"Shiver" wrote in message
...

Has anyone seen, or read about, that Skycycle?

http://www.thebutterflyllc.com/sscycle/images/010.jpg

Well as everybody knows.... I'm just a little lurker, armchair pilot,
and always stand to be corrected.....

BUT.... Everything that I've ever read about gyros in this group always
comes back to the fact that if it does not have a centre line stab the
machine is prone to bunt over.

Actually, it's not the stab that needs to be center line, it's the thrust
line of the engine and prop. Having said all that, it is generally
considered preferable, at least from what I've read, to have he horizontal
stab in the prop wash. The idea being that the added air velocity will
improve the stabs stabilizing effect. I'm not sure I agree with that 100%
but I do agree that the horizontal stab is very import and should not be
dismissed as trivial. You'll still run into folks every now and then that
will claim the h-stab isn't needed on a gyro.

On a pusher style gyro, the engine thrust line should (ideally) be as close
to the vertical CG of the aircraft as possible. Many designs that have been
put out in past years had an engine thrust line that was some distance above
the vertical CG. That would induce a forward pitching moment. This force
was countered by the rearward inclination of the main rotor and as long as
you kept the main rotor loaded, everything balanced out and was fine. If
the pilot ever unloaded the rotor while under power, the forces involved
would not balance out and the aircraft was pitch forward (a bunt over, aka
"power push over") and the pilot would quickly find himself inverted and out
of options. Too many folks died this way.

These days, most manufacturers of any note are only producing centerline
thrust, or near centerline thrust gyros. Check out
http://www.aircommand.com and look at the designs of their single and two
place machine. Then do a search on "Air Command" and find pictures of their
older designs. The difference in the location of the engines thrust line
relative to the rest of the machine is dramatic. I've always been very
impressed that Air Command undertook this redesign of their product line in
the interest of flight safety. Some manufacturers have refused to do this
for fear of liability issues. It would be like admitting there was
something wrong with their older designs. At any rate, Air Command sells a
retrofit kit to convert their older designs into the new centerline thrust
model and recommends that the older bird not be flown until that
modification is done.

If you haven't seen it before, check out
http://www.rotaryforum.com/index.php. It's a discussion forum on
experimental rotorcraft and has lot's of good information on gyroplanes.
About the only down side to this one is that many of these guys have "very"
strong personalities and can be "very" opinionated. This means that
sometimes you have to wade through a lot of egos to get to the meaningful
information but if you're serious about getting into gyroplanes, it's well
worth the effort.

FWIW! :-)


Too bad Kenny Sandy Eggo isn't around these days because he is very
knowleageble on the subject.

He's been flying gyros for years.


Agreed!

Good luck & Fly Safe,
Steve R.