c162pilot wrote:Hi Vance,
As previously mentioned I have one flight in the Cavalon which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was wondering if you could share with us your thought process on your selection of the side-by-side model vs the tandem model and what you see as the advantages and disadvantages of both. Thank you in advance.
I have an open two place one of a kind tandem with a Lycoming IO-320 in it and I have a Cavalon on loan from Air Gyro in Spanish Fork, Utah that is a two place enclosed side by side.
I am working to become a gyroplane CFI and the side by side seems to work well for that because I can better communicate with the student.
My wife found that watching the flight instruments when I flew helps her understand what she should see when she takes the aircraft controls.
A fixed wing pilot can easily manage most of the maneuvers in a gyroplane with very little transition training.
There are two areas where a fixed wing pilot gets into trouble. Rotor management and the takeoff sequence.
If you follow the pilot’s operating handbook it is pretty simple.
It is my observation that a fixed wing pilots tends to initiate a rotation at some indicated airspeed.
The procedure in the Cavalon is to pre-rotate to around 180 rotor RPM with the disk flat, go full back with the disk and leave the power in (around 3,500 rpm) and release the brake. At about 220 rotor RPM smoothly advance the throttle and soon the front wheel will lift. Begin moving the cyclic forward to balance on the mains and she will waddle into the air on her on at some combination of indicated air speed and rotor RPM.
As soon as I touch down in a gyroplane the rotor will begin to slow down. If I rush a touch and go I may flap the blades (stall a blade) and this can cause anything from a shaking in the cyclic to the rotor hitting the empennage. This is not a problem above 220 rotor RPM (flight rotor RPM is a little under 400). I feel it is better to wait till the rotor starts to accelerate again so I do stop and goes rather than touch and goes.
I flew the Cavalon in the Thunder over the Valley air show doing some very aggressive turns, climbs and descents. I could not find any indication of the edge of the envelop.
I had a G meter on her and I saw from .55 positive to just over 2 positive Gs.
I have been practicing teaching and the winds came up (18kts gusting to 30kts) and my student did fine with less than an hour of flight experience.
In my opinion a gyroplane is very easy to fly but I have very little fixed wing experience and less than 25 hours in a helicopter so I may be confused.