Executive Editor Subscriptions Classified Sales Vickie Betts (800) 867-5430 E-mail: vickie@easyflight.com Web site: www.psfmagazine.com Technical Editor Layout & Design Display Ad Sales Roy Beisswenger PO Box 38 Greenville, IL 62246 800-867-5430 roy@easyflight.com Publisher Sport Aviation Press, llc 16192 Coastal Hwy Lewes, DE, 19958 Photography Valerie Layne Jim Smith Cliff Tucker Graphic Artist Tim Dilliner FeatureWriters Zen Boulden Kai Bode Dr. Bruce H. Charnov John S. Craparo Phil Dietro Jeff Goin Greg Gremminger Michael Hudetz Jeff Hamann Geoff Hill Dan Johnson Doug Maas Ira McComic Jim Smith Jim Sweeney Willi Tacke © 2017 Sport Aviation Press llc Powered Sport Flying™ Magazine is published monthly by Sport Aviation Press llc, PO Box 38, Greenville, IL 62246, (800) 867-5430. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher is prohibited. The publisher assumes no responsibility for any mistakes in advertisements or editorials. Statements/opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect or represent those of this publication or its officers. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, Sport Aviation Press llc: Powered Sport Flying™ Magazine disclaims all responsibility for omissions and errors. Periodicals Postage Paid number 000228 at Greenville, IL, 62246 and at an additional mailing office. postmaster: send address changes to: Sport Aviation Press, PO Box 38, Greenville, IL 62246. Volume 24, Number 4. Subscription Rates Annual subscription rates: $36.95 U.S. $48 Canada $90 International All monies US Funds Subscribe online at: www.PSFmagazine.com For more information call: (800) 867-5430 Hi, and welcome to Powered Sport Flying! What a summer this has been, with a hurricane flooding southern Texas and, as I write this, another one preparing to devastate Florida. I truly hope that you’ve all managed to come through these tantrums of Mother Nature with minimal – or no! – damage. In the meantime, we have a great magazine for you! Now, are you wondering what on earth that thing is on our cover for this issue? It’s essentially a sky motorcycle from the Kitty Hawk Company, and it had its debut at AirVenture 2017. Willi Tacke has an article for us explaining this work-in-progress. Roy wasn’t able to attend all of AirVenture, but he did manage to make it to Oshkosh for a few days, and he’s got a report on the show. Apparently, it was a really good one this year! In August, Stephanie Gremminger attended the PRAconvention in Mentone, Indiana, and has an interview with Dick McGraw about his Rhino 2.2. This is a jump gyro and is pretty nifty to watch in action! It’s even more amazing when you consider that Dick has no formal training in designing a gyro. Doug Maas has been observing the decline in powered parachute flying. He traces some of the possible causes to their roots, and discusses what can be done to get people involved in flying these fun aircraft once again. Christopher Pine checks in this issue with some quick tips on beating back complacency when flying, and Jeff Goin has a reminder about the risks of flying near wires. Back in February, Jeff Hamann flew into the Arizona Flying Circus put on by Mo Sheldon each year. Jeff tells us about his experience flying in as well as about the event, and as usual he has great pictures for us. As always, we also have Dan Johnson reporting on light sport aircraft, a calendar of upcoming events to consider attending, and lots of advertisers and classified ads in case you’re in the mood to buy! I hope you all have a good Fall season and that you don’t overdo the pumpkin spice! Editorial We lost a dear companion, Cody, one of the Moral Support Canines. He was overcome with cancer. He will be missed by everyone who knew him.
Press Pass New Certification Rule for Small Airplanes Becomes Effective On August 30, the final rule overhauling airworthiness standards for general aviation airplanes published in December of 2016 officially went into effect. The Federal Aviation Administration (faa) expects this rule will enable faster installation of innovative, safety-enhancing technologies into small airplanes, while reducing costs for the aviation industry. With these performance-based standards, the faa stated that it was delivering on its promise to implement forward-looking, flexible rules that encourage innovation. Specifically, the new Part 23 revolutionizes standards for airplanes weighing 19,000 pounds or less and with 19 or fewer passenger seats by replacing prescriptive requirements with performance-based standards coupled with consensus-based compliance methods for specific designs and technologies. The rule also adds new certification standards to address GA loss-of-control accidents and in-flight icing conditions. This regulatory approach recognizes that there is more than one way to deliver on safety. It offers a way for industry and the faa to collaborate on new technologies and to keep pace with evolving aviation designs and concepts. The new rule responds to Congressional mandates that direct the faa to streamline approval of safety advancements for small GA airplanes. It also addresses recommendations from the faa’s 2013 Part 23 Reorganization Aviation Rulemaking Committee, which suggested a more streamlined approval process for safety equipment on those airplanes. The new Part 23 also promotes regulatory harmonization among the faa’s foreign partners, including the European Aviation Safety Agency, Transport Canada Civil Aviation, and Brazil’s National Civil Aviation Authority. Harmonization may help minimize certification costs for airplane and engine manufacturers, and operators of affected equipment, who want to certify their products for the global market. This regulatory change is a leading example of how the faa is transforming its Aircraft Certification Service into an agile organization that can support aviation industry innovation in the coming years. air Transformation improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the Aircraft Certification Safety System by focusing faa resources on up-front planning, the use of performance based standards, and a robust risk-based systems oversight program, while leveraging Industry’s responsibility to comply with regulations. Aircraft Spruce Customer Appreciation Day to be held in October This is the time of year when Aircraft Spruce goes all out by offering discounts on their most popular products and provides a chance for their loyal customers to meet their vendors. So come join the fun and get a chance to win big prizes during their hourly raffles. Come early enough and have breakfast from Baker Dozen sponsored by Teledyne Batteries, then stay long enough for the feast. Champion Aerospace is sponsoring a Smokin’ bbq lunch with all the fixin’s from Smokey Canyon bbq! • Event Date: October 7th • Location: 225 Airport Circle, Corona, CA 92880 • Time: 7 am to 3 pm For details visit: www.aircraftspruce.com/cad.html or call (877) 477-7823. Aircraft Spruce’s complete product line is available at www.aircraftspruce.com as well as through the company’s free 1,000+ page catalog.
Lilium Secures $90 Million Series B Funding Round Lilium, the German aviation company developing the world’s first all-electric jet capable of vertical takeoff and landing (evtol), has announced a $90 million Series B funding round. Lilium is a German company founded in 2015 by four academics at the Technical University of Munich. The men shared a vision of a completely new type of transportation. In less than two years, Lilium has grown from the founding team to a company of more than 70 world-class engineers, developing and building the world’s first fully electric vertical take-off and landing (evtol) Jet. Earlier this month the company, which is headquartered in Munich, announced senior level hires from Airbus, Tesla and Gett. Lilium aims to bring low cost air travel to a mass audience moving people up to 300 km (186.4 miles) in one hour on a single electric charge, at a price comparable to ground transport. With this latest infusion of cash, the company has now raised more than $100 million overall. The five-seat hyper-efficient, zero emission, low-noise passenger jet is now in accelerated development The funding group consists of Tencent; lgt, the international private banking and asset management group; Atomico, Lilium’s Series A backer founded by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström; and Obvious Ventures, whose co-founder Ev Williams is Twitter’s co-founder and former ceo. The investment will be used for the development of the five-seat Lilium Jet that will fly commercially, as well as to grow the company’s current team of more than 70. In April Lilium achieved a world first when the full size prototype successfully performed its most complicated maneuver– transitioning between hover mode and horizontal flight. Daniel Wiegand, Lilium co-founder and ceo said: “This investment is a tremendously important step for Lilium as it enables us to make the five-seat jet a reality. This is the next stage in our rapid evolution from an idea to the production of a commercially successful aircraft that will revolutionize the way we travel in and around the world’s cities. It makes Lilium one of the best-funded electric aircraft projects in the world. Our backers recognize that Lilium’s innovative evtol technology puts us in the lead in this exciting new industry, with no other company promising the economy, speed, range and low-noise levels of the Lilium Jet.” “We are continuing to recruit the very brightest and best global talent in aeronautical engineering, physics, electric propulsion and computer science to join us on this extraordinary aviation journey where the only limits are the laws of physics.” The Lilium Jet’s electric jet engines are highly efficient and ultra-low noise, allowing it to operate in densely populated urban areas, while also covering longer distances at high speed with zero emissions. With the jet requiring no significant infrastructure, Lilium will be able to bring high speed transportation services to small cities and villages as well as large city centers for the first time. With the Lilium Jet’s capability to travel at 150+ mph for one hour on a single charge – means that, for example, the 12 mile journey fromManhattan to jfk Airport could last as little as five minutes. The jet’s economy and efficiency means that flights are predicted to cost less than the same journey in a normal road taxi. Learn more at lilium.com Press Pass
Light Sport Aircraft by Dan Johnson Kitfox Brought Their 2017 Speedster to eaa AirVenture One of the stalwarts of the light aircraft sector is Kitfox, a brand known widely around the globe. First flown in November 1984 by Dan Denney, nearly 5,000 aircraft in various models have been produced. Nearly all were built from kits but the company also achieved Special Light Sport Aircraft status, thus allowing flight instruction for compensation. Kitfox, like all that appear somewhat similar, evolved from the original Avid Flyer by Dean Wilson in 1983. The Kitfox brand went through various owners after Denney sold and today resides with John McBean though the company has always hailed from Idaho. “Working from the very successful and robust Kitfox S7 Super Sport, we created a clipped wing, aerodynamically refined, and superbly stylized taildragger Speedster that is guaranteed to get the heart rate up to redline,” said McBean in news announced just before AirVenture 2017 was set to begin on Monday, July 25th. Using the fuel injected Rotax 912iS, the Idaho company said its 2017 Kitfox Speedster “ is significantly larger and faster than its earlier namesake, with a great useful load and excellent short field performance.” They added, “Handling can only be described as ‘acro-like.’” If you were lucky enough to visit AirVenture this year, you could see the new model at Kitfox’s show site in what’s called the North Aircraft Display Area where you could also find most of the light kitbuild aircraft companies. Typical of productions by McBean’s present-day Kitfox, viewers saw a finely finished flying machine. You can see a video of the Kitfox Speedster flying at AirVenture 2017 by visiting YouTube!
Light Sport Aircraft Icon Updates: Crash Cause … yet Onward with Deliveries Icon Aircraft ceo Kirk Hawkins shared a computer depiction of events leading to the crash of an A5 flown by factory chief pilot Jon Karkow. From A5’s onboard black box Icon engineers assembled a second-by-second path for the illfated Light Sport Aircraft. The data showed speed, power settings, flap position, and more. According to the Napa Valley Register, relating a National Transportation Safety Board report, “Pilot error caused the crash that killed two men in a small airplane on May 8, 2017 in Lake Berryessa.” ntsb wrote, “The pilot, Jon Karkow, of Icon Aircraft in Vacaville, was flying too low, and mistakenly entered a canyon surrounded by steep rising terrain.” The investigative agency said Karkow had taken off from the Nut Tree airport in Vacaville at 8:50 a.m. accompanied by passenger Cargi Sever, a new Icon employee. The pilot intended to take Sever on a familiarization flight in the Icon A5 amphibious Light Sport Aircraft, said ntsb. “It is likely that the pilot mistakenly thought the canyon that he entered was a different canyon that led to the larger, open portion of the lake,” ntsb stated. “Additionally, it is likely that, once the pilot realized there was no exit from the canyon, he attempted to perform a 180° left turn to exit. Based upon performance information, the airplane would have not been able to climb out of the rising terrain that surrounded the area, which led to his failure to maintain clearance from terrain.” The NTSB report states that the airplane appeared to be operating normally at the time of the accident, noted Icon. “A post‐accident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of any preexisting mechanical malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation.” Customer Deliveries Begin Icon reported delivering six A5 lsa to customers in June and July. “These are the first customer deliveries the company has made since announcing a production delay last spring,” said Icon. Early customer Mike Sievert of Seattle, Washington said, “A5 is so easy to use and Icon has gone above and beyond with Support Our Advertisers the flight training, maintenance preparation, and the plane itself.” Another new owner, Julian Gates, reported flying his A5 to Lake Powell over the 4th of July weekend. “I admit I was a little concerned at first given the 3,600-foot lake elevation and temperatures over 100°F every day,” Gates said. “While you can certainly feel the effect of the 8,000-foot density altitude, we flew the aircraft daily at gross weight off the water.” In my interview with Kirk Hawkins, I probed about Icon’s plans for the future. “We have completed our own state-ofthe-art composites manufacturing facility in Mexico to build carbon fiber airframes at high rate.” I asked if this was a wholly owned facility. Kirk confirmed that while a contractor built the facility, it will be operated by Icon officials that have experience working in the country. “The new facility is has started supplying airframes,” Kirk said. “The first model year 2018 A5s with Icon-made airframes will be ready for delivery in September 2017. A5 production will ramp up gradually for the remainder of 2017 and then accelerate rapidly throughout 2018.” I asked specifically about the 135-horsepower 915 iS to come out this fall. While Icon will look at the engine, Kirk expressed no current plans to convert to the new powerplant, saying his engineers are very pleased with the performance from the 100-horsepower 912 iS Sport. Both these ecu-monitored engines collect data that can help optimize use of the engine. They can point to problems ahead of time when the data is examined by the Austrian company. That helps mechanical problems arise less often but as the Karkow accident shows, the pilot still plays the primary role in operating the aircraft safely.
Light Sport Aircraft Workhorse Dragonfly Rancher Takes on Heavier Duties — Aerial Work lsa? Pitman Air recently gained faa acceptance for a work-capable aircraft called Dragonfly Rancher. You may not know this Dragonfly airplane but I do. Very well. Since before it was called Dragonfly, I followed the development of this unusual aircraft by Bobby Bailey. You probably don’t know him either but he’s one of the most inventive light aircraft designers. A man of very few words, he prefers to create than to talk about it. Dragonfly is an important icon in the hang gliding community. This aircraft was purpose-built to tow hang gliders aloft. At a place near Sun ‘n Fun called Wallaby Ranch, this happens nearly every day of the year. Proprietor Malcolm Jones founded ‘The Ranch’ in 1992. He has a fleet of Dragonflys that he uses to tow up experts, students learning to fly, or almost anyone wanting to get an introduction to hang gliding. Dragonfly has been fantastically productive, towing so many thousands of flights that I doubt they could be accurately counted. Malcolm alone reports doing more than 30,000 flights with a student …safely, by the way. Some Dragonfly pilots working at the Ranch have more than 10,000 hours logged in Dragonflys alone. All that is achieved in an intense, full-power flight towing a hang glider on a 200 or so foot line to 2,500 feet then releasing the glider, abruptly powering back to idle thrust, and diving madly for the ground to snatch another waiting pilot into the air. A round-trip takes literally minutes so think about how many takeoffs and landings were involved for a pilot to log 10,000 hours doing so. During some competition events, I have seen 11 Dragonflys doing this drill. It is nearly mind-blowing to watch a collection of these awkward-looking aerial tractors whizzing this way and that in an utterly chaotic-looking yet amazingly well-choreographed ballet of tow planes and glider pilots. You literally have to see it to believe it. My words to describe it pale in comparison. Dragonfly Grows Up Dragonfly was designed to fly slowly. A hang glider cannot be towed safely at speeds much above 30-35 mph. Dragonfly can stall below 20 mph. It has elephant-ear-sized flaperons, a large empennage, and Vne was 55 mph on the first models. As I said: purpose-built to tow hang gliders. What else might it do? Well, plenty perhaps, and especially so should faa allow lama to coordinate with industry for a test period to see if Light Sport Aircraft can become working aircraft. More on that another time. Ed Pitman, a longtime hang glider pilot turned aircraft manufacturer, recently gained approval for a Dragonfly Rancher model as a Special lsa. “Got both 900 and 582 series Dragonfly Ranchers approved slsa yesterday,” he wrote, taking after Bobby in being frugal with words. I pried a few more from him. “We reworked the Dragonfly to make it more pilot-friendly to the GA market and targeted farmers and ranchers, by making it a tax-deductible piece of farm equipment.” Under current regs a farmer can use such a flying machine for his own fields. “However,” Ed added, “second and third world countries are interested in it for commercial crop dusting.” Every U.S. state is different when it comes to aerial application, said Ed. “Here in California, a land owner is allowed to spray their own property from the air with a standard Applicators Permit. Dragonfly Rancher is a bona fide piece of farm and ranch equipment.” “Vne on Dragonfly was 66 mph (upped from those earlier models) and Rancher goes further, to 88 mph Vne.” The newly beefed-up Dragonfly can carry enough payload to do micro spraying, which — if you don’t know as I did not — is a legitimate method of application in some situations. “We increased the gross weight to 1,200 pounds because we will be putting it on floats, also,” said Ed. “Bobby re-schemed the wings, which only gained 2.2 pounds each to get to that higher gross weight.” The all-up weight went from 992 pounds (450 kg) earlier. I asked Ed to explain what they did to bump gross and Vne speed. “We reduced rudder pressure, added electric flaperons, reinforced the main gear, and improved longitudinal stability of the Dragonfly,” he clarified. A nose cone and windscreen reduces fatigue for a working pilot. Yet Dragonfly remains “ fun to fly,” he assured. “It actually performs better with flaps up in aerobatics — spins and loops — and still does a controllable spin.” “With floats it can be used for Introductory Flights as a slsa,” added Ed. Training pilots for towing required a second seat, though it is commonly, and easily, removed along with the aft joystick and pedals. Interested in micro spraying? “My website has a tax calculator link to see federal tax benefits,” reported Ed. (Calculator is another website.) Get more info on this hard-working aircraft on Ed’s website ( www.pitmanair.com), then click Rancher. •
Left: A Just Aircraft demonstrating its amazing rate of climb at the Fun Fly Zone. Below: Aeroshell Mall is the center of activity for most visitors to AirVenture. It is where the large, unique aircraft are displayed. AirVenture 2017 by Roy Beisswenger America’s Aviation Showcase This year’s eaa AirVenture, held 24-30 July 2017, was a great event. While the week’s weather started a little cloudy and rainy, by the end of the event the weather was as sunny and optimistic as the people attending the convention. This year’s AirVenture showed a reversal of a nearly one decade trend in aviation. The prior trend, at least for commercial exhibitors, was fairly negative. That trend was not because of AirVenture, itself. It was because of the general economy. Aviation is a recreational activity for most of the people at AirVenture. So when the economy turns down, so does the desire to make new purchases. This is the same for all ‘luxury’ items including motorcycles, recreational vehicles, boats, and other big-ticket purchases. With the economy doing well and the stock market booming, people feel they can maybe make a purchase that they have been putting off. That means that this year saw a lot of buyers. And it was probably better than a normal good year, since there was a decade’s worth of pent up desire! And it was a good year for AirVenture itself. Crowds were up from last year, 5% up. That means that a total of 590,000 people were attending. To understand this big number, it
Scaled Composites brought their Proteus. Proteus is a twin-turbofan, high-altitude, multi-mission aircraft powered by Williams International FJ44-2E engines. It is designed to carry payloads in the 2,000 lb class to altitudes above 50,000 ft and remain on station up to 14 hours. AirVenture 2017 is important to understand that the town of Oshkosh only has a population of about 66,000 people. In fact, attending was nearly the equivalent of the entire city of Milwaukee, population 600,155. Where do all of these extra people stay? A lot of them camp. Just on the airport grounds, there were 11,600 camp sites under wings and an additional number of drive-in campers which accommodated an estimated 40,000 attendees. Other camp grounds in the region filled up as did hotels and camp grounds many miles away. In fact, a unique thing about the convention is the number of residents who rent their homes to event-goers and just leave the area for the week. I am not aware of any other event in the country that does this sort of thing as commonly as it is done at Oshkosh. It takes a trusting local community along with a community of pilots who can be trusted to make something like that work. The attraction to this year’s event was almost irresistible for pilots. As the eaa’s Chairman, Jack Pelton, explained, “What an incredible year it was at Oshkosh. From the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and Apollo reunion, to new aviation innovations on display and two B-29s flying formation as part of 75 years of bombers on parade, it was a week filled with “OnIy at Oshkosh” moments. You could feel the energy as thousands of airplanes arrived early and stayed longer, pushing aircraft camping to capacity for most of the event. The aviators and enthusiasts who attended were engaged, eager, and passionate, demonstrating how Oshkosh is the best example of why general aviation is so vitally important to the country. I believe it ’s the best AirVenture week that I’ve ever seen.” But believe it or not, it isn’t just aviation. There are movies, concerts, and activities for kids. It really is a family event. You need a magnifying glass to see all of the airplanes at the Wittman Regional Airport. But the huge campgrounds to the right are hard to miss!
AirVenture 2017 Another way to describe the event’s size is to point out that more than 10,000 aircraft arrived at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh and other airports in east-central Wisconsin. When you consider that Germany has a total general aviation fleet of a little over 21,000, it is like half of all of the general aviation aircraft (of all kinds!) in Germany left their hangars and showed up at one fly-in! At the Wittman airport alone, there were 17,223 aircraft operations in the 10-day period from July 21-30, which is an average of approximately 123 takeoffs/landings per hour. And the busiest place for takeoffs and landings was in the ultralight area, when it was open for operations! There are planes and there are planes. Show planes are aircraft which have been specially cared for by the private owner. The aircraft may be a refurbished vintage airplane, an ultralight, a homebuilt, a warbird, or anything else an owner has taken special pride in and wants to have judged as a best in category. Competition is fierce with 2,991 show planes entered this year, which, like the crowds, was up 5% over last year. Here is a breakdown of the competition: 1,107 homebuilt aircraft; 1,162 vintage airplanes (up 12 percent); 351 warbirds; 168 ultralights and light sport aircraft; 79 seaplanes; 54 rotorcraft; 60 aerobatic aircraft; and 10 hot air balloons. This relaxed pilot is Michael Ostrander from Rantoul, Illinois with his 2017 Antique Ultralight Champion aircraft, a Quicksilver MX Helicopter Gold Lindy winner Christopher Davenport from Danville, California takes his winning Safari 400 out for a spin Gyroplane Silver Lindy winner Chris Lord of Hanover, Illinois flying his ELA Eclipse 10. Chris recently became the US importer for this handsome Spanish machine. EAA Ultralight & Light Sport Aircraft Award Winners Antique Ultralight – Champion Michael Ostrander, Rautoul, Illinois Quicksilver MX, E001MO Light Sport Aircraft – Grand Champion Michael Kraus, Jackson, Michigan Kitfox Super Sport 7, N213KF Light Sport Aircraft – Reserve Grand Champion Benjamin Schneider, Flanagan, Illinois Just SuperSTOL, N45FT (Shown here) Light Sport Aircraft – Honorable Mention Oren E. Heatwole. Dayton, Virginia Just SuperSTOL, N363JA. EAA Rotorcraft Aircraft Award Winners Helicopter – Gold Christopher Davenport, Danville, California Safari 400, N271CD Helicopter – Silver Norm Groom, Rockford, Illinois Rotorway 162F, N8066R Helicopter – Bronze Charles Bucci, East Troy, WI Rotorway 162, N365CB Gyroplane–Gold Jason Knight Tomball, Texas, Autogyro Cavalon, N7770TX Gyroplane – Silver Chris Lord, Hanover, Illinois ELA Eclipse 10, N510EA Gyroplane – Bronze Brent Lavallee, St. Clement, Ontario RAF 2000 CTX SE, C-GYRF Doug Rhodes, Rio Rancho, New Mexico Magni M-22, N223DR Christine Toeys, Whitewater, Kansas Titanium Explorer, N234TE
If you arrived ready to shop, there were 881 commercial exhibitors. Some of the vendors were small operations just renting a 10-foot by 10-foot space in one of the big hangars. Others, like Icon, rented big outdoor spaces and put their own tents and infrastructure in place. And of course there were a lot of vendors in between. The difference between a rally or fly-in and a convention is a matter of how much business and education gets done on site. There is a lot of business-to-business selling done informally at the show. There are also formal meetings between industry groups and the faa. Foreign delegations, particularly the Chinese, were also visible. But for the normal attendee, the forums and workshops focusing on nearly any aviation topic one might be interested in is what makes AirVenture a convention. In fact, the count was 1,050 sessions attended by more than 75,000 people. Foreign guests are particularly welcome at AirVenture, with a special International Visitors Tent in the main area of the show. A record 2,527 visitors registered from a record-tying 80 nations. And of course there were many international guests who did not register. Top countries represented by registered visitors: Canada (583 visitors), Australia (346), and South Africa (204). eaa’s Pelton points out that the eaa is already working on the 2018 event. “We’re already talking to people about the possibilities for 2018 in all areas, from aircraft anniversaries to new technology and innovations. We saw new programs, such as the Twilight Flight Fest following the afternoon air show, attract big crowds and show a bright future. We’ ll be announcing these features and attractions as they are finalized. ...We’re excited for the future and what ’s ahead for next year!”• James Wiebe’s new SLSA two-seat design, the Belite Chipper with a Rotax 912UL. This ELA Eclipse gets a push down the taxiway. The Fun Fly Zone Headquarters is about a lot more than ultralights. The Legal Eagle Ultralight was VW powered. The Groppo Trail flew and the US importer, Steve Bensinger, felt good about the show. The Bush Cat, built by SkyReach in South Africa ❺ The Outback Shock (known as the Shock Cub in Europe). M-Squared flew a lot and enjoyed introducing kids to the joy of flight. Evolution Aircraft was there with their fresh, new design, the Revolt. What is better than being powered by a Rotax 912 series engine? Being powered by TWO Rotax 912 series engines like this AirCam. Australian Trike builder Airborne was back at Oshkosh. The strong US dollar makes their trikes very appealing to the consumer. Rotorcraft standing ready to fly as soon as the ultralights and LSA’s have had their turn on the runway.
What Is Happening Where One of the best ways to get started with flying is to visit others already involved in the sport. And one of the most relaxed ways to do that is by participating in fly-ins and other events. You can normally find someone there who will be glad to help you and get you started in the right direction. If you would you like to see your event listed here, visit www.psfmagazine.com/list-your-flying-event. Calendar Support Our Advertisers
What Is Happening Where
Larry Page’s Sky Motorcycle A Completely Different Ultralight by Willi Tacke The Kitty Hawk company has been working quietly for more than two years: People only knew that the money came from Google founder and Alphabet chief Larry Page and that Page with Zee Aero (and their work on vertical takeoff airplanes) was yet another iron in the fire. Then this past April came the bombshell: shortly after the first flight of the unmanned Lilium in Germany, Kitty Hawk showed their project–and the world was amazed! One day before the big Uber Elevate Summit in Dallas, they showed not an airtaxi nor autonomous aircraft but instead–in the truest sense a ‘Just for Fun’ aircraft–an air motorcycle, a jet ski for the sky. The air moped made its first public appearance at Oshkosh. The spectacle was scheduled to take place at 9:00am, and at 8:30am the beach at the Seaplane Base at Lake Winnebago was slowly filling up–quite unusual, because normally there in the shade of the old trees, the few people there find it rather relaxed. First up, Communications Manager Ellen Cohen explained how the flights would proceed: A flight of three minutes, landing on the pontoon, battery change, and then a second flight. Technical questions would only be answered in a limited way. The Flyer could be seen on a floating platform at a A seat and handlebars like a motorcycle, a control unit, four struts and eight propellers – is this the ultralight of the future? Not likely! But the machine from Kitty Hawk, the second aviation company from Google founder Larry Page, is certainly an interesting approach. It’s a singleseat, manned drone, which is designed to fly under Part 103 regulations (without a pilot license, registration or airworthiness certificates), but only over water. Kitty Hawk Flyer
Support Our Advertisers Todd Reichert, the pilot behind the mask, is the head of Aerodynamics and Configuration at Kitty Hawk small knob on the left-hand tip of the handlebars. The throttle is used to regulate the height. On the right handlebar is the ‘pitch’ lever, which allows you to move the machine back and forth. Using the index finger on the left hand, another lever, the ‘yaw’ control, rotates the device around its own axis. Actually, the machine is not balanced by the pilot’s controls, because it is–like any other unmanned multicopter–controlled by several gyros that in turn drive the multiple propellers through redundant computers. Kitty Hawk Flyer footbridge. The plane was connected via a Datalink to a computer station, which records, stores and evaluates all data. Then it’s time. Todd climbs onto the Flyer. Assistants take the propeller guards from the eight twin-blade propellers. There are a few, small remaining checks and then the propellers howl to life. The Flyer, with Todd aboard, slowly climbs into the sky, then he pulls past us and performs some pirouettes and some fly-bys at different speeds. Sometimes Todd lowers the device slowly to nearly the water surface, then rises again to its limited maximum height of about 15 feet. The Flyer is equipped with a laser altimeter that ensures that it does not climb more than 15 feet above the water. “Of course the machine could technically fly higher,” explained Reichert later in the interview, “but in the current test phase we have limited the height.” “Why is the pilot sitting relatively stiffly on the machine?” was another question. “The machine is piloted by the control units on the ‘handlebars,’ it is not about weight shifting– even though it would react to it,” says Todd, “but we have found that this is the most precise method of steering.” There are various buttons on the handlebars to control the vehicle. The throttle is a Control unit: The Flyer is controlled by buttons on the handlebar ends
Support Our Advertisers Why Kitty Hawk The reason why Larry Page’s air motorcycle is called the Kitty Hawk Flyer is simple: on the dunes of Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, the Wright brothers and their Wright Flyers first took off; the Wright brothers themselves called their plane “The Whopper Flying Machine.” The Kitty Hawk wants to lean on this historic vehicle, and hopes that they can revolutionize transport as well as did the Brothers Wright. An interesting further parallel between the design teams: the Wright Brothers produced and repaired bicycles, Cameron Robertson and Todd Reichert, the technical directors of Kitty Hawk, earned their first spurs in aviation with the Canadian company Aerovelo. The spin-off of the University of Toronto built the bike-helicopter Atlas a few years ago, a helicopter operated by muscular force which won the Sikorsky Prize. The helicopter flew–driven only by the muscle power of the pilot–3.30 meters high and remained in the air for 64 seconds. They also won a prize for the fastest bike. Conclusion Did I see the future of ultralight flying or even general aviation at the Seaplane Base in Oshkosh? Yes and no. Yes, because I believe that the future of drive technology will soon be mainly electric in aviation, and yes, many of the test vehicles will also be flying as ultralights in the next few years. That is because it is simply the least regulated class of aircraft and it allows designs to be tested the fastest and with the fewest bureaucratic barriers. No, because people want to fly higher than five meters and not just over water. Although the machine can technically fly over land, it lacks the redundancy needed to make overland flight safe. No, because if you want to fly to get somewhere, the lift is simply too ineffective. We will still need wings for a long time. This is especially the case while we wait for advances in the low energy density of the batteries used to power aircraft. The Kitty Hawk Flyer is as much the future of air transport as the jet ski was the future of boating. But like jet skis, it is certainly going to be a lot of fun and will find its place in the market. • Light weight engines and propellers are designed in-house at Kitty Hawk for their own production Kitty Hawk Flyer then it’s gone again. In the photos we caught, it becomes clear that it’s still a prototype: complete with cable ties, loose cables and tape. But when machines look like that, then you can still try out a lot of things. The first impression is that the Flyer is stable in the air and reacts quickly and precisely to the control input, like many other multicopters, but of course it is slightly larger. How does one learn to fly the Flyer? Todd and his crew are convinced that mastery of the machine can be gained in a few hours. Whether or not this will actually be the case, the future will show. After all, the machine is quick (up to 24 mph)–and the aspiring pilot will probably have to learn some emergency maneuvers. The Flyer is a Part 103 Ultralight Just as at the beginning of the eighties of the last century, when inventors and backyard mechanics for the then-new deregulated class invented brand new aircraft for production and sales, the high-tech nerds from the Silicon Valley also want to build flying machines under the ultralight category carved out by the American aviation authority, the Federal Aviation Administration. Part 103 of the faa regulations state that airplanes with an empty weight of less than 254 pounds (115 Kg) are permitted to be built to fly without airworthiness certificates. And even better: for ultralights, those flying them do not need pilot licenses or airports. Part 103 also limits ultralights to a fuel capacity maximum of five gallons (approximately 19 liters), a minimum speed of 24 knots (44 km/h) and a maximum speed of 55 knots (102 km/h) observed. These hurdles are also likely to be overcome. Part 103 states that the empty weight of 254 pounds does not include a weight allowance for aircraft floats. This means that the Kitty Hawkers can pull the weight of their floats from the empty weight. This is necessary because, as Todd Reichert admitted in Oshkosh, currently the machine is still clearly above the weight limit; but that could be overcome. Then it’s over. After the first landing, there is a second short flight which goes much like the first. After the final landing, the questions are dominated by price, but Kitty Hawk won’t give away anything, even a price frame they would announce or confirm. But what is certain: in the fall, the Flyer is to be offered for sale, when the maximum flight time is to be significantly increased. And if you want, for $100 you can already become a member of the Kitty Hawk Club, which among other things will provide a discount of $2000 off the retail price of the Flyer. While Robertson is still being interviewed, his team stashes the Flyer on a red pickup truck, ties it down, and Two men could load the ultralight aircraft, which has a target empty weight of 254 pounds.
by Stephanie Gremminger Gyroplane Innovation Dick and Carol DeGraw flew into the pra convention in Mentone this summer from Jackson, Michigan and created quite a stir with his newest ride, the Rhino 2.2. It was a crowd draw as soon as Dick and Carol arrived and parked it. Dick’s aircraft was a true homebuilt, unlike almost all other gyroplanes nowadays. It is the true spirit of homebuilding. From concept, through design, through building and flying it. The first thought someone might have is why 2.2? That is because Dick does his own design work, and his computer-aided design (cad) drawing for this particular design is named – you guessed it! – “Rhino 2.2.” This five-year project is a jump takeoff gyroplane with a lot of power directed to the rotor. A jump takeoff gyroplane means that it can take off with no takeoff roll, making it something of a hybrid to a helicopter. A key feature of this particular model is that it has a disc angle of attack of zero as it flies through the air. There are two propellers pushing it. The right propeller has more pitch in it to counteract the torque. And note that I said propellers, not engines. The entire aircraft is powered by one unmodified Subaru engine and the power is directed to the Dominator rotor blades and Sensenich propellers by a series of transmissions. More about that later… Dick DeGraw and the Rhino 2.2
Support Our Advertisers So what is it like to design, build and fly something so unique? First there is the motivation. Dick gets an idea and then is driven to bring it to life. After he begins, the motivation becomes flying the project he is working on to Mentone to show to the rest of the gyroplane community. Test flying this design was a little bit of a white-knuckle experience. There were actually three separate iterations. The second iteration was a good craft, but it had a mishap. It used a pulley and belt drive system instead of gears and shafts. The first time he took that model up, he didn’t think he would get it on the ground ‘properly.’ In fact he almost didn’t make it to the end of the runway. Things were happening fast and he had to make a four-second decision. He needed to set it down before he ran out of runway instead of trying to take it around the pattern. Taking a hard-to-control experimental aircraft around the pattern just didn’t seem like the winning idea. That particular landing required two weeks to check out the aircraft thoroughly and then two additional weeks to get the nerve up to fly it again. Because as Dick points out, “On a first flight, you never know what will work or work as intended.” The main thing that was wrong was that he needed to reverse the props. Bottom inward to push up on the tail. Rotorwash pushes down on the tail. The design is so new that Dick still didn’t want to take any passengers up at Mentone. It was just a precaution. Carol gets special privileges because she sees the work that he puts into the aircraft and encourages him. Carol flew in with him to Mentone. So how much trust does she have in his designs? Well, Dick never asks her to go with him. She is the one who asks to fly with him! In fact, Carol talks to him about the designs as they come together. If there is a stumbling point, those conversations may not result in the solution, but they often trigger a thought process that helps solve the problem. And the characteristic green color of the Rhinos was Carol’s idea. She likes the green. Dick likes it, too, but he likes it because it stands out in the sky and other pilots can see it. The top speed has not been determined yet since the one-off design is still being tested. However, it has already been flown at 120 knots. In fact the testing is involving some ‘tweaking’ of the design. So much is new there with three configurations for this model over 5-6 years. The props are at the ends of two stubby wings. A lot of thought went into even the little wings themselves. For example, the wide portion of the cord is at the prop with the narrow portion of the cord near the fuselage. It looks a little strange, but this way the propeller can be mounted closer to the wing without the propeller tips flexing forward to hit the wing near where it attaches to the aircraft. In turn, that provides cleaner air to the wing and makes the system quieter. Another benefit is that it eliminates drag at the root of the wing. The power from the Subaru is divided with a planetary differential. Wing props have two sets of bevel gears for each prop. The drive shaft is made out of 4130 steel. One part that Dick purchased was sprag clutches for the rotor and each prop. Those make the aircraft run smoother. But bottom line, Dick designs all of it. All of the transmissions, five of them in this case! He even makes many of the gears in the transmissions himself. Spur gears, the planetary system, the cases, the shafts, the splines connecting the gears and the shafts are all designed and cut by Dick. He uses a gear shaper to cut the gears. The gear shaper is a cutting tool that itself looks like gear, except that it has sharp teeth at the end of the gear teeth. He does not do the heat-treating since he has a friend who does that. The powered rotorhead is Dick’s design, too. He designed it so that the rotor angle of attack is zero. That reduces drag, making for an efficient cruise. There is even an inflight adjustment for the three fully-articulated blades. Design, making the parts, assembling, and test flying is all done by Dick. He doesn’t use a cnc machine for any of the milling although he now uses computer-aided design. His first Rhino design was hand-drawn. cad makes life a lot easier for him when it is time to move things on a drawing. “It is heartbreaking to take a huge eraser to the drawing and then redraw the same object to another place on the drawing.” Moving things in cad makes things more accurate and easier at the same time.
Support Our Advertisers Dick and Carol DeGraw Meanwhile, he had a friend who bought a basic ‘Bensenstyle’ gyropcopter. The friend built it and crashed it. Then he saw Dick’s engines and made an offer. They could build two gyroplanes. Dick would supply the engines and the friend would supply the rest of the parts. That start was in 1993. Then at the 1993 pra convention in Brookville, Ohio, the board of directors announced the pra Autogyro Performance Award, a contest to spur efforts to achieve jump take-off capability in current sport gyroplanes. Prize money, donated from various sources, would be awarded at the Greencastle convention in 1994 to the gyro that could execute a deceptively simple task: lift off and clear a 10-foot obstacle within 50 feet, fly a 20-mile speed course, return, land and perform a normal takeoff. Hearing about the contest, Dick said, “I can do this.” Carol replied, “Sure you can.” There was no winner in ‘94, so the pra upped the ante to $20,000 for the ‘95 convention. That turned out to be the year Dick finished and showed his Gyrhino. Dick won the contest that year—the prize money even paid for ‘some’ of the Gyrhino! For his next project, Dick built a gyroplane with a partially powered rotor for Carol called the DeBird, which made it into a jump gyroplane. Dick makes it clear that Carol is the reason he is able to work on these projects. She encourages him to keep going with his creations. He isn’t just a designer and a builder, he is also an avid flyer. He flies about one quarter of his time in fixed-wing. But three quarters of his flight time he spends in rotorcraft. He probably has set some sort of record with 2570 jump takeoffs under his belt. Dick’s love is designing and building. Even as he was showing this latest project, word leaked out that he is already working on something new. However, good luck getting him to talk about it before it is finished! • Left: You can see some of the custommachine work that went into the Gyrhino. Below: Dick DeGraw picking up one of his awards for the Gyrhino. He won both the Innovation and the Grand Champion Awards at the 2017 PRA convention Gyroplane Innovation Dick’s Background Dick was brought up on a farm and went to the same country grade school that his dad did, kindergarten through 8th grade. After he got married to Carol at age 26, he left the farm. He hated farming, but he liked being assigned to fix things around the farm. When he was four or five years old he made his first toy out of can covers, nails and a board. It was a truck to push around. Soon he was interested in electrical wiring. His mother remembered him having imaginary wires strung around the floor that she couldn’t step on. Then he would take radios apart and save the pieces in match boxes. Later when he was 10, he wired his little shop in the basement with a three-way switch. By 12 he was trying to rewind electric motors. At age 13 he took a television completely apart, unsoldered it himself, and reassembled it according to the schematics. He wanted to get into ham radio, but he was too shy when he was young to get on the air. Some of that shyness came from being dyslexic. He didn’t even know he was dyslexic until he was 35 years old, he just figured that he “was dumb.” His inability to read well made him introverted since he didn’t want anyone to know about it. It was a painful thing for him to be somewhere where he had to demonstrate reading. He has gotten over the introversion and educated himself on all of the skills it takes to design and build gyroplanes. Dick’s very first project was a home-built helicopter. Not only did Carol ‘let’ him work on the helicopter, she encouraged him to work on it. It takes someone special to have that kind of confidence in your work. One might assume that he did a lot of reading and research to learn how to do the things he does. It turns out that he still doesn’t read much. In fact, he has only read one book in his entire life from cover to cover. He actually read it twice: “Pioneering The Helicopter” by Charles Lester Morris, who was Igor Sikorski’s first test pilot. But he didn’t read it until after he built his helicopter! Dick tried formally studying helicopters, but formal study involved a lot of math. And the math-focused texts didn’t make a lot of sense to him. Instead, he would go up to any helicopter he could find. He would ask questions, but unfortunately helicopter pilots weren’t a lot of help explaining helicopter design. They knew how to fly them, not design them. But when he asked the pilots if he could move the controls, they would all allow him to do that. Even though every helicopter is different, he would still move the controls and then see what was going on with the aircraft. That way he could get an idea of ratios and things like that. After a couple of years of doing that, he finally understood what a helicopter had to do to fly. Once he knew that, then he was able to design one. Getting into gyroplanes was a story unto itself. He took his helicopter to Oshkosh in 1986 where he won Grand Champion rotorcraft. With that project finished, he wanted to build another helicopter. So he bought two Rotax engines while he was there. He brought them home and began preliminary design work for a helicopter. He decided that he didn’t want those two-stroke engines in his helicopter, so he set the engines aside.
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