throwback
New Member
Hello, all!
It took a few years but the whine of small engines overhead has regenerated my interest in building a gyro. The engines overhead are based at the ultralight airport built by John Macafee near Rodeo, NM, and I can see the strip from my office window.
Actually, I avoided looking that direction for the first several months after they started flying, because there was no time, money or anything else to allow me to pursue the interest I had suppressed for years in ultralights, but my time and money may be loosening up a bit as I go into semi-retirement.
My primary interest is in building a gyro. I am not a pilot nor an engineer, but I am willing to take the instruction for piloting the craft and reap the benifit of you folk's good advice when building it. I have a complete basic manual machine shop, wood shop, fabrication shop, and smithy. I have been designing and building ground-bound machinery for most of my life, mostly using what's laying around for materials. I do not suffer the illusion that this qualifies me to engineer an aircraft, but I do hope it qualifies me to build one.
There is no real rush about the project. I have been wanting to do this for over 20 years, so why rush now! That being said, I will use it for pleasure cruising, exploring the sparse desert and mountain regions nearby, and it will probably never set down on a formal runway. For that reason, I hope there will be some latitude in the design. I'd like to use larger wheels with spokes than I normally see on these machines, since even the smooth patches of desert are somewhat rough. Also, those I have spoken to who have flown gyros on the desert say that they lose propellers from sucking up small rocks on takeoff, so I'm tempted by the concept of getting the propeller as high as possible, either by using the tractor configuration or some other means suggested by someone more familiar with the designs than myself ( which includes nearly everyone). I looked at the gyrobee, but the plans no longer seem to be on the website.
Well, I have said more than a mouthfull here, so I'll sit back and listen for a while. Great site! Thank you....Joe
It took a few years but the whine of small engines overhead has regenerated my interest in building a gyro. The engines overhead are based at the ultralight airport built by John Macafee near Rodeo, NM, and I can see the strip from my office window.
Actually, I avoided looking that direction for the first several months after they started flying, because there was no time, money or anything else to allow me to pursue the interest I had suppressed for years in ultralights, but my time and money may be loosening up a bit as I go into semi-retirement.
My primary interest is in building a gyro. I am not a pilot nor an engineer, but I am willing to take the instruction for piloting the craft and reap the benifit of you folk's good advice when building it. I have a complete basic manual machine shop, wood shop, fabrication shop, and smithy. I have been designing and building ground-bound machinery for most of my life, mostly using what's laying around for materials. I do not suffer the illusion that this qualifies me to engineer an aircraft, but I do hope it qualifies me to build one.
There is no real rush about the project. I have been wanting to do this for over 20 years, so why rush now! That being said, I will use it for pleasure cruising, exploring the sparse desert and mountain regions nearby, and it will probably never set down on a formal runway. For that reason, I hope there will be some latitude in the design. I'd like to use larger wheels with spokes than I normally see on these machines, since even the smooth patches of desert are somewhat rough. Also, those I have spoken to who have flown gyros on the desert say that they lose propellers from sucking up small rocks on takeoff, so I'm tempted by the concept of getting the propeller as high as possible, either by using the tractor configuration or some other means suggested by someone more familiar with the designs than myself ( which includes nearly everyone). I looked at the gyrobee, but the plans no longer seem to be on the website.
Well, I have said more than a mouthfull here, so I'll sit back and listen for a while. Great site! Thank you....Joe
