RE: Prerotator devices
Since being "like Mickey" seems to be part of this thread here's Mickey's opinion.
1) PT gyros are nice machines. I have no beef with FlyingBalsa.
2) The tilting head on the PT has the advantage that you can tilt the rotor head
back while taxiing. This greatly aids spinup.
2) My swashplate controlled rigid head doesn't tilt so it is more difficult to spin up
by taxiing. The pre-rotator makes up for this.
3) You still have to hand spin the PT, according to Joel and all my observations. This
is no big deal but does deny you the ability to taxi downwind to the end of the runway
turn around and takeoff. The pre-rotator allows this, just as Phil has mentioned. This
improves the respect my gyrocopters get at the field and at airshows. Besides, it's fun.
At my field they get all hinky if you walk out into the runway.
4) I developed the pre-rotator for BEGi which is a tall, short pusher. It can be challenging
to takeoff in a crosswind or dead calm. The pre-rotator makes this model fun to takeoff in
any situation.
5) With pre-rotation I can mix it up with the other models on the field and takeoff down
the pavement without having to go directly into the wind. Not all of us have a big field all
to ourselves. The wind is always cross at my field and the runway isn't that wide.
6) With pre-rotation I can fly indoors in a basketball court in dead calm.
7) In completely dead calm conditions I can clear a 6 foot obstacle 10 feet in front
of the model. (there is video of this on my website) I can takeoff downwind with no problem.
I can takeoff from a picnic table on a dead calm day. I don't care how fast your rotor spins up while taxiing it
won't do these things without some kind of pre-spin. My pre-rotator brings the rotor up to
essentially flight rpm.
8) Charlie has a point. The peak of autogyro development was with collective pitch,
pre-spin and jump takeoff. There is a commercial gyrocopter now in development with
jump takeoff with a video floating around. Don't blame me for pre-spin. I didn't invent it
or the need for it. The full sized guys did. I just made it work reliably on my models.
9) Bensen developed pre-spin on his gyrocopters because it provided balance. The aircraft
could takeoff anywhere it could land. Before pre-spin he could land in places that he couldn't
take off from. This is very clear in his book.
With pre-spin I can takeoff anywhere I can land. This does provide some
flexibility in where you fly.Most of my kits get sold with pre-rotators, so somebody else sees the need.
10) With pre-rotation I can run flatter pitch and fly slower than I can without it.
11) With pre-spin I can hand launch in a rough field with no wind and no running. Try that
without pre-spin.
Finally
I'm not advocating that you use pre-spin or don't or that you copy me to be "like Mickey" or not.
You guys can hash that out amongst yourselves. I have pre-spin because it works, I don't mind
it being more complicated and it provides performance that not having it can't match.
By all means if you don't think you need pre-spin, don't use it.
Phil is probably fired up about pre-spin because for two years in a row he's seen me at
Spring Hill, taxi out, spin up and takeoff when everyone else is grounded because of crosswind.
Like it or not the pre-spin lets you fly in more situations than without. That's why I like it.