The Frame problems I saw by my own eyes on autogyro autogyros were on the Sainless steel Square tubes frames which are suffering cracks (I waw the same cracks on ela frames which are also made from stainless steel square tubes)

this is the reason why they put a TBO on the frame !

http://www.auto-gyro.com/en/news/Safety-first_46.html

is it normal from your point of view that a frame has to be changed after 1500 hours ? for me it simply shows that their frames are not good at all ... (it is not the case of cavalons as far as I know))

appart from those gyros I had never seen any maker putting a TBO on a frame ...

second problem I saw were related to the double blade hub bars which in my opinion are a machanical fault because when the bars are coning the holes of the upper hub blade et the hole of the lower hub blades are not on in front of others anymore

it causes shear stress on the screws holding the rotor

third problem in my opinion is that the extruded blades I have seen were too thin for me, and that there was no metal parts in the blades roots to avoid the blade roots to be squeezed under the strain of the screws holding the blades

I distincly heard some metal noises (sorts of bangs) after the gyro rotor had slowed after landing ....

Fourth problem I saw was the fact that a lot of screews were entirely threaded even the one which worked in Shear , I saw that when a friend of mine totally stripped a MTO3 to owerhaul it ... he was going mad seeing all of this up to the point that he refused any autogyro in his hangar ..

as for the rotor head, the one of the mto3 had a single bearing



is it serious for a tandem, I ask the question ? I will never fly in a single bearing rotor headed tandem believe me

the cavalon mainteance manual shows the rotor head and it seems that it uses the same rotor head then the old mto3 one



in the maintenance manual I found nothing about the bearings .. why ?

if the cavalon which is heavy and draggy uses a single bearing rotor head for me it is pure madness

how the hell this company did not make the same rotors heads then magni or averso, or boyett ? I hope I am wrong

read the comment of madmuz and jake about tandem gyros mono bearing rotor heads on this forum

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5949&p=68636#p68636

the mto3 rotor head is the same then the jean pierre doleac rotor head ( I think they have bought the rights from him)

those rotor heads were used on light opened gyros , and they date back to the 90's ..

for me all of this is not serious at all,

magni rotors and rotor heads are serious, same for DTA, same for averso head, and for aircommand twins rotor heads, same for dominator tandems ...

I don't understand how come they did not modified all of this .. it costs money, it requires to apply for new certifications in germany and in the UK but the truth is that for the price they are selling their gyros they could have done all of this for years and years ..

I am only a stupid homebuilder , but, my frames are bolted round tube aluminium and I have never seen any cracks on only one frame of this kind that have been built in france for decades (deluc gyroplanes, averso gyroplanes etc ), my rotors head have 2 bearings, even my monoseater rotor head, my rotor hubs have no twin bars etc etc ... how come a stupid hass hole like me can afford this and not this company ?

a question of money ? ... in aviation known issues must immediately be adressed whatever the cost ..

the fact that you had no issues with your cavalon makes me happy but it does not means that it's rotor/rotor head are seriously designed for the weight of this gyroplane

all those expensive , massive gyros are just the same then the bensens, the only thing they did is adding a huge tail and put huge fairings, expensive electronics, and more and more powerful engines

one just has to read what chuck beaty wrote about bath tubs gyros ... cosmetic .. that's it ..

I have flown all the european "modern gyros", I did not find that only one flew naturally , with no engine effects in yaw/roll/pitch

I find them heavy ... nothing to see with aviation in my opinion ... there is a lack of engineering ... it is obvious ..

As chuck beaty said many times anyone can design and built a teteering rotor gyroplane .. you just have to hang it and it flies ;; but how ?

all of this is only my opinion, based on personnal observations

I may be wrong from A to Z but believe me I would not put my ass in an Autogyro gyroplane ... never

Sorry for those bad words about a gyroplane that you certainly love .. it is not personal, it is just that people needs to know the opinion of people having nothing to sale .

regards

G

You are correct about stainless steel frames .....though the Cavalon doesn't have one......but ALL stainless steel frames are subject to cracking....with all manufacturers. I built an OutBack gyro using a Tango SS frame and I inspect it before every flight.

Stainless will eventually crack with vibration. I would much rather have a bolted together aluminum frame with gussets.

Oh....and no problem about the love my gyro thing......I'm not in love with the Cavalon......many others I think are better.......just happen to fly one and give her a little TLC.

as for me I am in love with my old home made gyro ... but it is like my dog, for me it is the most cute dog of the world .. but for other he looks like an old bold Broom ...