I Survived! Viva RAF2000

[Gyronaut]

Let me begin with a confession (I seem to be doing lots of confessing nowadays) but here goes.

I have always been "bang" of flying in a RAF. Quite simply because I was afraid of 'tuck' or the lack of a paddle out the back to give pitch stability, this thing worried me. To me 'tuck' is if the blade, or rather disc, angle of attack goes through 0 degrees causing airflow over the top of the disc, unloading and tucking in nose over. Lack of a true, full understanding of the dynamics of this machine had me slightly skeptical so I avoided offers of a flip on several occasions before.

I have to confess "ek leen my ore uit" when people discuss pro's and cons of Gyro designs and I am very wary to comment. If I do comment I try to make it clear that it is my uninformed opinion only.
I am a gyronaut first so I support everyone that promotes safe gyro flying. Now of course I have heard the RAF is slow, That it a bitch to take-off and land, that its twitchy, that it guzzles fuel, sommer stops bla bla bla.

So we met up with MarkB in RAF DYP just north of Yserfontein and then we flew coastwise back to morningstar. Flying comfortably sided by side speed certainly wasn't an issue. Looked all ok from where I was watching. Mark has thousands of hours of blik experience dropping meatbombs in paradise and he has over 400hrs on his RAF already. After taking him for a spin in the M24 he offered me a ride in his RAF. I could not think of any reason not to trust Mark in the RAF (the precision engineering is evident) so in I got.

Felt a little strange sitting very upright at first, but I soon got used to that. Prerotator, brakes, throttle systems are easy and work nicely. Almost intuitively. They are where you expect them. It has a strong trim and the trim setting indicator is a bonus. Set the trim to 65mph and she climbs like a homesick angel. Its pretty much point-and-go from there. I did not notice any pitch instability at various speed and power settings. Landing on the back wheel and holding it off the ground feels a bit strange the first time, then normal after that. Even in no wind its an amazingly short landing roll (if any). I am never going to compete with a RAF in a spot landing competion.

I got out of it thinking, What a lekka earrie! Sure, they shake a little (any two bladed teetering system will) but it is certainly not excessive or irritating, lots of grunt, if flown safely as just demonstrated, then 10 out of 10. I now understand why the RAF owners LOVE their machines so much.

What would a RAF with an ARPlast prop perform like and will it sound very different?

Thanks for the flight Mark. Opened my eyes.

Viva RAF2000

[saraf]

Hi Len

I am glad you enjoyed the RAF and that Mark took you for a flip. I wanted to take you up at Vredendal but the gyros we had there was proving flight gyros and thus I could not.

Thanks for the report back.

Regards
Eben Jnr

[Grumpy]

Hhhmmmm....... Interesting Len?

[saraf]

Hi Len

To what HP is the ARPlast prop rated? I can not find this on there site!

[RV4ker (RIP)]

Man I LLUV to read stuff like this....

[MAGNIficent]

This is what I value of someone creating a enviroment that is constructive to our GYRO COMMUNITY
Thanks Len

[RV4ker (RIP)]

Write up for the mag I think would be welcomed....

[MPL Pilot]

I have to confess "ek leen my ore uit" when people discuss pro's and cons of Gyro designs

From what you said Len, my conclusion is, not to criticize another flying machine (or anything else for that matter) before you have flown it yourself

I am not an expert with gyro's, and from what I've heard, didn't want to do what you have done

This is an excellent post, thank you for sharing your experience

[flying-i]

Len

It was a fantastic flight back along the coast and a great privelage to take you for a flip - something that I have wanted to do for some time... as you know my first flip in a gyro was in your sycamore and I was hooked immediately.

Rest assured I was impressed with the Magni 24, in particular the two big screen TV's on the dash!! Gadget and GPS heaven. The 24 is very solid in the sky and displays no adverse effects with the doors on. It is very easy to fly and after Len bashed out two hammer head turns and a hover on the downwind leg, (a taste of the advanced course stuff that he teaches), he just let her go and said you have control.

I did a low flyby and a full stop landing with Len talking me through the landing process.

Enclosed and side by side is definately the way to go - the concert is always better with front row seats.

Looking forward to many more fly aways and formation flying.

PS. Christine may have done her nails perfectly but she spilt some glitter on her T shirt.

[Pieter Smith]

I got out of it thinking, What a lekka earrie! Sure, they shake a little (any two bladed teetering system will) but it is certainly not excessive or irritating, lots of grunt, if flown safely as just demonstrated, then 10 out of 10. I now understand why the RAF owners LOVE their machines so much.

Viva RAF2000[/quote]


Hallo Len,
Die RAF is sowaar n LEKKA EARRIE!!!! Ek is bly om dit uit n pilot se mond te hoor wat n ander side by side (M24) vlieg. Side by side is (volgens my), sowaar die toekoms van Gyro vlieg. Ek vlieg nou maar eers die RAF, 3 maande en het tans 134 ure op die RAF clock, as daar iemand wat in die Limpopo n flip wil he, is jul altyd welkom. Kontak my gerus.

Groete uit die Bosveld, en lekke vlieg.

[whirly]

Len,

You barsteward you!! Now you have completely tipped the apple cart for me! I am sorry to say but I also "lent" my ears out, knowing full well I should not have done so. This happens all the time in aviation and after nearly 30 years of flying and being involved in owning and operating aeroplanes and helicopters, I should have known better.

Thanks a stack! I alway listen to what you have to say.

Now how does the RAF compare to the Sygamore apart from the Sygamore not being a side-by-side?

Whirly.

[Gyronaut]

Pieter, soos ek gese het, ek moet nog 'n RAF eienaar teekom wat nie versot is op sy aerrietjie nie! Ek begryp nou hoekom. 134 ure in 3 maande wil gedoen wees! Mooi so. Bly net asseblief erg versigtig - onthou, 200 ure is die gevaarlikste ne!

Whirly, it is very difficult to compare the two. The Sycamore is a robust, heavy, long-bladed machine but is very aerodynamic. Tandem same level seating is not nice for the pax. At sea level it has more than enough lift and the 914 is quite adequate. At altitude you don't want to overload it - especially if it has the composite rotors. The Advanced Kinetics extruded aluminium 32' rotors make all the difference. Makes it a pleasure to fly but it will always be heavy on the stick and lean towards the sluggish side. The side-by-sides have more drag whichever way you look at it. Side-by-sides aren't going to win any races - but Gyro's aren't made to race from A to B, more for buggering around A. They are perfect for that. My advice to you would be to go fly each of the machines yourself, get a feel for what it is that you like and don't like and don't be in a hurry.

Having also owned heli's in the past I can tell you this: My gyro's do pretty much the same as a Robbie R22 except hover (which a R22 doesn't like doing out of ground effect anyway) the difference is that the total cost per hour in the Gyro - and this includes EVERYTHING - is R387.00 per hour. Even if you have lots of money, heli's hurt. Doesn't take much for a heli to cost 10 times that. I also feel considerably safer in a gyro than in a R22 for some reason and I think it is the simplicity - less things to go wrong together with the fact that its always in auto-rotation that works for me.

Come to the fairest Cape and come fly with me, it will change your view of these magnificent machines, I promise.

[whirly]

Come to the fairest Cape and come fly with me, it will change your view of these magnificent machines, I promise.

Len,

Julle het my klaar oortuig en ek het nog nie eers gevlieg nie!

Groete.

Whirly.
btw. 'n R22 is nie 'n chopper nie!!

[Gyronaut]

btw. 'n R22 is nie 'n chopper nie!!

Mag so wees maar ons het almal leer heli's vlieg in hulle en dit is nog steeds "the worlds most successful aircraft" - in 2006 was daar reeds 6 000 van hulle gebou as ek reg onthou. My persoonlike gunsteling is maar nog die ou Bell47 - Harley of the Sky. Suip brandstof, erg stadig, maar altyd 'n plesier!

[Pieter Smith]

[quote="JetRanger"]Pieter, soos ek gese het, ek moet nog 'n RAF eienaar teekom wat nie versot is op sy aerrietjie nie! Ek begryp nou hoekom. 134 ure in 3 maande wil gedoen wees! Mooi so. Bly net asseblief erg versigtig - onthou, 200 ure is die gevaarlikste ne!


JetRanger, danki vi di reply. Versot is nie die woord nie. Ek sal nog by jou inni kaap ook n draai kom maak, wil graag voel hoe vlieg die M24. Ja jong, as ek ni elke oggend en elke middag vlieg nie raak ek heel mal, dis die beste manier van ontspaning in die wereld. Dit bly maar net lekker!!!!!!!!! Was vanoggend af Pondrift toe bietjie daar rond gevlieg oor die limpopo en to weer terug Alldays toe. Die weer is fantasties hier en ek geniet elke oomblik. Groete daar inni kaap, ek sal erg versigtig wees hier bo as julle versigtig is daar onder.