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Hi Chuck, Been meaning to ask something.I saw a TV prog some years ago about a French guy with a Catalinadoing a proving run down the east coast of Africa with a view to flying tourism or such.The pilot was North American, nearly sure his name was Chuck.Wasn't you was it?CheersFergus Kavanagh.
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Hi Fergus :There were two French owned Cats flying in Africa, I believe the one you are referring to was based in Harare Zimbabwe. The movie was "The last African Flying Boat" the pilot in that movie was American, however there was a Canadian pilot by the name of Bob Dyck a very good friend of mine was flying it after the American left. I have a lot of hours on that Cat flying it in Canada, however I did not fly it in Africa. It was registered CF-JCV in Canada and then Z-CAT in Africa...It is now being flown in New Zeland and is registered in N.Z.The other Cat was also owned by a French owner and I flew that in fourteen different African countries filming for TF1 Television in France, I also did the European airshow circuit with it and finally flew the Aeropostale mail route from Toulouse France to Santiago Chile..once that program ended I flew it in Brazil during the winter of 98 / 99 and then took it to North America.That airplane is now in a hangar in Paris and the owner is talking about doing some more flying with it.My winter holiday will soon be over as I leave for Holland on March 18 th to start the new airshow season....Maybe some day I can get out of this business and build my Little Wing and maybe instruct in that just for fun.... Oh I almost forgot I still have the RAF 2000 that I eventually hope to re design so I can fly it without fear of getting killed.How are things in Ireland these days?Chuck E.
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Hey Chuck, send your Raf over to me. I'll fix it for you!!!!! The last Raf I did in NZ during May last year, flew stick fixed for as long as we wanted in not so perfect conditions. In my humble opinion, it was second only to my Hybrid operating with my most stable blades.Imagine if it is that good stick locked, how nice it is to fly manually.How come you have half changed opinion?Aussie Paul. [
]www.firebirdgyros.com
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"How come you have half changed opinion?"I don't think he's changed anything Paul,he just dosn't look through tunnel vision glasses,but sees the HOLE picture.Sorry Chuck,shoot me if I'm wrong.Ignorance is bliss............but only till you realise you were.Ingratitude stinks.......be generous carefully.
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Birdy :There was a time when I thought I could get very simple concepts across to any audience, however when one tries to explain or point out known facts to a group of pilots on an internet forum regardless of what you say there will be dissenting opinion...I can understand and live with that.What sends me into utter frustration are the small group of regulars who attack at every opportunity, I do not take well to attacks and of course it goes off the rails, in the case of the US forum it really got out of hand and I can no longer bother to argue with some of their regulars. And even if I thought I still wanted to the owner of the forum has made his position quite clear after the debate about banning me.To answer your question, have I changed? The answer is of course not, to me it is simple. A machine can be designed to fly safely within its flight envelope, if through design or loading you end up with a machine that will depart controlled flight and is unrecoverable then that is quite simple the thing is going to kill you if something disturbs its flight path to the point it goes out of control.Take my Areobat tail wheel trainer, if I load it way aft of the C of G limits I am probably capable of flying it and getting back on the ground, but if it gets beyond my control. say by a sudden up draft or a whirl wind and enters a spin I will not be able to recover and will either die or if lucky bail out and use a parachute to land.To pretend that flying skills can be taught that will give me the power to regain control in that situation is just plain wrong.Therein lies one of the problems that they have over on the US forum, there are people including so called instructors that actually claim that skill can overcome instability...that is just plain nuts and is one of the reasons that gyros are looked on as the fringe element of aviation by a lot of aviation ....Anyhow I guess it is hopeless because nothing ever seems to change with these groups when they become infiltrated with defenders of the indefendable.By the way there is a discussion going on now about PIO, if I were to get involved in that one I wouldn't have time to even draw a breath before one of their self proclaimed experts would be all over every word I type like fleas on a dog...what these guys fail to understand is the fact that the business that I earn my living in is teaching how not to PIO, because the machines we fly will kill you faster than a gyro if you get into PIO on the water.....Oh well the missus and I will eventualy visit Australia and I plan on seeing as many of you guys as we can...Chuck E.
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Hi Chuck,Thanks for the movie info. Love the cat. Will build r/c modelof one someday.Things going OK here. Hope to register my gyro this spring,along with three other guys.I have 40+ hours of crowhops, so circuits will come soon.40+ is a lot of crowhops, I know, but self-trainers have to be extra careful.We're real good at takeoffs/landings by now.Keep up the good work on the stability issue.It doesnt matter if some folks ***** about it.In fact, it serves to focus more attention on the issue,and makes people think about it.I fitted a large stab to my machine last autumn, andthe difference is quite significant. Makes the machinemuch more precise in pitch.Enjoy the show circuit.Fergus.
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Fergus,Post a picture of your machine... we'll pick it to pieces for you.
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Dont know if this'll work.Download Attachment: [img]images/icon_paperclip.gif[/img] crop.jpg43.63
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EI-Gyro - Simple Question regarding the stick/controller position. Don't your arms get tired holding them out in front of you like that ?? I found during training I couldn't rest my controlling arm on my leg and thus after a little I would tend to influence the stick with the weight of my arm. With my machine I can rest my arm on my leg and don't influence the stick inadvertantly at all.
Safe Flying ... ding Insanity is hereditory, you get it from your kids!
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Holy crap,A genuine bensen T bar...Why do you have the control rods off the back of the torque tube?Nick.
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G'Day Ding and Nick,Ding, Oddly enough, I cant really give you a useful answer to that question.I have about 45 hours of powered flight on this machine, but no flight longer than 60 seconds.We are training ourselves over here ( no local instructors, but it's more fun anyway) and I have notstarted flying circuits just yet (soon will). I have about 2000 takeoffs and landings and can weave good,but 600metres grass only lets you climb to about 200 feet(on a good day) before its time to come down.We land in the last 50 feet of runway, which is good practice. I recently installed a longer stick, without the sideways dogleg for the tow-wire, and it is nicer, so Ihope it will be comfortable in the long term. I like the overhead stick simplicity, and motorcycle throttle.I'll report back when I get into circuits, but first I gotta find a long beach to get some climb time.The stick is much more comfortable than it looks.Nick, I reckoned you'd spot that. A regular joystick is fitted for the convenience of the test-pilot, poorsod. Also a regular throttle. And the overhead stick is easily removed. I currently have both fitted, but two bolts will release either one if required.I also stuck on a big ugly horizontal stab recently, and it makes the machine steadier in pitch.I once flew in Rob Fidler's machine, a Broken Hill job, I think, with a joystick with cross-bar and twist-throttleand I thought that got the best of both worlds in some ways, and it was comfortable.CheersFergus.
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