www.PSFmagazine.com | December 2017 | 29 Support Our Advertisers Denis’s own early days of flying. He still remembers dropping it down hard during the landing and designed around that beginner trait. It is part of his passion for what he does. He is actively selling kits and was well-received at Mentone. He had just machined parts for ten kit units and five were already spoken for when I talked with him! Some of the feedback came from a few people wondering if he was planning to put cowlings on the design. So far, the answer to that question is no. He said, “I never had a windshield on a motorcycle. Love the open feeling. Feels natural, like true flight.” Besides, it departs from the simple design. That is not to say that he isn’t all for some customization. For example, Denis provides different machined instrument pods depending on how the customer wants to lay out his design. Now that Denis has a design and kits available, the rush after Mentone was to provide documentation. When I spoke to him, he was busy getting his display ready for the convention. But he knew he had some work ahead of him. He knew, for example, that he had more work to do on the documentation package and assembly instructions. But for that, he had a very unique offering for kit builders. The design was created on a 3D cad program. That program allows him to provide 3D pdfs of the machine to customers as part of the assembly instructions. Customers will get a computer flash drive with the pdfs on them and can then view the plans by rotating the parts and assemblies around. Very simple and easy to understand for the builder. Build times are estimated to be very low. He and a coworker were able to assemble one in two days, but of course they were experienced and knew where the parts all go. Denis estimates that a first-time builder should be able to assemble his gyro in about 40 hours. For the builder who wants more immediate guidance, there is a plan to offer Build-Assist programs in the shop. Another piece in the puzzle is meeting the 51% rule for the kits. Of course that is an area that an easy-to-assemble gyro designer has to pay attention to. With the faa’s new fabrication and assembly checklist, that shouldn’t be a problem. However, learning about that process was one of Denis’s missions at the convention. He guessed at the time that he could undersize some holes (that would require the builder to drill them out) and maybe remove other features, if needed. Of course the goal there is to make the kit as easy as possible to build while making the design fit the faa 51% amateur-built standard. Gyro Technic is located in Kasota, Minnesota, which makes for a compact flying season. The flying season is shorter, but he tries to tough it out as long as he can without having to wear heavy clothing. Denis considers flying bulked up to be less comfortable and he can’t feel the flight controls with heavy gloves. That means the winter gives him time to work on his designs. For those in the grassroots side of the gyro movement, that is a great boon. It is good to have someone like Denis pursuing his flying passion by thinking and working on gyro designs. That benefits us all! Learn more about Gyro Technic at gyrotechnic.com and learn more about Denis’ primary business at prairieautomation.com. •
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