So far, I like it. The 24' Russian rotors are the stars of the show. It is nice to FINALLY have a cockpit that is comfortable for my size in a gyroplane. Overall, it flies a lot like a CLT Air Command. Very light on the cyclic. I do miss the Yamaha engine (it has a Rotax 582), but it has plenty of power when matched with those rotors.

Way to go Jon! Love watching others enjoying themselves.

Wooohooooo. Looking really good there Jon. I like it!

Actually, I think it has the potential to be a better seller than the 2-place machines. It is comfortable, has good power...even for someone my size, and I don't know of anything that I would consider direct competition. I suppose a Sport Copter is the same basic class, but they are nothing alike.

I like the looks of it, and you are right there is no other option for a partially enclosed single place, the sportcopter is just too pricey and looks goofy, I know they are good machines But....
By having the body work, it really opens the door for a true cross country single. By the way the rotax blue head has proven to be a very reliable engine,
Too bad the yamaha 2 cyl 80 hp has not been converted yet.

Here is an example, one 582 and one 912 montgomery merlin Scotland trip.
http://www.lakedistrictgyroplanes.co.uk ... gyroplane/

I watched it again. I must say it is amazing how low speed you needed to pick up the nose and then just ease into the air with probably no faster than 40 mph. I know you are not exactly a 120 pounder so I can appreciate the size and weight allowance of the machine.

It's those rotors. Same thing on the Tango 2. I keep telling them they need to spend more time marketing their rotors and props. They are both excellent and very competitively priced. That 69" scimitar prop with stainless edges is right at $1,000,00 and I would take it over a Warp drive any day. I'm not sure how much they want for the 24' rotors...but it may be under $3,000.00 and I would MUCH rather have them than Dragon Wings or Sport Copter rotors.

Jon, what makes them superior in your opinion to the Sportcopter or Dragon Wings and do you have much experience with both of those?
I have tried some other rotors and they felt "heavy" when I would try to do Andovers and tight banks.
As I am no longer avle to call myself a gyro pilot i live vicariously through you guys and your descriptions.

I have flown Sport Copter, Dragon Wings, Dragon Wings Cruisers, RotorHawk, Rotodyne, Old Sky Wheels (not the new ones yet), Bensen, Magni, Euro-MTO, RAF and a variety of other rotors I neglected to even ask about. Until I started flying the Tango's, my preference was Sport Copter rotors or Sky Wheels, although most of the large, heavy rotors have a similar feel. I like blades with tons of inertia. I also have a preference for wider cord, because of my size, I suppose.

The Tango blades fit that preference. They are also wider cord and use a different (thicker) airfoil profile than most American-made rotors. This, coupled with their tendency to spin a bit faster than many blades (typical 380 RRPM for my weight at cruise instead of 330 for most American-made rotors), makes them a real pleasure to land and very responsive, even on the two-place machines. They are also priced around the same as Dragon Wings, if not a bit less and well below other high-inertia rotors available today. I have not tried to hand start them, but I believe I could hand-start the 24' rotors in a pinch. I have managed to get the 28' rotors to "catch" from as low as 60 RRPM.

I allege experience from being the default tester (crash dummy) for many of the machines purchased or built by members of Peach State along with a significant amount of training over the past few years on a variety of platforms.

I have been getting a lot of questions as to whether I did that video flight the first time I climbed into the machine...

NO! (and not JUST NO!)

There is a process I go through including running the engine, taxi tests, crow hops, flying the runway and other tests, each followed by a trip back to the hangar for inspection. This process is completed before I go into the pattern the first time. Some machines take more time than others. Sometimes things are found that require attention. I would never recommend taking a brand new machine that has never been flown or an unknown machine up and around the pattern as a first-time test.

That said, the Tango 1 had no surprises. That was "officially" my third test in the pattern and followed the ground testing previously done.

I will also say that I might make an exception to my rules for a Jake-built machine. I test flew Mark's machine in ground effect the other evening, and was sorely tempted. It had the smoothest cyclic I have ever experienced and felt balanced as if it had a 3 axis autopilot engaged.

Yes! Jakes machine uses the Jake/sportcopter head, Jake took the sport copter design of the head head and changed a few things to make it better and to make it fit the wunderlick prerotator stuff. And as a bonus it does not require trim springs.

Do the Russians make those blades in 22 and 23ft?

I would love to fly that thing, but then I might be tempted to cash in my 401k and get one of each.......

Everyone needs a hayfield bomber and a cross country cruiser.....Oh I can imagine the paint job I could do on a full body machine...

Thank you for the report Jon!
It all sounds great. How much do they cost?

About $15k for the kit.

WOW!!! Is that for everything including, instruments, a 582, and rotorblades?

The kit is 15K, which includes the 24' rotors and 69" 3-blade scimitar prop. It includes the frame, hardware, body, rotor head, tail, wheels, brakes controls and motor mount for a Rotax 582. I believe it may also include the electronic pre-rotator, but I would refer you to their website to be certain about that piece.

It does not include the engine or instruments.

I'm not sure there is a fixed priced for the assembled and tested/flying (40 hours flown off) machine, but I think it is about 25K complete and ready to fly. Flight instruments include rotor tach, airspeed, vertical climb, compass and altimeter. Engine instruments are the typical steam gauges for a Rotax 582.

They CAN make 22' or any size up to about 29' rotors. I would suppose they will if a market develops.

Thank you Jon, just the detail I was lusting for!

OK, perhaps it is just me. Does anyone else see a small unidentifiable object coming from the bottom center of the screen and rising to "hover" just left of the gyroplane from about 8:24 to 9:00 in the video? I don't think it could be a lens artifact.

Hmmmmmmm....???

I see it now that you pointed it out Jon!!

It may be a speck of dust on the lens as many times it seems to follow the exact movement. However other times it does not so may be a bird paralleling it that is trying to figure out what the heck is the flying thing?

No, I have used my 'expertise' to study the photo in depth....


It is definitely a real UFO.... here, I enhanced the pic to make it clearer

Seriously tho....I actually wouldn't be surprised if it is someone's drone filming you? .... so just keep an eye out for drones

And I will look out for 'Quads'.... I really, really like quads

Sextuplets would be even betterer