I'm glad to inform the community that today Victor Shumeiko called me from the airfield where he tested his new gyro. Vic (shining) reported that they performed first few flights carrying three full-scaled men on board. I've already posted a couple of Vic's gyro pictures, which can be seen from the
http://twistairclub.narod.ru/ - then go to English news. Hope to post some
more this week.
Victor's gyro has the original design and a couple of interesting innovations in it which Vic supposes to patent.
Shown is the aircraft with two back seats (side-by-side, sure) removed for test runs. Engine is now 2.5 l injected Subaru converted in Russia. Engine showed 360 kgs thrust. Prop is 3-bladed (181 cm) composite Ukraine-made one.
Victor has build his own rotorhead and used RAf 30' rotor for current flying. We also bought Hollmann and SportCopter(new, painted) rotors to compare them - I believe it may be interesting though somebody surely did this before.
Vic also built his own hydraulic prerotator using local pump and motor. These are extremely heavy and don't last long anyway. This current system allows to prerotate up to 370-380 rrpm. The gyro weights approx. 390 kg empty though I'm sure it will become some
25-30 kg lighter soon. It was named "Okhotnik" which directly means "the hunter".
If anybody is interested in updates, please let me know via e-mail.
Here are
htpp://twistairclub.narod.ru/hunter.htm - some poor photos of 3-on-board flights.