2 seat Gyro on Floats - Plans

[asra]

About 15 years ago I made a set of fibreglass floats for a gyro.The owner is a true aviator flys everything

[birdy]

Sounds bout rite. I recon if you realy wanted floats, Max"s idea of retractable ones isnt be such a silly idea, even for Max.

[asra]

True Birdy...... I believe the design of regular floats do create more drag, weight and "suction" effect.I am comtemplating on a new design, however i am looking for a sturdy tri undercarrige base frame to work with. If I post a design over the next few weeks (christmas), would you take a look at it ?

[birdy]

Mate, ill look at anythn with rotor blades. But im not a gyro builder, [tho i have REbuilt sum] and i live ina desert, so i know jac **** bout anythn that floats.Theres plenty of others ere who know alot more n i ever will.

[Bill Cross]

G"day Max, been a while, hey !!Time to get back into a machine. Have been talking to Ross B (told him some war stories of some of your experiments with feral animal control, which he though was hilarious) over here and I will probably pick up a machine shortly. Maybe get a official ticket this time !!I tried to send you an email but your details are still T/Ck. I have similar thoughts to yourself in regard to gyro"s and floats retracting into faired pod. Too many nice islands here not to consider it. Fly out to the reef to catch dinner? Crays anyone?The sport copter seemed happy enough and was put out by the factory.Do trikes have the same problem of drag against thrust problems as gyro"s ??Basic example of trike on flats. Notice the shape of the top of the float. No flat surfaces there to increase drag. Would get a wet behind and water through the prop. http://www.ramphos.com/e/02_t.htmlHave seen trikes, over here, mounted on inflatable tenders. http://polarismotor.it They are commercially made from italy. Another example. Imagine this with a nice fairing/windscreen over the cockpit ! Would it have more frontal area/off centreline drag than a fully faired side by side ?http://kruckermanufacturing.com I have access to a 1800mm 3 axis cnc foam shaping router if you want to consider it (Roscoe from T/Ck now in Charters towers). I ended up with all the fibreglass machinery (chopper guns etc) from John the fibreglass man when he departed TC, so can fabricate complex shapes fairly easily. See yaThe other half of Crash & HassleAnything Anywhere Anytime

[jumeau]

hi jeff
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[Bill Cross]

Hey Bob,I would be interested in a set of plans/photos/specs for these floats. Your floats could be filled with closed cell foam as used on boat hull floatation to stop any problem with water but there would be a weight penalty. Web site for foam (these blokes supply the foam for FGI etc). http://www.erapol.com.au/english/Pro....htmlFollowing is an extract from an email enquiring about the different foams. "I recommend our pour foam, ECOFOAM GP330 for boat buoyancy and our spray foam, ECOFOAM RS 2036 for wall and roof

[GraemeMonro]

Flying on floats was done successfully years ago by Bert Larkin, even recorded on old 8mm film.What this bloke has not done is not worth thinking about.Graeme.

[Bill Cross]

Hey Graeme,Thanks for the photo"s. Bert certainly thought outside the box. Good idea with the main centreline float and the two sponsoon"s. Made it easy for the retracts to be out of the way without having doors to worry about sealing etc. How did Bert feel about the setup, was he happy?Are people more worried about floats in case they make a mistake and end upside down in water, more than the parasitic drag of the floats? I would have thought it would be like flying a chopper on floats. Will probably have the same problems as a helo when starting on water (Jetranger gives nearly 3 rotations before the tailrotor becomes effective), when using a prerotator unless you have foward speed to give directional control. Another problem was surface tension when you lift off, no sudden pull to the hover due to the uneven break in the suction created by the floats. This shouldn"t be a problem with foward speed and up on the step.Is there anyone still around that has flown a gyro on floats that we could talk to?Bill

[Bill Cross]

More food for thoughtA few new videos of gyro"s on floats.MTO Gyrohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H5u7-GI6CA&NR=1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVLF6dee-h4Xenon"shttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1xFMgiSI8A&feature=relatedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7nUgIDfUJg&feature=related

[Greg Mitchell]

I"d seen the Xenon vids before.The MTO3 looks like it is flying S&L with considerable nose down.Thanks for posting.Mitch.

[Bill Cross]

Looks like they solved the drag problem by changing the incidence on the floats and closed the area between the floats.What ya reckon Max. Getting to look like a goer?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVe_m...eature=related

[mad max]

Can"t watch U tubes on my ageing computor Bill, but if I can pick up a cheep set of light floats that weigh no more than 20kg, I"ll put them on my 503 flying machine and make them rise and fall above and below the wheels. Then I"ll taxi down the hill 2km and into the ocean on a nice day and see if she flys. I"ll try hard not to go **** up incase a crock is nearby. (saw two brave buggers swimming from sand island to a Darwin beach on Sat. arvo) Prob. tourists.