February 26, 2018
For the pilots out there, yes, yes, the title of this blog entry is a riff on the old “$100 Hamburger” that you’ve likely heard many times. For non-pilots, the old saw of the “$100 Hamburger” has to do with using a plane to go to another airport to eat lunch. By the time one factors in all the costs involved, the hamburger you ate cost about $100. It isn’t necessarily $100… the point is, it’s simply more expensive. Yet, we do $100 hamburgers because we don’t need much of an excuse to go fly. So it might as well be for something you’d need to do anyway, such as eat lunch.
The title of this blog entry is a good-natured dig at the Cessna, Piper, Mooney (etc) pilots who may, indeed, spend that much money to go eat lunch at another airport. Having an LSA (more fuel efficient), and using MOGAS (motor fuel, as used in cars, which is less expensive than aviation fuel) overall makes the endeavor much less expensive. For this trip, we flew a total of 166 miles over 3 hours. That means I used 13.8 gallons of fuel @ $2.90/gallon, or $40.02 total. Our meals was about $35 total, so we spend about $75 for two people, or $37.50 each for our “hamburger.” (I had a fish po’ boy, and my wife had grilled catfish.)
(I’m not trying to start a cost-of-$100-hamburger-war, because the faster GA planes won’t spend 3 hours on this flight. However it calculates out, it is very likely that the LSA will be less expensive, but in certain scenarios, maybe not!)
The GA pilots may get there faster, but we sure did have fun going low and slow and seeing what there was to see!
The other theme I wanted to express is, I’m really loving my gyroplane inasmuch as it’s mostly immune to just about any turbulence. Most of my flying hours since the year 2000 when I learned to fly) have been in fixed wing aircraft. And I don’t miss the turbulence one bit. The rotors of the gyro cut through the turbulence and at worst you might get a gust that blows the tail to the side for just a bit. We also do rise and fall with thermals and cool spots, just as anyone would, but it’s nothing dramatic.
So, because I wasn’t too fond of having to deal with turbulence, a large fraction of my flying hours were spent in the early mornings or late afternoons, when turbulence is usually low. The times I did cross-country flights and had to fly in the middle of the day, I inevitably encountered turbulence and had to deal with it. And while, like all other pilots, I did deal with it, that doesn’t mean it’s pleasant. YouTube is full of video’s showing small GA aircraft dealing with turbulence, and it’s not pretty. I recommend you check them out.
No aircraft is perfect, though, and gyroplanes excel in handling turbulence but are very difficult to learn to fly and even more so to master. You can learn to fly them, though, and with a lot of practice, they can be mastered. But as someone with hundreds of hours of flying time under their belt, I can assure you it’s not that straightforward. I would never want to dissuade anyone who has the interest, because while it’s more difficult than fixed wing, it’s not that much harder. There is only the key element of rotor management that needs to be attended to.
You might hear that takeoffs and landings in a gyro are difficult, but really those aren’t bad at all, but it’s during takeoffs/landings when you are dealing with the rotor, and that takes a lot of training and practice. I’m still struggling with the particular eccentricities of the Cavalon, which are different from the Magni M-16, which are different from the Gyrobee, which are different from the Predator, etc., ad nauseam. They are all similar, but the actual manipulation of the controls associated with rotor management can make them all different, too.
I really didn’t intend for this blog posting to be about the nuances of gyro’s vs fixed-wing, but more about the flight from Chamber County Airport (T00) to Texas Gulf Coast Regional (KLBX), for lunch.
For both my takeoffs and landings at both airports, I had a fairly stiff 90-degree cross-wind. And I’m freely admitting that my level of expertise in the Cavalon is limited, so I knew I would have my hands full. The takeoffs aren’t too difficult since most of the rotor management occurs just prior to the wheels leaving the ground. I am learning, though, that the Cavalon is pitch sensitive, even more so than any other gyro I’ve flown (5 different types). And that pitch sensitivity changes as the aircraft changes speed, and is greatly affected by the TOW (take-off weight) and density altitude. So, it may be sluggish for a while during the take-off roll, then suddenly quite sensitive. It takes an understanding and practiced hand to deal with that. My takeoffs improve a tiny bit each time, but it’s a very slow process.
My landings are the real problem (for me). I did eventually get fairly good at them in the other 4 types of gyro’s I’ve flown, but I’m still not there yet with the Cavalon. The worst part is, there’s little consistency. I can have one really good landing, and then 5 bad ones. Even when I spend hours just doing touch-n-go’s, I feel inconsistent. At the end, I’ll feel improved, but only (on average) a small amount, so more t-n-g’s are the order of the day. I’ll eventually get it — just as I did taking off from water in the seaplane I had for a while — but it’s taking me longer than I like. I’m not happy with my own performance. But I am very happy with the way the Cavalon flies.
Once in the air, the Cavalon is so pleasant to fly that it almost puts you to sleep. There is no drama, no sudden shifts, no fighting the stick, and no wishing you were on the ground. My wife loves it, and so do I. That’s not to say you can’t have fun… the ability to turn, go slow (almost zero), and land short is unmatched. No, we can’t go more than about 100 mph (87 knots), but at least the Cavalon is fuel efficient and has a large tank, so its range is quite good for such a tiny aircraft. It’s an all-day aircraft, something I’ve not owned before.
The shell that gives the Cavalon its distinctive shape results in air flow variations that change whenever there is a change in engine rpm, ascent/descent attitude, and whether one is turning. On the control stick is a little “coolie hat” trim button, and I’m learning to use it aggressively, depending on what else is going on. I’ve definitely improved getting the trim right and done quickly, which makes flying it even easier for the pilot.
The day we flew to KLBX, it was pretty cool, so the doors were on. I haven’t yet flown the Cavalon with the doors off, but I do look forward to that day. And since very hot days are common in SE Texas, it won’t be too long. One of the reasons I love to fly is to be able to take pictures and, while I think the doors are great (especially when it’s cold), they aren’t the best thing — with their reflective acrylic — to have between my camera and what I’m taking a picture of. So, warm days and doors off are the ticket to some better photography, I hope!
Below are some photos that my wife and I took during the trip. For the trip to KLBX, we flew down the beach, jumped over the Galveston airport air-space, then turned west at San Luis Pass.
The return trip was a bit more direct but, because of the head-wind, the time to return was about the same as our longer out-going leg.
To see the route better, and where the photos were taken, the web site Ramblr is much better so jump over there if you’re curious to get more details. The photos below are a sub-set of those on the Ramblr stories.
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