winglets back of 2nd set of vertical winglets

PRA Chapter 5 meetings are regularly scheduled for the 4th Sunday of the month at 1pm unless they need to be rescheduled. The next meeting is January 23, 2000: Yuba County Airport, Marysville.