Bob
05-09-2005, 01:09 PM
this is my first post here so I'll try to make it an educational one ...
the other day I was out takeing the gyro through her paces trying to get some ground hops in and feel the gyro out a bit more.
I had made about 4 runs up and down the landing strip and the wind was calm a slight gust every once in a while but that was all... for this location it was ideal !
... I was at the end of the runway and feeling purdy confident everything was working like it should and all that
I turned arround for my run back and helt the stick back to get the rotors up to speed as they had slowed down alot while turning arround. I gave it some throttle, about half I'ed say and the rotors responded and in short order they were realy cooking good ... but my ground speed was quite slow ... not having a great deal of room to get all this done in I made a bad desigon , I dropped the front wheel back to the ground and opened the throttle to full to get my speed up...
it worked and worked well for a few seconds... my ground speed shot up , and I was just about to ease back on the stick when all of a sudden the ass of the gyro came off the ground as well as the left side main landing gear ....
the front wheel and right main landing gear wheel were still in contact with the ground at that time , I know because of the skidmarks on the pavement.
in the time it took to realise what was going on it was too late... I had time to stab the left rudder to try and keep the gyro on the run way but that was all it flopped over in the dirt at about 40 to 50 mph ... takeing the rotor and a prop blade with it ...
it happened so fast I couldn't believe it .... ... I am not slow on my reaction time infact i'm above avrage in that respect but it happened so fast i had no time to react.... one second I am skipping along the runway the next i am chokeing on dust !
The Dammage was actually quite minimal considering how hard it hit the ground... I guess building my gyro STRONG has paid off in that respect !...
However I had no idea what happened... I was totally puzzled... I thought that a gust of wind must have blown me up and over .... thats all I could think of that would do that....
However I didn't notice a gust at that time and nether did My Dad who watched the entire thing unfold 40 feet infront of him... who actually took this pic I will post without knowing it ! ( interesting that ! )
When Explaining what happened on the ASRA site I did get an explanation of what went wrong....
I had the nose wheel down ! ..... that doesn't sound like much of a problem till you think about it !
with the nose wheel down and the engine at full throttle and your gaining speed something is going to happen !
and it did ... the craft took off like it should have , except the nose wheel was down so the ass went up... the forces had to go somewhere so it twisted as it lifted ... perhaps because the stick wasn't exactly centered or something else , when the rotor had enough lift to lift the craft even at that low of a angle of attack it still lifted the gyro off the ground ... even if it was not the way I expected it to !!!!
.....
In Hindsight if I would have been ballanceing the gyro on the mains like I had been doing up to this point there would not have been a problem .... it would have hopped into the air like it was supposed to ...
....
so let that be a lesson to ya !
don't put your nose wheel down to gain ground speed .... ballance it on the mains or very close to it and keep that rotor at the proper angle ... because it will fly ...one way or another !
so learn from my mistake ... don't do what I just did !
c ya !
Bob.....
the other day I was out takeing the gyro through her paces trying to get some ground hops in and feel the gyro out a bit more.
I had made about 4 runs up and down the landing strip and the wind was calm a slight gust every once in a while but that was all... for this location it was ideal !
... I was at the end of the runway and feeling purdy confident everything was working like it should and all that
I turned arround for my run back and helt the stick back to get the rotors up to speed as they had slowed down alot while turning arround. I gave it some throttle, about half I'ed say and the rotors responded and in short order they were realy cooking good ... but my ground speed was quite slow ... not having a great deal of room to get all this done in I made a bad desigon , I dropped the front wheel back to the ground and opened the throttle to full to get my speed up...
it worked and worked well for a few seconds... my ground speed shot up , and I was just about to ease back on the stick when all of a sudden the ass of the gyro came off the ground as well as the left side main landing gear ....
the front wheel and right main landing gear wheel were still in contact with the ground at that time , I know because of the skidmarks on the pavement.
in the time it took to realise what was going on it was too late... I had time to stab the left rudder to try and keep the gyro on the run way but that was all it flopped over in the dirt at about 40 to 50 mph ... takeing the rotor and a prop blade with it ...
it happened so fast I couldn't believe it .... ... I am not slow on my reaction time infact i'm above avrage in that respect but it happened so fast i had no time to react.... one second I am skipping along the runway the next i am chokeing on dust !
The Dammage was actually quite minimal considering how hard it hit the ground... I guess building my gyro STRONG has paid off in that respect !...
However I had no idea what happened... I was totally puzzled... I thought that a gust of wind must have blown me up and over .... thats all I could think of that would do that....
However I didn't notice a gust at that time and nether did My Dad who watched the entire thing unfold 40 feet infront of him... who actually took this pic I will post without knowing it ! ( interesting that ! )
When Explaining what happened on the ASRA site I did get an explanation of what went wrong....
I had the nose wheel down ! ..... that doesn't sound like much of a problem till you think about it !
with the nose wheel down and the engine at full throttle and your gaining speed something is going to happen !
and it did ... the craft took off like it should have , except the nose wheel was down so the ass went up... the forces had to go somewhere so it twisted as it lifted ... perhaps because the stick wasn't exactly centered or something else , when the rotor had enough lift to lift the craft even at that low of a angle of attack it still lifted the gyro off the ground ... even if it was not the way I expected it to !!!!
.....
In Hindsight if I would have been ballanceing the gyro on the mains like I had been doing up to this point there would not have been a problem .... it would have hopped into the air like it was supposed to ...
....
so let that be a lesson to ya !
don't put your nose wheel down to gain ground speed .... ballance it on the mains or very close to it and keep that rotor at the proper angle ... because it will fly ...one way or another !
so learn from my mistake ... don't do what I just did !
c ya !
Bob.....