What happened? No activities on the autogyro forum. I received my Co-Pilot, which was a pleasant surprise as they told me they were out of stock and it would be a couple of weeks. Did anybody else have one on order?

Phil

Yea... I was told three weeks as they were on back order. That was on monday. Hope i get mine soon.

-Mustang

Futaba also have a co-pilot called autopilot that has been available for several years but nobody seems to use it. Does anyone know what the reason is? Is there something wrong with it? Or is it just unknown.

Probably the big difference is, the Futaba operates in the visible wavelength vs. the FMA, which operates in the infrared. The Futaba is very sensitive to flying over water but as I understand you can put blue filters over the sensors to help with that problem. Also, because it operates in the visible spectrum it's more sensitive to weather changes during the day. It works best on a consistent overcast day or you end up doing a lot of calibrations. I heard a tid-bit that the FMA sensors were developed in Russia and probably because they had infrared photo-diodes before we did. The US got behind as Russia continue to trade with China which is the only place to obtain certain rare-earth minerals and crystals

Phil

Hi Phil and Gang...

Yes, I too ordered an FMA Co-Pilot about 2 weeks ago, recieved a message they were on back order, but mine came last week!
Wish all the back orders were so short!!

I plan to put mine either in the Kombat Kopter that Steve Flew in Fl, or in a Wallis. Now, the Wallis has a cyclic head control like a helicopter...only has cyclic. How about hooking up the Co-Pilot to just the side-to-side roll control servo??

If only the aileron function is activated, how about the calibration procedure??

SG6042 blades are on the production line...(So There! <G>)

Bill

Hi Bill,

I think you should put the co-pilot on the Kombat Kopter and fly it with only two blades. That should set a new weight record for rotor loading. I can't believe it got off the ground. I think I still have Steve's flight on video. It looks like it almost rolled over just after it lifted off. I bet Steve's thumbs were pretty busy.

The Co-pilot will work OK on just side-to-side control. The calibration will be normal and you will only see the head move. The Wallis should be a real challenge and interesting. You would be the first to try that I'm sure.

Let us know how it works.

Phil

I ordered one, it was here when I got back from INDY, even though I was told it would be 2-3 weeks.

Hi,

I hope everybody that received a co-pilot lets us know what they think of it.

Phil

My copilot worked just as advertised until the roll sensor apparently went haywire. I had it on a switched channel on my receiver and even when in the off position it still gave crazy commands to the ailerons, and I lost my plane to a gravity well!
It has been sent back to FMA for repair, but not sure it will ever be reinstalled.

HI,

Sorry about the Co-Pilot. I hope the crash was minimal. Did you try the Co-Pilot after the crash? If you did, how did it respond?

Phil

Plane totalled!
When attempting to install on another plane it became obvious that the roll sensor was bad. Even in the setup mode as soon as in the roll position the ailerons just went crazy-even occured with the remote power switch in off postion.
FMA says they have had a few bad sensors, and now have the unit for repair. I 'm not sure if I will reinstall, however. It sure does work as advertised and will tame even the wildest plane, but if it glitches, there is nothing you can do. The more complex we build them, the more there is to break!!

I would hope that FMA just sends you a new Co-Pilot. I have two of them now and I keep moving them around to different planes or autogyros. I did have one bad experience on the first flight in the morning but I was able to land and recalibrate, then the Co-Pilot worked OK. On another occasion I had the sensor mounted on the bottom of an autogyro and the Velcro came off and it was just hanging by the cable. That got interesting but I landed OK. At other times I have flown several days with out calibrating but here in Florida it's just hot and humid every day so I suspect if conditions don't change it probably doesn't need calibrating.

Good luck if you try again.

Phil

I was just personally emailed by the GM of FMA Direct with an offer to replace my copilot. This is a great company! I have always been promptly and courteously treated by them, and this continues. I remain a little squeamish about the copilot's future use, but it worked so well before the mishap, that I will probably give it another try.

Hi,

That is good to hear that FMA is standing behind their product. The Co-Pilot is just another piece of electronics and can go bad just like any of the other component in our aircrafts. I think statistically, the odds are in your favor and you shouldn't get two bad ones. Did you have the newer or older version of the Co-Pilot? The new version requires a joystick action to complete the calibration. The older version completed the calibration without any stick movement from the transmitter.

Phil