Have I Told You Today How Much I Love Flying Gyros?

I don't know if you have ever heard this from me before or not but I love flying gyros!   There is nothing like a gyro! I especially love flying the HoneyBee G2! ™ and right now I am loving flying and building hours in the Tandem. 

There is still a lot of testing and charting to do, but for now here are the numbers: 

• The Aircraft/Tandem weighs 675#'s
• 14 gallons of fuel weighs 84#'s
• I weigh 195#'s
• Clothing: All the "electric & heavy cloths" weigh around 15#'s/I have to wear all the clothes because it is still cold in the AM around Hastings yet
• The total package weighs 969#'s
• NOTE: We will start adding weight in the back seat later next week

The current performance for the 1.3L Suzuki before we start changing props, etc.: 

• Cruises at 55 - 65 MPH depending on how hard you spool it up. 
• Average fuel burn so far is 4.5 GPH  
• Flying in segments of 2.5 hours
• Rotates for takeoff at 35MPH
• Approach Speed is 35MPH 
• Stops flying at 25MPH!  
• Being in Michigan, it has already been up in winds up to 25MPH, ROCK SOLID
• Stability: I have had the aircraft in ridge light (uneven terrain) and convective lift with vertical rise as high as 1,300 FPM!
• UPDATES:
• Flattened prop pitch to 11 degrees to get 5,500 RPM on take-off & climb out; significant increase in performance. Going to 10 1/2 Degrees on 5-9-11 
• Repositioned Fuel Use Sensor and re-confirmed 4.5 GPH @ 5,000 RPM 

Havin' a blast!


Jim
PS: More later on the Moving Mast and how well it is working....