Xenon Gyro

[FLYNOTE]

JP ... merde ! Je vais te tuer !!

Les photos du jour… The latest today.

As you can see, the new special winshield
The preparation for the tanks plus the extra foldable one, with its integrated pump on the firewall, and the control switch on the central panel.

[FLYNOTE]

The welder is dancing around your turbo and exhaust system with his magic torch . I do not know if it is an African or Polish dance…but for sure, the good spirits will be on this machine !
You can also see the mounting brackets for the coming oil coolers and intercooler.
I shall test the roll trim in a very few days…

[FLYNOTE]

latest from poland

"Et voila les photos du jour !!

Bon appetit "

"As you can see, for the integrated Teleflex…on the longer tail tubes.
It is much more elegant, easier cleaning for the tubes, less micro parasite drag, smother operation of the rudders due to the less friction of these new models Teleflex.

Have a good day, Raphael

Here a pic of the morning, mast installation…

I am just back from the flight test with the roll trim…
It works to a perfection ! I am super happy !!
We will now launch the production of 2 options, one kit available for the older machine for adaptation, one as an option nicely integrated.
But is a success and a delight to fly.

Raphael"

[Vertical Tango]

At last I have finished with the approval time and I have been given my full ATF this morning by CAA. Now I can attack the X-Countries in great comfort. Thank you to Eric for helping in the last hurdle.

[Rotor-Blade]

Hi Jean-pierre
Just a short congratulations, wishing you many safe pleasant and memry making flights

Regards
Rotori-blade

[Gyronaut]

Congratulations!!!
I wish you many happy and safe hours of flying!

Eric is a legend, even as far away as here in the Cape his knowledge and vast experience have helped us on many occasions!

Len

[mak]

Jean-Pierre

Congratulations

I am glad that you eventually got sorted and survived the CAA paperwork, etc, etc. It must be a very proud moment if you think back where you started with a heap of pieces & parts lying in your hanger.

Well done

When can we expect you at Kitty Hawk for a visit. I am sorry to miss the Tedderfield Fly Inn, might have been / be a few Xenons together.

Many happy and safe flying hours

Regards

[FLYNOTE]

Great JP !! ! Il sera intéressant tout le travail dur!!
Are you coming to show off your handywork at Tedderfield tomorrow morning? There is a breakfast flyin.
Once Danie's and my new Xenon arrives I will organise a long cross country .

[FLYNOTE]

RST and mast glued onto firewall and cabin with "vasvat" ...
Len Klopper took the Xenon through it's paces on Saturday. I sat back while he did all the flying and landing.
Methinks he has flown this machine before?
My baby goes to Celliers in August and the new one is scheduled to arrive end of September. Just in time for Vredendal?

[Jabbanaught]

RST and mast glued onto firewall and cabin with "vasvat" ...
Len Klopper took the Xenon through it's paces on Saturday. I sat back while he did all the flying and landing.
Methinks he has flown this machine before?
My baby goes to Celliers in August and the new one is scheduled to arrive end of September. Just in time for Vredendal?

Lyl mooi Johan , Yes Len can fly a Gyro .

CAn you believe its been a year already for vredendal , I see dates are 27-28 August , Sien ons Jou ?

Paul

[Gyronaut]

Len Klopper took the Xenon through it's paces on Saturday.

Thanks for the opportunity to fly in your Xenon Johan. Much appreciated. Your hospitality to us 'buitelanders' in your hangar making us feel totally at home was also special. Thanks also to Vic for keeping the girls entertained while we flew.

Now on to the part everyone has been asking me about... What do I think of the Xenon?

WOW!

What an awesome machine! Getting out of my brothers' Merc E350 and into the Xenon was like getting out of one and into another. Pure spacious luxury. Plush comfortable seats with shoulder harnesses; Centre console with unrestricted forward view and chin windows under your feet combined with BIG doors make all-round viewing incredible. The sound proofing/damping inside is very very good and I had to open the door to convince myself that the engine is actually as noisy as any other Rattex. Once inside with the doors closed its a whisper. The headsets with ANR really make it a pleasure also. Lots of space to stow baggage behind the seats and the centre cooler-box armrest means you do not sit rubbing shoulders as in other side-by-sides. Cabin heat and adequate roof and door vents make it comfortable on cold and hot days. Truly a classy comfortable machine to be in.

I was pleasantly surprised by the performance at altitude! It was about 21 degrees at 5 200' and we easily maintained 400' p.m. climb at 5 400 RPM. There is absolutely NO stick shake and she flies smooth as silk. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that the machine requires almost no rudder input during maneuvers. I expected 'windage' from the big doors would cause it to yaw quite a lot but this was not the case. Directional control in the hover is precise. The machine honestly is incredibly easy to fly and land. I was caught a little by surprise at the sense of being skew in the hold-off because of the side by side config but a little coaching from Johan soon remedied that and the machine floats beautifully in the hold-off before settling elegantly onto the runway. It is very easy to judge your height off the runway by glancing down through the chin-windows after the round-out. I thought the machine was incredibly fast and was worried about reaching the VNE but after some consideration realised that Johan's MGL must have been set to Kilometers and not MPH so I cannot really comment on the speed aspects since I am used to MPH - what I will say is that it is quite fast enough!

I will definitely be doing a formal conversion onto the Xenon as soon as possible. Celliers is getting a beautiful machine and I am very happy that it will be living in the Cape - which means I might get to fly in it occasionally.

I cannot think of a single negative so I rate the Xenon 10 out of 10. Well done to the designers and manufacturers. Truly a Rolls Royce of Gyro's!

[Grumpy]

Len Klopper took the Xenon through it's paces on Saturday.

Het julle 'kapaters' nie werk nie, laat julle so aanmekaar 'earie' 'earie' speel?

[FLYNOTE]

Ai jai jai hoe lekker kry ek nou
I had the Cape Town Captain , the gyro giant , the man who is the "in" in "In"structor , the guy who lands a gyroplane on a highway in an engine out as though he is landing on Cape Town International with engine purring, AND directs his wife behind him to take a video and cover the event during the forced landing !; I had him in my Xenon , piloting all the way , steepturns , hovers , landing her like a dream as though he has been instructing on Xenon all his life ... AND HE THOUGHT WE WERE FLYING IN KILOMETERS !!! GO XENON !!!

Hey Len. I really was so happy to meet you and your family and to have you flying the Xenon.
I have always said that one can rave about your machine as much as you like. You will always get guys knocking what ever you fly and they don't. The biggest critisism always comes from someone who does not own the machine OR has never even flown in one... maar hulle praat met gesag !!

But if I can get you and Eric Torr to fly the thing I know one will get unbiased reports.
A thumbs up from either of you is good enough for me !
Eric was happy and I am delighted at your feedback.
I have maintained so often that this machine is the ulimate in gyros for me ... any airplane for that matter IF you want something nice to fly for recreation.

We were flying at 5450 to 5550 RPM in the cruise with a slight tailwind when our airspeed touched 94 mph at one stage with the groundspeed at 110 mph after recovering from the hover.
( Thats when you asked me what the vne was and I thought it was 125mph. It s actually 121 mph.)

Ok, I will not cruise her at that RPM continously.In summer the airbox temps will moan like hell ! When I set her at 5000 to 5200 RPM your airspeed sits at between 70 and 80mph obviously depending on the weight of you and your pax.

The heavier you are , the slower you go ! We had less than half tanks and the pilot in command was the ideal gyro weight. I was the odd one out to affect the ideal numbers.

In no aircraft can you fill up with fuel and load pax and bags and expect the craft to perform even close to the numbers given by the test pilots under optimum conditions.

Maximum speed: 105/115/121 mph ( 912S / 914 / 912 RST )
Cruise speed: 75/87/99 mph
Endurance: 4 hours
Service ceiling: 15000 ft
Maximum glide ratio: 3:1
Rate of climb: 600-1200 ft/min

Dimensions Cabin Width 49.2 inches
Total Width 86.6 inches
Total Length 192.9 inches
Total Height 110.23 inches
Wheel Diameter 400X 4

Empty Weight .
914 / 616 lbs.
912/RST / 605 lbs.
Payload 912S / 462 lbs
914 / 484 lbs.
912 RST / 550 lbs
Max TO weight 1,155 lbs.

Fuel Capacity 2 connected tanks 85 lts.
If you are one up on a long distance gyro safari you connect the additional 70 liters cell to your tank and your pax is your aux tank !
Now you have 155 lts and you fly for 7.5 hrs !

Propeller 3 Blade DUC Windspoon 68.5 inch
Pre-rotator Mechanical 280 RRPM
Rotor Type 8H12 Aircopter Extruded Aluminum
Diameter 27.55 feet
Area 596.1 sq. feet

Take off Distance 100 to 300 feet
Landing Distance 15 feet

The sleeps are getting less and less for my trip to Poland.
Thanks for the kuier Len. If I had known you were going to be there we could have done something on that braai thing in my hangar !
But we will do this soon soon.

[Gyronaut]

Ai jai jai hoe skaam kry ek nou
(en jy vlei my oormatig)

In all honesty, I was told by some "tyre kickers" that the Xenon is slow and I genuinely experienced the opposite. I was also told that it buffets at speed since the flat bottom 'flies'. BS!. [Bog en Snert]
After landing and thinking about the flight I genuinely thought that it must have been set to KM's rather than MPH since it was so quick and at around 100MPH there was absolutely NO buffeting. Die ding is LUS vir vlieg

I say again, without reservation or fear of contradiction - this is an awesome Gyro!

Lekker vlieg Johan, jy het reg gekies.

[saraf]

Nou wanne kan ek kom vir n aanpassing, damit man!!!

He He , Ek weet nie hoekom die suid afrikaaners so oor spoed is met gyros nie , hulle was nooit gebou vir spoed nie.