New Sportcopter M2, 2 seater

[IanM]

sportcopter@bigpond.com

[Brian]

Sounds exciting Ian, will be looking forward to seeing the new 2 seater. The short & rough field capability is a big thing cause out in the bush strips are usually less than ideal !

[RossM]

I know that you like the rotor heads with 5203 bearings for the teeter bolt Brian. Sportcopter will have to make the head like Rob Patroney.
If guys are getting 450-500 hours before replacing with no need to lubricate.

Ian, sportcopter make nice machines.

[IanM]

Hi Brian,

Yes the suspension and big tyres certainly set it in another category to anything else. I can literally take off out of a ploughed paddock with the Sportcopter M912 single seater and the M2 2 seater will have the same suspension (re-rated for 2) and larger tyre. I expect it will be just as good. With the optional 135HP Turbo option it should do the same short field take offs with 2 on board.

As far as durability goes it will have the same heavy duty hub bar as the M912 which is the same hub bar used in the US on heavy 2 seaters like the SparrowHawk which weighs over 400 Kgs. These training machines have logged in excess of 3,500 hours with not problems. Not like the problems we have had with other type hub bar in Australia and is why ASRA has had to put a 800 hour life on those.

Another sign of the durability and good design of the Sportcopter is the mast construction. It is jointed in the middle using rubber compound bushing to allow the mast to flex with the head movement without allowing any flexing of the chrome moly mast. All other metal masts fatigue due to the continual flexing of the metal. That is why Rosco regularly replaces masts as routine maintenance. My old 2 seater, 6061 T6 aluminium mast started a crack at 700 hours! We have had a European gyro have the mast almost brake off under 2,000 hours! Sportcopter have been in the designing gyro game for over 50 years so they have a lot of knowledge and experience behind them. Makes me comfortable to work with them.

Cheers,

Ian

[Brian]

All very positive stuff there Ian. I know on my old Rosco that the mast at 1500 hours had had enough although I never had any cracking .
Yes, I like the bearings in the teeter bolt, just seem to help smooth things out a bit although I'm back to the normal set up now with the Peter Green machine. I guess cause this gyro is a couple of hundred Kg's lighter that the teeter now doesnt work as hard .