www.PSFmagazine.com | October-November 2016 | 21 20 | October-November 2016 | Powered Sport Flying Gyroplane Review aircraft like Bensens, Ken Brocks, Air Commands, Dominators, Butterflies, and Sparrowhawks. Although the AR 1 patterns this configuration trend in modern gyroplanes—it’s a two-place, open cockpit gyroplane with tandem seating and offers either a Rotax 912 or 914 engine—it discontinues the trend in one regard: its country of origin. The AR 1, introduced officially this March at Bensen Days in Florida and exhibited at this year’s Sun ’n Fun, is produced in the US, its nationality heralded in the first part of its name: American Ranger. American Ranger kits are manufactured by Silverlight Aviation, a Florida company that was formerly the US distributor for the Halley Apollo AG1 gyroplane produced in Hungary. In fact, the American-made AR 1 is a derivative of the Hungarian AG1, but the AR 1 has been improved from that direct predecessor; and, as well, addresses in both function and styling, features found in similarly configured competitors from other countries. For example, nearly all of the modern gyroplanes introduced in the past decade have incorporated more aerodynamic styling than those of the Bensen-day era. Instead of the wind-in-the-face, bugs-in-the-teeth experience of earlier gyrocopters, modern gyroplanes typically have at least partially enclosed cockpits and windscreens. The AR 1, like most of its latter-day brethren, has a partially enclosed cockpit with windscreens for both the front and rear seat. But whereas most of these other gyroplanes are satisfied with bulletshaped fuselages whose smooth surfaces are as featureless as the flat plains of the Texas Panhandle’s Llano Estacado, the AR 1’s fuselage is more stylish, featuring an eye-catching, decal-accented indentation running most of the outside length of the fuselage, extending from a tapered end near the front, widening and deepening as it sweeps toward the back, there melding into a meshed screen opening. The whole aesthetic arrangement is a blend of form and function that serves to scoop some of the in-flight airflow around the fuselage and direct it to the engine radiator sitting in the air path beyond the opening. Furthermore, the fuselage doesn’t end immediately behind the back seat, but extends several inches farther back, forming a partial enclosure that streams airflow around the engine. This seamless extension of the fuselage has indented intakes higher up, one on each side, to shepherd airflow into the enclosure and around the power plant. Above the intakes, where the engine’s twin carburetors might otherwise extend directly into the slipstream, the partial panel has rounded bulges covering them, the bulges sleekly tapering into a forward-facing point, a graceful synergy of practicality and design. As another example of the AR 1’s aerodynamic styling, its main landing gear struts, aluminum leaf springs, lie within before when I was attempting to balance on the mains. I was over-controlling with pitch, anticipating more sluggishness in the aircraft’s response, yet the AR 1 seemed aggrieved that I would expect that kind of behavior from it. On climb out, as a way of apologizing for the misunderstanding and to demonstrate my increasing trust in the aircraft, I took my feet off the rudder pedals, and at full throttle I didn’t notice any significant roll or yaw. After a surprisingly fast climb, I tried some moderate maneuvering at higher airspeeds and found that even in steep banks, only a touch of rudder pedal kept the yaw string happy. As soon as I learned that the AR 1 was like a good cutting horse—I barely had to think about what I wanted it to do and it did that—we got along fine. With me in the front and Silverlight test pilot and cfi Greg Spicola in the back, I cleared the airport boundary but didn’t waste time climbing, leveling the aircraft and setting the throttle for 5300 rpm. At 400 feet, the AR 1 zipped along with an indicated airspeed of nearly 90 mph. I was warming up to the aircraft, making lazy turns, a few steep ones but nothing extreme, while Greg sat in the back letting me do the flying, but when he spotted a herd of feral hogs in a clearing below, he couldn’t resist taking the controls to give them chase, and that’s when I saw just how agile this aircraft can be in the hands of an able pilot. Greg zoomed down toward the tusked porkers, sending them running toward the thin cover of brush, raced past them, turned tight, spinning on the mast, and zoomed down on them again, herding them back into the open. I rode along, the experience taking me back to my days of flying Cobra gunships, but unfortunately, there’s no footage of this aerial sortie. A gun camera, let alone actual armament, isn’t even an optional feature with the AR 1 yet. Like many other gyroplanes, the AR 1’s rudder pedals serve a dual purpose; not only do they control the aircraft’s rudder, they’re also linked to the aircraft’s nose wheel and are used to steer the aircraft on the ground. It’s a common design with gyroplanes, but that combined purpose can sometimes lead to trouble during landings. For example, if airfoil shaped composite fairings, which not only reduce drag but produce some lift at higher airspeeds, their effect contributing a small percentage to airspeeds over 68 knots. And as a practicality, the strut fairings can be partially retracted, sliding a few inches into the fuselage body, which is flared at that point to receive them, a convenience for accessing the main gear wheels; for example, when servicing the brakes, or as demonstrated when one of the Anahuac AR 1s had a flat, to replace a tire tube. Combined with its aerodynamic sleekness and its larger tail area, which is set ten inches farther back than most other two-place tandem gyroplanes, there’s little to no coupling between power and yaw or power and pitching for a large part of the AR 1’s flight envelope. The aircraft’s larger rudder, combined with the vertical fins on the ends of the horizontal stabilizer, helps reduce that coupling. Although I understood that concept in theory, it took me a while to discover it in practice. Taking the AR 1 Flying During my first takeoff in an AR 1, a silvery beauty bearing serial number 3 and equipped with a Rotax 912uls engine, I was overly aggressive with the controls when the main gear lifted off, expecting the somewhat greater manhandling that some other gyroplanes require to compensate for torque roll. I suppose, though, I should have taken the hint about using a lighter touch on the controls a moment Opposite page: The AR1 has a lot of detail that is both functional and attractive. Above: A comfortable cockpit. Right: The fairing easily pulls back in order to repair or maintain the landing gear.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUwNDI3MA==