www.PSFmagazine.com | October-November 2016 | 23 22 | October-November 2016 | Powered Sport Flying Gyroplane Review the pilot is making an approach to landing, cross controlling the aircraft in a slip to compensate for a crosswind, the rudder is deflected off center and, as well, the nose wheel is turned from the straightahead direction. Should the nose wheel touch down cocked off to one side and remain so, the aircraft could dart off in that direction, leading to catastrophe or at least embarrassment. It’s advantageous if a nose wheel has some incentive to align itself with the fuselage upon touchdown, and the AR 1’s nose gear has that. Its front wheel fork is raked rearward so that the rolling axis of the wheel, directly above where the wheel touches down, is behind the swivel axis of the fork, which is higher up, by about three inches. This trail, as it’s called, produces a positive caster angle and a force that tends to cause the nose wheel to straighten itself out when rolling on the ground. Although some other gyroplanes besides the AR 1 employ trail, including the Titanium Explorer with its raked fork and the Magni M-16 with a vertical fork and a slanted offset at the bottom for the wheel, not all gyroplanes do. For more about caster, rake and trail, see “Where the Rubber Meets the Runway” by Roy Beisswenger in the June 2014 issue of Powered Sport Flying. The AR 1’s prerotator drive train—similar to that of the mto Sport, the ela 8, and the Titanium Explorer— has a horizontal shaft stretching over the top of the engine to a ninety-degree gear box connecting to a vertical shaft rising parallel to the mast; yet with the AR 1, the prerotator is activated differently. Compared to the prerotator of the mto Sport and the ela 8, which are pneumatically activated—as is the Titanium Explorer’s prerotator, albeit with a manually activated backup—the AR 1’s prerotator is entirely mechanically activated with a belt powered by the engine connecting to a pulley on the prerotator’s shaft. The tension on the belt is directly controlled by the amount of pressure the pilot applies to the handgrip mounted on the pilot’s cyclic at the front seat station. As elegant as a pneumatically actuated prerotator is for spinning up rotor blades, and for a pilot, almost as simple as just flipping a switch, an air leak in the system can be difficult to track down and fix. That’s the thought behind the Australian-produced Titanium Explorer having a mechanical backup for its prerotator; it reduces the risk that an Aussie gyroplane pilot might become stranded in the outback if his pneumatic system were to spring a leak and otherwise leave him to the fate of hungry dingoes or perhaps revenge-minded Kangaroos resentful that he’s wearing boots made from one of their beloved uncle’s hide. Compared to a pneumatically assisted prerotator, the AR 1’s mechanism is a more hands-on task for the pilot, yet it allows a better feel for the rotor as it spins up and the ability to finesse the process with gentle caresses on the handgrip during prerotation, a form of foreplay before flight for rotorcraft. Notably, the Magni M-16, which is produced in Italy—a country perhaps only coincidentally populated by notoriously amorous people—also uses a mechanical prerotator, although one actuated via a flexible cable rather than a shaft. The AR 1’s instrument panel suited me almost perfectly. The gauges are all analog, which I prefer rather than digital, especially for flight instruments. In my view, analog instruments enable a quicker grasp of trends; a glance at a needle’s position tells me instantly where a needle lies within the instrument’s range as well as whether the needle is holding steady, trending up or down, and as well, how fast it may be trending. With digital instruments, it’s necessary to not only observe the numbers displayed, but also to perform some mental arithmetic to calculate whether the number is greater or smaller than the last look and by how much. When taking in instruments several times a minute, those mental calculations add up and become tiring. The AR 1’s flight instruments—airspeed indicator, altimeter, and vertical speed indicator—are centered high on the panel and within peripheral vision when a pilot’s eyes are outside the cockpit. The engine instruments, lower and toward the outside of the panel, are appropriately located, consistent with being scanned typically less often. With the AR 1 that I flew, there was a barren area in the center of the instrument panel, plenty enough room to accommodate a gps with a relatively large display. The AR 1’s combined throttle and hand brake mechanism is similar to that of other modern gyroplanes I’ve
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