Super Skycycle

Steve: I know what you are talking about. We got into a controversy when
we produced the PRA magazine for publishing a letter from Cdr. Wallis
outlining his opinions on the CLT and HS. I was kind of taken aback with
all of the sudden inflammatory kinds of statements putting down the non
CLT/HS ships as I had never encountered any problem flying my Benson and I
flew it in the desert turbulence and winds strong enough to allow hovering
takeoffs. My wife flew the ship and she had only soloed a Piper Colt. So
we had no experience to support the damning criticisms of the Non CLT/HS
ships. A conversation with Ken Brock trying to see if I had just lucked out
and never experienced the close call in my Benson and he seemed to agree
more with Cdr. Wallis than the current PRA position. I tended to use Ken as
my expert on gyro things.
BTW, as I recall, we had to set my Super Mac up even higher than the stock
Benson because I was driving a larger diameter prop. I also had the
outboard motor fuel tank that set below the seat. I'm sure that my thrust
line was above the vertical c.g. with full fuel. The little rock guard on
the Benson sure didn't qualify as a HS either.
I guess I was either luckier than the others, or a good gyro pilot, or my
ship was somehow more stable than the others. I know for sure there has
been oodles of opinions and calculations floating about supporting the need
for CLT and HS. Now that I'm flying adefinitely unstable aircraft (helo) my
dog is not in the CLT/HS fight.
--
Stuart Fields
Experimental Helo magazine
P. O. Box 1585
Inyokern, CA 93527
(760) 377-4478
(760) 408-9747 general and layout cell
(760) 608-1299 technical and advertising cell

www.vkss.com
www.experimentalhelo.com


"Steve R" wrote in message
...
"Stuart & Kathryn Fields" wrote in message
.. .
boB:
BTW squared, In the process of doing the PRA magazine we met and spent
some
time with Comander Ken Wallis who is the UK gyro king. He did all of
the
flying for the James Bond movie that had the "Little Nellie" gyro. He
doesn't share the statements that both horizontal stabilizers and center
line thrust are a must. At least in his experience, and I might add
mine
(both my wife and I self taught in a Benson back in the late 60s and
never
dinged the ship and flew in a variety of conditions). This is not to
say
that some ships with an abundance of body work forward of the mast can't
benefit from both things tho. I think that the two seat side-by-side
gyros
like the RAF and Sparrohawk would certainly fly different in gusty winds
than the skimpy single seat Benson that I used to fly.

--
Stuart Fields
Experimental Helo magazine
P. O. Box 1585
Inyokern, CA 93527
(760) 377-4478
(760) 408-9747 general and layout cell
(760) 608-1299 technical and advertising cell

Not trying to start any arguments here, there's been too many of them on
this subject through the years, but....

I believe you when you say that h-stabs and centerline thrust are not
necessarily a must. I know that many folks have flown gyros without these
features for years without incident. I also know that in my first 5 years
as a PRA member, it seemed like every time I turned around I was reading
about "another" member who had killed themselves in a high thrust line
gyro
and "many" of these folks were not low time beginners. They were well
established members of the PRA who's opinions and experiences were very
much
respected. Not all of these incidents were directly related to the high
thrust line issue but some of them were, at least many folks seemed to
think
so.

In the past few years, there have been a number of people who have
converted
a high thrust line gyro to centerline thrust and/or added a horizontal
stabilizer and in each case, there have been nothing but "glowing" reports
on the improvements in the handling of the aircraft, especially in
turbulent
air. I've read hours upon hours of posts and information and waded
through
heated arguments and respectful conversations on the subject and I firmly
believe that, while an experienced pilot can safely handle a high thrust
line gyro, I think a beginner or relatively low time pilot will be
infinitely better off in a centerline machine w/h-stab. I'm not a gyro
pilot so maybe my opinion on this isn't worth squat but I know what I've
seen and I know what I've read and I firmly believe that a pusher style
gyro
should have a h-stab and the engine thrust line should be as close to
centerline thrust as possible. JMMOC, FWIW!

Respectfully,
Steve R.