January 2013

January 2013
Mike Morgan and His Helicycle
Southwest Regional Chapters of the Popular Rotorcraft Association
This Months Contributors:
Chapter 6 Mid-South Rotorcraft Club
Contact: Thom Francis
210 S 8th Street
Gurdon, AR 71743
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 870-403-2888
Dean Dolph
Mike Morgan
Stacy and Barbara Maness
Mike Stone
Gary Hall
Jim Edwards
Chapter 20 Pelican State Rotor Club
Contact: Bill Wieger
112 Gayven Dr.
Pineville, LA 71360
Phone: 318-640-5656
Email: [email protected]
Website www.pra20.com
Chapter 62 Lone Star Rotorcraft Club
Contact: Steve Weir
3714 Tri City Beach Rd
Baytown, TX 77520
Phone: 832-457-1785
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.gyrosaway.com
Chapter 65 Central Texas Rotorcraft Club
Contact: Paul Erb
9901 Brodie Ln. 160-283
Austin, TX 78748
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 512-680-1835
Website: www.centexpra.org
Chapter 78 Texas Rotorcraft Association
Contact: Bob Stark
PO Box 428
Olney, TX 76374
Phone: 940-564-2938
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.txrotorcraft.org
Oklahoma
Contact: Robbie Hyde
Duncan, OK
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 580-475-5261
Southwest Rotorcraft
Southwest Regional Newsletter








Club news and upcoming events
Member profiles
Member’s machines
Chapter meeting minutes
Projects, builds and modification
Photos
Family news
Classifieds
Newsletter Past Issues
If you have missed an issue of our newsletter just
go to www.gyrosaway.com to download past issues. Also available at www.pra.org.
To subscribe to Southwest Rotorcraft just click the
button below. Subscribing to Southwest Rotorcraft
also automatically subscribes you to the Western
Rotorcraft. At the beginning of each month you
will be sent a link to Southwest Rotorcraft and
Western Rotorcraft where you can read them online or download them to your computer.
Click Here to Subscribe Now
Page 2
January 2013
Send Us Your News
Upcoming Events
Project Reports
Send us pictures of your project to include in future editions of the newsletter. We will post anything you have on your build, modifications, training, etc. Just send an email to tell us what you
are doing and include some pictures if you have
any. Progress reports are probably the most interesting things to read about and see.
January 12th: Chapter 65 Meeting
January 19th: Chapter 62 Meeting at Anahuac
January 26th: Chapter 78 Meeting at Olney
Your Pride and Joy
February 9th: Chapter 65 Meeting
Send us pictures of your machine to include as a
feature in future editions. If you include some information on the details of your machine or a
short bio of yourself we’ll also include this with
your pictures. Brag about your aircraft!!
February 16th: Chapter 62 Meting at Anahuac
February 23rd: Chapter 78 Meeting at Olney
Events and Meetings
We strongly encourage all chapter members to
become members of the PRA. By joining you will
be supporting the organization that promotes our
sport by representing us to the FAA and assist
them on making gyro flying available for all of us.
The new PRA website will have several members
only benefits including: PRA’s electronic Rotorcraft magazines along with past issues
chocked full of great information and historical
data, downloadable plans, and a PRA supported
forum. Please join today, you won’t be disappointed.
Next time you’re at a fly-in or just out flying with a
buddy, take some pictures and let us know about
it. Have your club secretary send us your club
news and tell us about your meetings. Send us
names of new members so we can welcome
them to our sport. We are interested in anything
your club is doing.
Family News and Announcements
Our newsletter isn’t just all about the machines,
it’s about the people of our region also. Any family news or announcements you want to share
please feel free to send us so we can let everyone know.
www.pra.org
Southwest Rotorcraft
www.rotaryforum.com
Page 3
January 2013
From The Editor
Great Reading Material
Well, 2012 is now officially over and with four fatal
gyro accidents , it wasn’t a great year for our
sport. Let’s all pull together to make 2013 a safer
year . Gyros are already the redheaded step child
of aviation so we need to work very diligently in
preventing accidents and make our sport as safe
as we can.
This is a book that I have and read, it is very good and I
highly recommend it. Marion talks about how she got
involved in gyros, many of her experiences, and some
of her stories about training. Included in the back of the
book are some write-ups about Marion from several of
our highly regarded legends. It is certainly a must read.
Another note from 2012 is that we saw great
growth in the Southwest Rotorcraft and have been
blessed with contributors that submit news about
their chapter and their area very regularly. I want
thank those of you who have stepped up to make
our newsletter one of the best publications in the
gyro community.
Anther one that I really enjoyed was Short Hops by
Shirley Jennings. This is a great book for beginners as
it explains how gyros work and what to expect during
your training. Ordering information for this book is on
page 20.
The last couple months have been a little sparse
because of the holidays and the weather that kept
most of us away from the hangar more than what
we would like, hopefully things will pick up again in
the next couple months.
I do want to try and get the newsletter out before
the second Saturday of each month so Chapter 65
can have their news out to their members before
the monthly meeting. Please, if you want to send
something in, try to get it to me between the last
week of the month and the first week of the next
month.
Until then, fly safely.
Mike Grosshans, Southwest Rotorcraft Editor
Born Free - My Life In Gyrocopters
ORDERING INFORMATION
Born Free ................. $ 19.95
Sales Tax @ 8.50 % .. $ 1.69
(California residents only)
Shipping .................... $ 4.00 in USA
To Order By Mail
Send check or money order payable to:
Marion Springer
720 Mirage Lake Rd.
Adelanto, CA 92301
Pay Online Through PayPal
Email: [email protected]
On the Cover
We lost another brother in December, Doug
Goodman (AKA: Dogman) from Arizona. No information on what caused the crash . We all send
our prayers to the family and friends.
Southwest Rotorcraft
Page 4
Chapter 20 member Mike
Morgan and his newly acquired Helicycle
January 2013
Mid-South Rotorcraft Club
If you happen to be in Arkansas on a weekend it
would be well worth your while to visit the guys in
Morilton. Located just north/west of Little Rock.
Here you see Gary Hall showing off his newest
creation and the guys (Richard, John, and Gary)
hovering around a Dominator. If you get there
soon enough you may be able to help Gary Lewis by letting him know what the arrow is for on the
fuel filter.
Above: Gary Hall’s
highly modified Bensen.
Right: John Ferguson
and Gary readying the
propeller.
Below: the Ma nose is
ready for the prop, Gary
tightening the bolts after
the prop is installed.
Southwest Rotorcraft
Page 5
January 2013
Mike Morgan and His Recent New Toy
Mike tells us: the Helicycle was built
in 2003 and has 1178 hours. Most
of that time was flown between 2009
-2011 by the second owner, David
Lyons of Lake Charles, LA. He purchased it for the sole purpose of
building turbine helicopter time so he
could go to work flying helicopters
offshore. He was successful and is
currently flying a Bell 206. I purchased it from David in October
2012 and began training in a R22. On December 13th I jumped in
and said "now or never"......made
three flights and had a blast.
As of this writing, December 18th, I have about 2 hours
of flight time so I am still trying to get comfortable with
the machine. The turbine puts out approximately 160 hp
but is derated to around 90-100 hp so it has tons of power since it weighs only 510 lbs. empty. Fuel burn is
around 11 gph of Jet A or kerosene and it will cruise at
90-95 mph easily. It burns twice the fuel of the gyros but
I promise......it is more than twice the fun!!!!!
Congratulations Mike, hope to see you flying at a fly-in
soon.
Chapter Patches
If you would like to get a chapter patch for your flight suit, favorite shirt, ball cap, or just whatever you want to stick it on,
contact:
Chapter 20; Rudy Graffeo at [email protected]
Chapter 62; Danny Whitten at [email protected]
CHAPTER SHIRTS
Chapter 62 has two styles of T-shirts available, if you are
interested please
contact Danny Whitten.
He usually has these available for purchase at the meetings.
They are $15 each
Southwest Rotorcraft
Page 6
January 2013
Christmas at the Hangar
In December, Chapter 62 does not
hold a regular meeting but instead
invites the club members and one of
their guests to attend a Christmas
gathering. This year it was held at
the Anahuac hangar.
We had some flying going on, Mark
got his Bensen out for some short,
low flights over the grass field,
Desmon brought Jarrod Perry over
from Hooks and did some training,
Steve got in some air time, Chuck
flew over in his trike and did some
flying around the airport, and Coda
brought over his bi-plane.
We met first at the hangar then everyone ventured over to Tony’s BBQ
for lunch, the club flipped the lunch
tab. Afterwards most of us returned
and did some work on the hangar.
Coda offered, and gave, rides in his
bi-plane to anyone that was interested. This was a very fun ride and Coda is an excellent pilot (he should
be, he’s a professional pilot).
Southwest Rotorcraft
Page 7
January 2013
Hangar Flying
13 - Good judgment comes from experience. Experience usually comes from bad judgment.
Flying Rules
1 - Every takeoff is optional. Every landing is mandatory.
2 - Flying isn't inherently dangerous. It's crashing
that's dangerous.
14 - It's always a good idea to keep the pointy end
going forward as much as possible
15 - Gravity is not just a good idea. It's the law.
And it's not subject to appeal.
3 - If you push the stick forward, the houses get
bigger. If you pull the stick back, they get smaller.
If you keep pulling the stick all the way back, they
get bigger again, quickly, very quickly.
16 - Keep looking around. There's always something you've missed.
17 - The three most useless things to a pilot are
the altitude above you, runway behind you, and a
tenth of a second ago.
4 - It's always better to be down here wishing you
were up there than up there wishing you were
down here.
5 - The only time you have too much fuel is when
you're on fire.
18 - Never let an aircraft take you somewhere
your brain didn't get to five minutes earlier.
6 - The propeller is just a big fan in front of the
plane to keep the pilot cool. If it stops, you will see
the pilot start sweating.
19 - Stay out of clouds. The silver lining everybody keeps talking about might be another airplane going in the opposite direction. And mountains hide in clouds.
7 - When in doubt, hold on to your altitude. No one
has ever collided with the sky.
20 - Always try to keep the number of landings
you make equal to the number of take offs you've
made.
8 - A "good" landing is one from which you can
walk away. A "great" landing is one after which the
airplane can still be used.
9 - Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't
live long enough to make all of them yourself.
22 - You start with a bag full of luck and an empty
bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of
experience before you empty the bag of luck.
10 - You know you've landed with the wheels up if
it takes full power to taxi to the ramp.
23 - If all you can see out of the window is ground
that's going round and round and all you can hear
is commotion coming from the passenger compartment, things are not at all as they should be.
11 - The probability of survival is inversely proportional to the angle of arrival.
12 - In the ongoing battle between objects made
of aluminum going hundreds of miles per hour and
the ground going zero miles per hour, the ground
always wins.
Southwest Rotorcraft
21 - There are three simple rules for making a
smooth landing. Unfortunately no one knows what
they are.
24 - When in doubt, take AMTRAK. They may
crash more, but they don't have to fall out of the
sky to do it.
Page 8
January 2013
DREAM IT - BUILD IT - FLY IT
The Building of N989MM
Mike Stone’s MTO Sport Build
December 4 - 5
Loaded up all parts at Stevensville, Maryland for
what turned out to be a non-stop return trip; a
little over 1500 miles! LLL. Elizabeth, the wife,
did very well as co-pilot.
December 14
Installed throttle/brake assembly to the frame
December 16
Drilling out holes for the connection of the landing gear to the frame
December 10
Did a complete inventory of parts, worked off
same list that Terri signed off…all accounted
for…a good thing!
December 16
Attached Landing gear
December 14
Installed the nose wheel spat, assembled nose
wheel parts…not sure on what direction the fork
slopes….will verify later.
Update: Fork slope made obvious once linkage
was added.
Southwest Rotorcraft
Page 9
January 2013
Chuck Beaty and Ernie Boyette Interview
August 2012. Ten Good Men
Great interview with Chuck Beaty, pioneer of the modern gyroplane, it’s construction, and its stability, and Ernie, manufacturer of the Dominator Gyroplane and Dragon Wings rotor
blades on YouTube, very much worth your time to watch.
The Lone Star Rotorcraft Club now has a
group on Facebook. Please click on the
logo to join us.
Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=v5sPAsSzzTg&feature=youtu.be
For Sale




Sub EJ2.2 RAF Conversion, 130 hp,
never ran - $3,700
Instrument Pod, Aurora Type $270
Pitot Tube, removable - $15
Kenny J Stab, fitted for RAF - $500
Not Pictured
 AAI Stab. Augmentation Kit For
RAF, includes the anti-servo tab
installed, Completed except for
finishing the horz. Stab - $3500
 RAF Redrive, RAF Prerotator Cluster, and RAF Motor Mount, Gold
Anodized All for EJ2.2 engine $1800
Contact Michael Stone
[email protected]
713-350-7666 (w)
Complete original Bensen gas motor pre-rotator "kit", asking $750.
Includes drive pulley and belt.
Jim Edwards @ [email protected]
Southwest Rotorcraft
Page 10
January 2013
New Bensen/Brock Rotor Blades
B&B
Rotor Blade Price List
July 9, 2012
Blades, either Bensen or Brock attach points
$1,295.00
Hub Bars: 25”, 36”, or 48”
Blades and Hub Bar Sets:; 21’, 23’, or 25’
Contact Roger Farnes at [email protected] or (909) 519-4427
For Sale
For Sale - Twelve volt electric winch. 2000
LB capacity Model 68146 Badland
Winch. never used, still in the box. $50.00
paid $68.00
Danny Whitten at:
[email protected]
Sport Rotor blades; 8" cord X 25' long with approx 20
hours flying time, blades come with the 36" Hub Bar
(Pitch Adjustable Hub Bar System and Track Adjustable,
Self-Alignment, Coning and Dampening System). They
are in great condition. They sell for $4495.00 new plus
crating/shipping, I am firm at $3000. I will be attending
the fly-in in Bastrop October 12-14 and I can bring them
with me if needed. Kirk 225-279-1326
Gyros For Sale
GyroBee
Bensen, Waco Texas Area
Bensen/KB2 gyro for sale or trade or combo cash
and trade. Has Wunderlich pre-rotator, brakes on
mains, instrument pod with usual basic instruments, 90 HP Mac, Troyer 50x30, 2x11'rotorblades w/3' hub bar (built by Neil Carnes). Will
trade for a good used small car like a Mini
Cooper, Tracker, Samauri, or fully rigged Goldwing or Goldwing trike. Cash of 6,700.
Going with this gyro is a hand held portable
Navcom, a hand held flight calc computer, a spare
holly single carb, some little odds and ends. A
pretty good entry package.
Contact Larry Murphy at: [email protected]
Southwest Rotorcraft
Beautiful Amateur Built Experiential LSA Gyrobee
with Starbee tail and rudder for sale. New Rotax
503 broken in and taxied. Power fin prop,
23' Dragonwing blades and head, CHT, EGT,
tach, Radio, pre-rotator, rotor tach, auxiliary electric fuel pump, toe disc brakes, new aircraft tires,
very nice instrument pod. Ceramic coated exhaust. Taxied, hang test done with 170 lb pilot.
Trailer and rotor box $12,995 new kit cost $14,975
and you still have to build it. Have construction
photos. Registered N number 949TL to Frank W.
Dicorte (owner) DOES NOT have an Air Worthy
Certificate. Contact: Craig McPherson Gyro CFI
468 FM 3049, Blum TX 76627 email
[email protected] Cellular (817) 517-3283
Or Frank Dicorte Cellular (254) 715-3056
Page 11
January 2013
Monarch Butterfly
RAF 2000
Rotax 582, Metro Launch 300
RPM pre-rotator, Nose Cone &
Windscreen, G-Force landing
Gear, Wheel Pants (not in Photo). 35 hours TT and flown regularly. $19,750 OBO Buying a
helicopter.
Subaru 2.2 Carbureted, 30Ft
RAF Rotors, Built in 2006, Cabin
Heat, Pitch and Roll Trim, Belt
Driven Pre-Rotator, Carb Heat,
Rotor Tach, Engine Tach, Altimeter to 20,000 Feet, Air Speed
Indicator. Reduced to $29,500.
Contact Chuck Burgoon at 713775-5996 or [email protected]
Contact: Thom Francis, email
[email protected], phone
870-403-2888. Located in
Gurdon Arkansas
EXCEPTIONAL
RAF2000 GTX-SE
27’ Dragon Wings, 1982 1.8
Turbo Bratt engine, Tennessee
prop, Aggressor air frame. Also
have a 2.2 Legacy engine included. $8,000 Gyro is located
at the PRA headquarters in
Mentone.
Contact John at [email protected] or
317-840-2697
Dominator
Dominator for sale. Built in
1999, I have owned since
2004, 120 hours TT on airframe and engine, 618 Rotax,
blades 2 years old, never been
damaged, $12,999.
with Phase II Subaru 2.2L FOR
SALE. 450 hours TT, Flies
great, current annual. Features
include Keith Dorton 500 cfm
racing carb, tuned exhaust
headers, full instrument panel,
dual fuel pumps, Sigtronics
dash-mounted intercom. REDUCED PRICE includes spare
main drive belt, spare fuel
pumps, new tires / tubes, GPS
(Garmin 195) and mount, Icom
handheld radio (A5), spare
mast bushings and extra hardware. Hangared in Waycross,
GA. Asking $24.5K OBO. Contact Jerry at 912-449-1140 or
[email protected]
Southwest Rotorcraft
Aggressor, Plans Built
Contact Mike Morgan at
[email protected]
Page 12
January 2013
Parts and Supplies
Gyro Books For Sale
DAR Services, Prerotators, and Seat Tanks
www.calumetair.com
aircraftspruce.com
Great books, DVDs, and
CDs at
www.gyrobooks.com
wicksaircraft.com
TRAINING
OKLAHOMA
TEXAS
Paul Patterson,
Edmund Oklahoma
Paul trains in a modified RAF at the Guthrie/
Edmond Geoport (KGOK). His RAF includes
both a stabilator and a horizontal stabilizer.
405-826-8443
[email protected]
Henry Foster
Trains at the Olney Airport in a Modified RAF, a SparrowHawk, and an Air
Command
[email protected] 214– 692-0727
ARKANSAS
LOUISIANA
James Chowns
Bastrop, LA
James trains in a tow
glider at the Morehouse
Memorial Airport (KBQP)
in Bastrop. This is a great
training aid for anyone
just entering training in
gyros. This was the way
training was done before
the two place trainers.
GEORGIA
[email protected]
Southwest Rotorcraft
Page 13
January 2013