Kind of poor preflight on your part as an Instructor?

I guess I'm dating myself but I remember this argument in the helicopter community, banning gyros at the nats was a hot topic discussion for a while...

Now you don't see a helicopter without one, hell most of the pilots today probably don't think you can fly a heli without a gyro on the tail and 3 axis FBL units are becoming the norm.

The FBL technology has made projects like the big 6 blade Sky Crane, or 4 blade Apache managable projects instead of one and done beasts.

Yeah, I hate to say it, but I remember the days in the mid to late 70's, when a heli went up, we all went for the picnic tables and 55 gallon trash cans to hide behind.......lol. Technology is great!

I'll still say as I have before that healthy new pilots shouldn't use gyros to make their planes easier to fly. Most people who are willing to put a little time in can do straight takeoffs and manage wind turbulence just fine without any gadgetry. But for pilots who do have cognitive or fine motor skills issues and won't ever be able to fly safely because of them, these stability systems are outstanding.

Theres more back story than I wrote about. He's not a beginner he's been flying and building since before I was born and is a retired engineer. I trust his builds, assemblies and general set ups. Hes aging and Im happy to help him continue to fly wether Im the only one flying his creations or helping him fly something he can handle.

Preflight I checked all functions for the correct direction and deflection and the factory prescribed CG. All looked good so we took off and the flight was uneventful.

We have a couple of old guys in the club that still build, but dont fly anymore. They have people in the club they trust fly their creations for them. They just love seeing their planes fly no matter who the pilot is.
Edwin

I do that will some of the planes that I build that I don't feel qualified to fly.

Im 86. Thats about as senior as you can get. I also lost one eye to a botched cataract removal operation. Sometimes the airplane just disappears from my eyesight. I find the Eagletree Guardian a great help. When it disappears I just turn the Guardian on 2D and throw the aileron hard over. The Guardian wont let it roll and it just flies in a gentile circle. I usually get it back.
I am currently trying to get the Guardian to work on a gasoline powered Aircraft. Vibration bothers it.
Also when on electric power, set the Guardian on 3D,point the A/C down the runway and set it by twitching the aileron. Then apply power and the A/C will take off straight by itself.

Dirtybird I would be most interested in even a few paragraphs of how thing went with the Guardian in a gasser or glow for that matter. I am madly trying to clear off projects from my table before I get into mine.

Thanks

John

I will say this, I believe that in nearly all planes (with it tuned properly) that a gyro can certainly help and won't hurt an elderly student's progress. I do agree with Jester that extra tension on that sticks could certainly help as well.

Please keep us posted on how things play out.

GB<br type="_moz" />

DirtyBird,
A lot of us will be in your boat soon enough. I'd be interested in what you find with the gassers too. I've only known one pilot that flew into his 90's, and he flew trainers at that point. He was comfortable with that and nobody gave him grief about it.
Edwin

The Demon will have dual elevator and aileron output and is supposedly not bothered by vibration.

We'll see, I'm supposed to get one for review.

I had a student who had poor nerves in his hands due to an auto accident. It helped him a lot when we took two one-inch square balsa sticks, boared holes in one end of each of them and put them over the sticks on his transmiter. Now he had big paddles that the nerves in his hands could feel.

I have the Guardian mounted on an old Goldberg Ultimate powered with an RCGF 15. The engine will turn the 15/6 prop at 6000.
I mounted the engine on a Hyde mount and that took care of the problem up to about 5000 rpm but it went out at full throttle.
I then mounted the Guardian on a 1/8 aluminum plate that is mounted on 1/2 foam rubber with double stick tape. Ground tests indicate the problem is solved but engine problems have prevented me from flying it. I am out of time for this summer. Its too hot to fly here anymore. I am headed to the mountains for the summer.
I think a twin would make things easier.

I had the Guardian mounted on double stick tape on a 80" Katana powered with a DLE 30 a couple of months ago. I intended to try it once I got it up high but the aircraft suddenly rolled oven and went in. I think I inadvertently turned the Guardian on as that is what happens if vibration gets to it according to my ground tests

Time for the dummy to chime in. Why does the vibration affect the guardian? I wanted to put one on my dle55

Thank you DB for your report. I have no idea why the vibrations is an issue but what I do know from the old Hobbico gyro that I use in the Quad Kadet is, it is effected directly by temperature but that has been no problem as it just required recentering (the rudder only) before the first flight of the day either through the radio trim (manual or sub trim) or it can be adjusted with a small screwdriver before wing assembly.

Now I am beginning to wonder if simply starting out with excessive gain for any of the axis' is the problem. I do limit my old one to no more than 50%.

Now anyone out there using the Guardian on a glow plane and not a gasser? There could be differences in vibration levels amplitude and frequency there that may make a difference.

John

Vibration leads to precession

So what does that mean.

Precession

The regular motion of a spinning body such as a spinning top or a planet, it which the axis of rotation describes a cone

Excessive drift, same with temperature changes, all of which are dealt with by firmware of the gyro.

Short version, it drives them wonky. I'm guessing the ET either doesn't have any internal dampening, or the software isn't sophisticated enough to deal with the vibration of larger IC engines.

Gyro mounting in a helicopter should always be done in the area of least vibration, though some will argue otherwise, nearest the CG makes no difference to the gyro, vibration however is a meance to them.

maybe I should hold off putting one on my G-Shark.