New Model Unveiled at HoneyBee G2!

Actually, I am just kidding.... Steve Greenwell (AKA The Warrior!) sent a LEGO Gyrocopter to me out of the goodness of his heart. It took me about 10 seconds to rip the package open and about 15 minutes to properly interpret the pictures to get it built correctly. 

As a way of updating everyone, it is Friday morning here and it has been a "quantum week" with great progress in many areas.  Jeremy is doing a fantastic job at getting us poised for our eventual application for certification, our new person (more on Dave Yant later) is in the process of moving here, the UL 4 stroke is making progress, the new drive is due to arrive any second and lastly, the HBG2 guys and the EW2 guys have just had a blast working and being successful all week long. This is really a great bunch of folk. 

In closing, Have a great weekend!

Jim

Sneak Peek! New Ultralight Tail Underway

Good morning! 

With all of the talk (& attention) lately about the HoneyBee G2 Two Place Tandem, I have not invested the time to write about what is also going on with the Ultralight. In reality there is a TON of things going on with this frame too. For those that are leaning towards a legal Part 103 Ultralight Gyroplane, the current production batch of frames includes the "new" composite tail (saving approximately 13#'s!!!) and a host of other lighter, more trick features. Just wait until you see it!

Why would we go to the this extreme? It is because of our commitment to produce a world-class, quality,  4-Stroke powered Ultralight Gyroplane.  This change along with a couple of other tweaks gets us so close to being a reality! Our Ultralight has a beautifully harmonized light feel. It reminds me of the late 1990's when my late friend Jim Norcia and I used to terrorize the skies over West Michigan with real, Part 103 G1's. Those were good days! There are great things going on here!

Have a great day!

Jim

VIS™: What on Earth is this about?

In 1997, Ed Alderfer, Gyroplane CFI, gave me my Gyroplane instruction and my first ride at the same time in an EA-81 Subaru Air Command Tandem.  I had forgone "the fly before you buy idea" and went right to owning. You see the first HoneyBee Gyro (G1) prototype was back at home just waiting for me to fly it; first I had to learn to fly one. This approach has a way of really making a person committed to learning to fly a Gyroplane; it did me. 


Piling into the back seat of Ed's tandem gave me a number of impressions. Once the blades started spooling up, one major  impression was that the stick shook; like crazy compared to my fixed wing experience. Once we were up to rotation and flying speed, my hand was numb by the end of each hour of instruction.  Three hours of training later and my Gyroplane training was done and I was leaving the Columbus, OH area.   Ed was a great guy and is a friend to this day but I just did not really enjoy my "first dance" with the Gyroplane. There had to be more, there was so much more!


Fast forward 14 - 15 years and enter the HoneyBee G2 Platform. There are many solutions that are inherent in the G2 Project that rarely even get mentioned. Most things that are done come from a need to improve "the type" and its reputation inside of General Aviation left over from the Bensen era. These new "systems" have taken hundreds of hours to perfect and many have become standard on the G2's.  With our "blank page" approach (rather than copied from the industry) the G2 provides a solid platform that is fresh and engineered for safety, value and simplicity. I believe it shows. 


One area that is TOTALLY unique to the HoneyBee G2 Project is the VIS™ (Vibration Isolation System) in the upper portion of the Moving Mast; see red box area in picture.  This simple and highly effective system absorbs the "two bumps per rev" problem of a full teetering blade system. Certainly the 30' Sport Rotor Blades are a great part of a great system; Jim Vanek builds quality blades for sure.  On top of this, it is the VIS™ that gets the balance of the job done.  Why is this necessary? They say that "Perception is Reality"....Like it or not, first impressions are hard to break. When you climb into a G2 Tandem you will notice that there is virtually no stick shake; giving you the best possible impression of the line. It is so smooth that you don't feel anything but a harmonized control stick. For the single place G2 fans, it is possible that this standard feature on the Two Place Tandem will be available as an option on the Microlight and SP-HP G2's later on.  If you are interested I need to hear from you. Do you want this as a single place option? 


....Committed to building the safest Gyroplanes in the World™


Are you beginning to catch my vibes?




Jim 

Control Harmony

Harmonized Controls make a huge difference at 30' AGL and 65MPH 

I started flying in the fall of 1976.  It was an American Aerolight Cirrus 5B "hang glider". It had a 5 to 1 glide ratio and was considered a great machine in its day.  For the record, it was light in pitch and heavy in roll. That lead me to later fly Cessna's, Pipers, etc. which is discussed in greater detail in the Gyro Journal.    Some like the Corby Starlet was very nicely harmonized and was a blast to fly.  


All of the experiences of flying different types, categories, etc. gave me an appreciation for an aircraft that was properly harmonized for  pressures, travel and feel. When flying an aircraft of any type, if roll is light and pitch is heavy, you will have a tendency to over control on roll and be slow on your pitch inputs. Conversely, if roll is heavy and pitch is light you will have a tendency to over control in pitch and be slow on your roll inputs.  The magic however is to "match" or harmonize the pressures and responses of the control stick systems. Like most things, this is easier to talk about than to do in real world flying.  This is further complicated by the airspeed of the aircraft you are flying.  An example of this is the Japanese Zero of WWII.  American pilots flying P-38's were trained to keep the Zero's engaged at speeds above 250 MPH. Why? Because at this speed the Japanese pilots needed to use two hands on the control stick to dog fight due to heavy control stick pressures; in spite of being beautifully harmonized at "all air speeds" pressures in both axis's increased at the same time; requiring more force (read muscles here) with the increased speed.  This "two handed" approach made the aircraft difficult to maneuver precisely at higher speed and  more importantly made it even harder to reach the gun triggers that were mounted on the left side of the cockpit. At 250+ MPH it was hard to fly and shoot and chew gum at the same time. Below 250MPH, it was a different story....often favoring the Zero which then became easier to fly with one hand and shoot with the other. IE: Speeds at which the aircraft offered manageable forces with its harmonized controls.  


For the HoneyBee G2, our goal has been to create a harmonized pitch/roll condition where pressures gradually increase in both axis's with increased airspeeds; sounds like the Zero doesn't it? A benefit of this is the aircraft is solid at speed and more maneuverable at slower speeds, like the Zero.  Bringing this back to our G2 world, when you are flying an open frame the pressures will be different (lighter) than when that same frame is fitted with a full enclosure and it now goes 40 - 50% faster.  At these speeds, what used to work has to be re-tuned in moments and leverages to restore "that lovin' feeling" again.  What is the solution? It is "tune ability"!  For those that have seen the G2's, you have seen it in our control stick output arms; it is in our interim arms and it is now included with the Moving Mast "trombone slide" control linkages. This feature will continue to be part of our strategy as we seek to provide you all with an aircraft that meets your specific needs today and at the specific time you need it....no matter how fast you end up going.  


Living in Harmony!


Jim

220' Take Off!

Just an FYI here this morning... 

Many people have written me about the takeoff performance of the Two Place Tandem over the summer. My standard answer has been 300 - 500'.  The real answer based on my Missionary Pilot friend's (Wolfgang) measurement is actually much shorter. On our last flight it was measured at 220'.  WOW! The aircraft was full of fuel, my 205#'s and Wolfgang at around 180#'s.  Things are truly getting better all the time!

More later!

Jim 

Moving Mast!!!

In the original YouTube Video of the "Introduction to the HoneyBee G2 Tandem", there is a short clip of the Moving Mast being moved in flight. Recent flights have demonstrated that the Moving Mast works very well, on the ground or in flight.  What is more important is that the Two Place Tandem is demonstrating a "HUGE" (read enormous here) CG capability for varying passenger/cargo weights. As the passenger &  load increases the airframe can easily adjust to the need for a different configuration, even  during the flight.....my mind is racing to the possibilities of what this allows for! Can you imagine what is possible if one could make drops of cargo or supplies and adjust for the change of CG at the same time? I can!

Great things going on here!

Jim

Iterations & Being In The Aircraft Business

Back in 1997 when the "original" HoneyBee Gyro (G1) began, it took many attempts to get things right.  For instance, there were two major efforts to get the engine right; Kawasaki & ROTAX. There were three iterations of the Main Gear; the third one was right on. There were at least three iterations of the Nose Gear. There were three iterations of the Engine Mount. There were two iterations of the Tail Surfaces. There were two iterations of the Control Stick. You get my point here.... Coming full circle with the G2 Series, the Main Gear on the Ultralight and Microlight is purely the third iteration from the G1 of 1998 and it works just as good today as it did then. The Main Landing Gear of the HoneyBee G2 SP-HP only took two iterations and the 2PT took three and both have achieved their design goal of being able to handle up to 6G's! How many would you like?

One might ask why I am telling you this?...it is because I want you to have complete confidence in the G2 platform. It is a tribute to quality engineering and material selection that has been tested in "real life" flying, testing and disappointments over fifteen years. Speaking on behalf of the staff, I (we) speak from a context of trying, flying, crying and a commitment to build not only the safest Gyroplanes in the world, but ones that we fly and are proud to be associated with. 

Having said this, I am "tickled pink" about the HoneyBee G2 line and hope that you continue to love what you see coming from a little Gyroplane company in Hastings, Michigan as much as I  do.  There are solutions for things that no one has even asked for yet and there is more to come!

Color me pink,

Jim