Xenon Gyro

[FLYNOTE]

Border patrols and anti poaching excercises.
go to
http://www.celieraviation.eu/
click on news then archives MAY
The whole story is there.
They fly without doors ; one pilot and next to him a soldier with an AK !
Moeilike manne daar bo in Afrika !

[FLYNOTE]

Marius, "Tinkerbell", Louis ... and all you other guys who have the longest few weeks of your lives ahead, planning and deciding on your colour schemes and specs ... Here are a few pics taken on my trip down to Vredendal net om julle goed lus te maak ! It seems that there will be enough Xenons around by April / May next year and if so , I am inviting Raphael Celier to join us for a Xenon Gyro Safari which I want to document for broadcast. I think a Botswana up to Vic falls trip might be a nice one for starters or the South of Namibia. Or maybe Vaalriver down to Douglas at Tweeriviere where the Vaal meets the Orange and through the Richtersveld down to Alexanderbay. Will see , they are all nice trips. Camping in the Richtersveld next to your gyro under the stars ... been there, done that, forget the t shirt , I wouldnt mind doing it again at all !!
Life is tough ... all the descisions one has to make...

[mak]

Thanks Johan for trying to ease the pain or rubbing it in , I'm not sure . Yes, please count me and Juanita in, we've been looking forward to a trip like this. With all the new military orders we just hope for delivery before then

[FLYNOTE]

I don't think it will be an immediate problem. If other African countries start coming aboard then the 6 weeks production time may become a problem unless the factory expands and increases output schedules.
Raphael and Artur runs a tight ship over there and I was very impressed to see how the assembly line is run. They have experts , each working on that area of the gyro in which he is qualified. If a snag comes up along the line they know exactly whos responsibility it is and that person addresses it immediately. They produce to a strict daily progress schedule.The guy in charge of the quality control is a man called Darek. He is everywhere all the time and monitors the production continously. I saw him go over a new cabin that was brought into the factory to begin work on, only to turn it down because the paint job was not to his liking. This is important as each customer specs his spesific colour which may be cutom, not on the factory option list. Then it is imperative that the paint shop gets the exact colour a customer requested. It has happened that guys ordered a spesific custom colour and after the gyro was delivered found the colour not to be exactly what he wanted. My silver was not quite the shade I requested but I didn't even notice it while I was over there. Only picked it up once the gyro was here...and then it didn't matter any more ! The excitement was to much !!
What I also liked was that once a Xenon is completed , the designer test flies it before handing it over to their official test pilot , a man called Wiesiek who flies for the Polish airforce.
This guy really puts the gyro through all its paces and parameters and if he gives the 'thumbs up' you can rest assure ; die ding is oraait en hy kan vlieg !!
On the pic from left to right, the first time I saw my Xenon in Poland at Modling airfield.; Wiesiek, test pilot; Raphael , designer with his back tp pic; helicopter test pilot from Burkia Faso; me with long coat , smile on face , bloody cold ; don't know who but he was also there; johan vonLudwig; a representative of the Burika Faso military.
Enjoy the dreaming and excitement. For me it was one of the happiest experiences and times in my life. I know it will be for you. We do not do this thing every second day !!

[ZS-NEL]

I am inviting Raphael Celier to join us for a Xenon Gyro Safari which I want to document for broadcast. ...

hey Johan, solank ek saam gaan vir die stils is die saak reg.

[FLYNOTE]

Ja dan doen ons sommer n nice fotoartikel vir African Pilot !

Pass this on to all you know who flies or want to fly or has flown . http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/aircraft/

I have printed from page 150 to 199 for myself to read in bed and reread and sommer read again incase I missed something !

[FLYNOTE]

Wat sê julle manne hiervan ? Kyk bietjie na al die videos ens. I think a new era in sportflying is looming. Space age , here we come !
Once this concept takes off , there will be many improvements and new models and versions on the market before you know it.
O hel ! can you imagine them producing taxis !!! Great fun will be had by all on the Golden Highway to Soweto especially during peak hour traffic.
Watch this space ... http://www.terrafugia.com/index.html

[FLYNOTE]

Great flying weekend. Still enjoying every second flying this lovely machine. Got a PiperArrow and a Senneca guy "converted" at Parys on Saturday morning !
Nothing like these machines for sport/leisure flying !

[Learjet]

Fantastic pics. That Xenon just keeps impressing me more and more! We have definately entered a new era in gyroplane development.

[FLYNOTE]

It has been all work and no play / fly for the last two weeks. Yesterday , at last , with work done it was time for fun !
Did a shoot for "huisgenoot" in which the Xenon will be featured in Decembers edition of "Tempo".
I am having a mod done to my turbo wastegate to sort out the man press. at sea level. The wastegate is set to open up here at 41" MP ( 5700 RPM ) but with this setting she opens at 50" down at the coast. One has to keep your RPM very low because of this and it obviously affects your performance.
With the mod which allows one to control the wastegate at different pressure altitudes the problem should be sorted.
Now that Summer temps are with us I am happy to see that there is not much difference in CHT, OIL and AIRBOX temps between Winter and Summer flying.
All going well in the heating and cooling departments.
The heater is now in closed position permanently and the vents have come into play. Works like a bomb ! With the one way vision film on the roof windows and the roof and door vents open, I have one lovely cool machine ... pun intended.
This gyroplane is everything I want in a flying machine and I love every moment flying her. Come December... come Margate !!

[FlyingDoc]

Johan,
Glad to see you're up again. Work is a bugger!! My craft is flying well, the new doors are working well. With Braam's new aluminum hingers they will be even stronger. All the new MGL gauges are preforming well, I also put in teh digital altimeter which is so much easier to read.
Have fun. Nearly my time to work again!!
Alan

[FLYNOTE]

hey Alan , I am sooooooo happy you are sorted ! Now you must get into the air and stay there. In the Xenon you will not get a numb bumb and develop a desire to land.
Gotta go to Harrismith this weekend for a wedding ... fly or drive ??? ... now theres a thought !!
I love my Xenon !!!

[mak]

It seems as if Mr. Flynote is enjoying his fly masjien (as Boet calls it) so much that he doesn’t bother to update us with his Xenon experience and flying expeditions. Before we receive our machine and the same thing happens to us, I would like to share our experiences to date.
We left for Poland the past weekend, one week later than planned, due to Schengen visa delays, for only a quick visit to the Celier Aviations factory to inspect and test fly our new Xenon. Excited we arrived at the factory +-35km south west of Warsaw in a town called Jaktarow Kolonia. One tends to be very nervous if you are able to spec everything in the gyro, cabin construction material, pilot seat left or right side, engine, sound & fire barriers, paint colour, interior finishes, avionics, rotor size, etc, etc and if you don’t get everything right have only yourself to blame.
Obviously the factory assists, comment and make recommendations on your decisions and together the final product is agreed upon.
On arrival on Monday morning our gyro was complete and test flown already, apart from the final test flight and minor adjustments if required and we were relieved that all our chosen options worked well. It was nice to meet the faces behind the numerous e-mails sent over the past months.
Raphael Celier, the owner, Xenon designer, and test pilot showed us around the factory through the different stages of construction, reasons for each component, element, support, bracket, etc. as well as design loads, safety features, etc, etc.
Raphael’s passion for aviation in general and the Xenon specific is an inspiration and it is great to see someone really doing what he loves. His strife to achieve perfection and his attention to every small detail make the final product what it is today.
We left for their newly acquired airfield for the final test flight and hopefully our first flight in our own Xenon.

Xenon ready to depart to airfield

Poland Nov09 026.jpg (46.74 KiB) Viewed 3871 times

Airfield with prepared grass runway on the far left

The rotor was quickly assembled and checked and before Raphael and their quality control manager took the machine through its final ground and air tests he took us through a typical pre-flight on this machine.

Poland Nov09 016.jpg (47.86 KiB) Viewed 3871 times

Final checks before test flight

Poland Nov09 025.jpg (47.99 KiB) Viewed 3871 times

Warm up and run up tests before final test flight


Flying conditions were almost perfect with a QNH of 1012 and an almost head wind of +- 15km – 20km / hour. After Raphael took the gyro through its last test and gave it the all thumbs up, Tinkerbell and I were show the ins & outs of starting, operating and running the machine as well as the flying capabilities of this gyro. Each of us had about 20 minutes at the controls with Raphael’s experienced hands and feet guiding us through our first baby steps in mastering this machine.

Tinkerbell being briefed by Raphael

From my very nervous start, grabbing the stick and throttle with white knuckles and him telling me to relax and only fly with two fingers, I progressed to my final landing thinking I can do this on my own. We expected the flying characteristics of the side by side machine to be a lot different but got use to it very quickly. Everybody told us that converting from a tandem to a side by side one tends to pull the nose more towards yourself, especially on landing. Fortunately the Xenon is very forgiving and my landings went without any problem.

The first day’s flying was followed by the traditional aircraft & owner’s inauguration back at the factory. We first had one glass of their traditional Vodka and then the signing of the Xenon by Raphael. Raphael congratulated Tinkerbell on being the first female Xenon pilot and she then foolishly requested glass 2 and all had glasses 3,4 …. of the Vodka then another type of Vodka …etc, etc.

Traditional Vodka enjoyed by all

A designer proud to put his signature on his final product

On day two the wind was strong and we told Raphael we didn’t feel comfortable to fly in those conditions. Raphael took us up regardless but he did all the flying. The MGL avionics indicated a wind speed of between 60 and 70 km/h at about 45 degrees to the runway. Needless to say the gyro jumped in the air almost immediately and each landing almost vertical with zero ground roll. Again I was impressed with the stability of the Xenon in these conditions. It really was a privilege to fly with someone that really understands the flying characteristics not only of his own machine but gyros, rotorcraft and general aviation as well as aeronautics as a whole.

The rigging and de-rigging of the rotor became a non event by day three as it took us about 20 minutes from arriving at the airfield to ready for start up. Previously I never thought of trailing a gyro to vacation, but after seeing how easy this was done every day, I will consider this in future.
On this day we each had a one hour session with their Russian test pilot (previously a chopper pilot). His English was limited but better than my Russian.

Poland Nov09 041.jpg (50.74 KiB) Viewed 3871 times

Tinkerbell and myself with our Russian instructor for the day

Poland Nov09 028.jpg (46.12 KiB) Viewed 3871 times

Tinkerbell preparing for takeoff

Fortunately I had a good first take off to win his trust in our South African training and he never touched the controls again but resorted to sightseeing and taking photographs to pass the time. Every now and again he tested us with something different ie short approach, high approach, hover approach, engine out etc all of which the Xenon and our training handled easily. It was strange, I thought the Xenon might take me longer to get use to, but after only 20 minutes on day one I felt completely at ease with the Xenon on day three and my 17 touch and goes, within the hour, went surprisingly smooth.

Poland Nov09 029.jpg (40.62 KiB) Viewed 3871 times

Tinkerbell on short final

Poland Nov09 035.jpg (40.85 KiB) Viewed 3871 times

Myself just before touch down

The new flexible pre-rotator system made spinning up to 250 RPM for take-off easy. The brake and parking brake is good. The only systems that I don’t like on the Xenon are the rotor brake (I need to get use to it) and gust lock strap, which I feel can be improved.

Poland Nov09 039.jpg (47.32 KiB) Viewed 3871 times

Myself relieved that I didn’t embarrass my South African instructor

The flying conditions experienced in Poland obviously differ a lot from the normal Highveld conditions, where we normally fly, but some of the most noticeable difference (that I want to re-check once flying this machine on the Highveld) was:
1) The stability of this machine, don’t know if this is just an advantage of the side-by-side configuration over tandem or the specific Xenon design
2) How well this machine glides / floats. Know it is better conditions, but I had to throttle back a lot earlier than normal to glide in at 60 – 70MPh. I expect even at the Highveld that this will be better that what we are use to.
3) How light and almost vibration free the control is
4) Controls are very responsive
5) Obviously the power of the RST engine at that altitude over the 914 on the Highveld
6) The rolling of the gyro to the right during take-off, due to engine torque, is a bit more on the Xenon (not sure if RST engine at this low altitude make all the difference) and might take two or three take-offs to get use to. Obviously once we fly one up from the right will be another adjustment.
7) One big difference is the better rudder control I had, even at low speed and with the engine at idle with minimum prop wash over the rudders. In general the rudders is soft and responsive, but even just before touch down at very low speed I could correct any miss alignment, which is not possible with our tandem gyro. I can only think the dual rudder system must be the reason for this.


All in all we enjoyed our short stay in Poland and I know time will surely drag by the next three weeks while we await delivery in South Africa. We have ordered the Xenon having high expectations of not only being a fun and safe gyro to fly week in and week out, but also a comfortable cross country touring machine to visit all the beautiful places in our and neighboring countries. The Xenon provided us with the more sociable side by side option as well as the comfort of an enclosed, quiet, heated and very spacious cabin with luggage space for 2 x 10kg bags for these cross country trips.

Poland Nov09 011.jpg (50.55 KiB) Viewed 3871 times

We would like to thank everyone with us in the picture above that made this dream come true for us, from left Braam Hechter of Xenon South Africa, Raphael Celier and Artur Trendak the factory manager of Celier Aviation.

[Learjet]

Thanks for the first trip report with your beautiful new Xenon. We look forward to lots more...

[FlyingDoc]

Welcome to the wonderful world of the Xenon.
Now that you have received your craft from the Designer make sure that Braam and his SA team apply the necessary Engineering to it!!

Alan