Gyroplane Training 
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Web by: Rebel Systems Training Days April 7 - 22 2001 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 May 26 - June 2 2001 April 1 - 11 2002 |
Day 15 The day dawned bright and windlass, and by now I knew this wasn't to last. Dave to go first, and was doing well at holding the balance. Roger saying pull the stick back, (when you knew it wouldn't come back any further but tried anyway!). My turn next, and still the nose coming up, bang with the tail wheel, but I was beginning to catch it, and actually balance.
I was starting to get some distance now on just two wheels. The wind was changing direction so some of the runs were into a crosswind, so we moved runway, only to move back again. The wind was increasing above 10 knots and with a cross component, so Roger called it at 50 minutes. Good progress made this time with some balancing, and good yaw control. Fast taxiing is good to make sure the feet are reacting, as they were! A heli that had stopped off overnight part way through surveying the whole of the UK coastline departed to continue the task. Note the camera pod on the side.
Dave on again for the afternoon session, and was progressing well with some long balances. Part way through a privately owned Jet Provost requested a fly by which was granted.
It was evident from Dave's run that he was now very fatigued so Roger called him in. He was dripping with sweat and his feet had gone rigid. He had been working very hard! Onto my turn, and a GA instructor was using the other end of the runway for circuit training. It was very peculiar to be taxiing back to start my runs, and a GA coming directly at me on take off, on the same runway. The instructor had agreed that he was able to operate safely with us using the end of the runway! I was now managing to keep the rotors turning quickly with fast taxiing back so was able to get into the balancing quite early. This meant I had a long way to hold the balances, and this was going very well. The end of the runway has quite a gradient up, and was rough so proved tricky to hold the balance up it but I was getting the hang of it. My ground speed was about 8-10 mph to get into the balance, but the wind increased part way through a run and my ground speed was now 2 mph to maintain balance. I am beginning to sense when there is sufficient drag to lift the front, so things must be getting better. Roger seemed pleased: I was VERY CHUFFED!!! Only 30 minutes that session as the wind was misbehaving, so fast taxi to the apron to clear out of the way of other traffic. The fast taxiing was getting me to feel more for the disc loading as some of the times the front wheel would get light on the taxi, so I would have to lower the disc in that direction, also taking note of the wind direction to counter some of that as well. All very interesting. My wheel balancing is coming along nicely, and Roger has said the next session we will be using more power to start the main wheels skipping. Can't wait. Unfortunately tomorrow will be the last session for a little while, as the family is pulling me home. (I miss them...) My intention is to return for a couple of long weekends to finish off. It will probably be a fortnight or so before I get the next one in, but by then the weather should be more predictable with calmer evenings. I know I am close and I don't want to lose what I have gained. Hopefully tomorrow will be good to consolidate on today. I am more than happy with progress so far. The feet were a frustration, but I overcame the problem. Anyway, hopefully one more report tomorrow to conclude this two week block booking, but I'll be back!!! |
