Rotortec Clouddancer finally being shipped

[okflyer]

Finally the birds are leaving the nest to fly.
Rotortec is shipping out (since January )the first bulk to their long waiting customers.
Due to all the new innovations packed in this new design, it took longer than expected.
German certification requires very low noise levels (< 65 decibel) and high safety standards.
Rotortec uses their own engines and gearbox system bases on a Weber engine block (with more than 40 000 items produced the block is a very proven design).
The current installation uses the 750 cc 135 hp turbo but will be replaced with the new 850 cc soon.
The new block will be even 10 kg. lighter and produces more torque.
Therefore the CD2 will be one of the first types that can achieve the new Euro mtow standards (560 kg).
The problem is to demonstrate the required rate of ascend while being full loaded and complying to the noise standards while doing so.
The rotor (full carbon) and the hydraulic pre-rotation system is also made in house.
Pre-rotation can be stopped and restarted without slowing down the Rotor first.
With a pre-rotation up to 250 rpm the takeoff speed is safe with aprox. 70 km (dual).
I will prepare a walk through video asap when I have flown enough hours to call myself adjusted to the new toy.

Little fly-in of the first customers:




Our Bird:

[mak]

Okflyer
Congratulation on your new toy, hope you enjoy many happy and safe flying hours in it.

[KFA]

These are beautiful planes. Enjoy Oliver. I know that Rotortec engine is a winner - 150hp is a must. Can't wait to get one for my Safari.
Enjoy the plane and greetings to the factory guys.

[Gyronaut]

When are we seeing one of these in SA?

[KFA]

When are we seeing one of these in SA?

I am working on it. We will start with the engines first.

[okflyer]

Couddancer 2 Conversion Training

Last Weekend (starting on Friday) I did my conversion training on our new Rotortec Clouddancer 2.
I did it at the Tannheim Airfield (close to the Bavarian Alps).
Tannheim is very famous for its biannual GA fly-in (Tannkosh) which is the second biggest in the world after Oshkosh with more the 1500 planes attending.
Tannheim got a broad and long (but quite bumpy) grass runway and is very busy during the weekends. The family of one of the best known Red Bull pilots (M. Dolderer) owns it, and he and others were rehearsing their stunts there as well.

I did the first flips with the owner and chief engineer of Rotortec. I took me a half day dual to get the feeling and I went solo the next morning.
Due to the broad undercarriage and the good supension, the CD2 taxies over the bumpy grass without shaking your teeth off. We had to overtake (heading to the holding point) several Calidus Gyros because the poor chaps had to crawl due to the bumps.
Due to the water cooling once the turbo engine in heated up (doing the taxi does the job) no delays for heating up and no magneto checks are needed at the holding point. Pre-rotation (hydraulic) works very fast and easy from the procedures point of view. Handbrake in, Rotor brake off. Pre-rotation until 110, Rotor tilt brake off, stick in the middle, 180 rpm stick full back, throttle to 3000 and releasing the brake a little bit and crawling. Pre-rotation solo until 190, dual 220 – 240 rotor rpm.
Break full off and gentle throttle (135 hp turbo). Just before the nose gets up, stick gentle forward, keep the nose wheel just a little bit over the RW and keep her on the back wheels. Once the back wheel are off the ground nose down. Even on grass you are airborne soon. The turbo pushes like hell and you can pull the stick with 80 km and you ascend. Flying solo I already reduced the the throttle while ascending.
Bird flies like a plane. Hand and foot (yes: the feet have to work flying curves) coordination with gentle movements. Very easy on the controls. Your are not steering a dough like in a MTO.
Landing is almost taildragger like. A little bit of throttle, keeping the 70-80 km with the nose.
Landing descent not as steep as flying a MTO. Close to ground. level out horizontal to the RW.
Nose just a little bit up.
Once the back wheels touch the ground you use the rotor to hold the nose up. Gentle nose wheel down when standing still. Stick slowly forward. Rotor tilt brake in.
Done.
For Gyro Heads a little bit unusual. For me with a three axis background, much easier to take off and land than a MTO. I have only flown circuits yet. (but with strong gusts and crosswind up to 15 knots). Fuel consumption during circuits (dual and solo) aprox. 15 liters/hour.


Blue Mozzie


CD2 and Cavalon


I am taking off (solo)
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I am landing (solo)

[Gyronaut]

Okflyer, thanks for sharing this with us.

I enjoyed your description of taking off and landing. Very alike to the way that I was taught and am teaching. Taildragger or Floatplane. Fact.
On landing, keep the nose wheel 2" above the deck for as long as possible, even when/until you are standing still. On take off, Floatplane gets onto the 'step', Gyro does the same; feel the drag, rock it forward gently then get it light and let it fly itself off. Exactly as you described.

I have been watching the Cloud Dancer developments closely since I think they are doing quite a few things right. I am especially interested in the behavior of the 4 blade rotor system development. I have a former student who is adamant he is getting one, no matter what! Andreas, wo bist du, wenn ich dich brauche?

Lovely machine by all appearances and I would like to see one in SA soon. Congratulations.

Now, on a more sensitive point. We all share a passion for Gyroplanes first? -agreed! I would therefore like to encourage you NOT to compare machines/manufacturers (AutoGyro/CD/Magni/Arrowcopter/Ela/RAF/Xenon/Zen1/Bensen/Noble/Kingfisher/Butterfly/GyroBee/Sycamore/AirCommander/KB3/Leopard/MiniCopter/Pitcairn…) but rather to elevate and point out the benefits of your preferred machine so that we can all learn from your experiences.
I am sure the ArrowCopter has features yours doesn't but thankfully I do not hear them comparing their superior machine to others. We all share the same sport.

I support your efforts and the development of your machines but humbly request that you keep the spirit of sport aviation alive without turning it into a type/manufacturer comparison.

Todays "new-generation" gyro's are all good and each serves its purpose if fitted to the requirement.

I will be watching your progress with keen interest, please continue to keep us informed.
Best wishes, safe flying and kind regards.

Len

PS: You make "no magneto checks are needed" sound like a good thing. Is it single ignition? No mag check necessary is a benefit? Surely you jest?

[okflyer]

Hi Len,
Thanks for your response. Funny that you talk about floatplanes. What a coincidence, I got a US PPL floatplane license as well. So I can totally adjust to your point of view.
We have the choice to change to the 4 blade configuration. (They are currently flying the mandatory test hours). We will compare and then decide whether we keep the two blades or not.
Regarding your comment comparing of brands and models, I did my conversion training for my Gyro license on an MTO, so I can compare the flying behavior. I liked to have fun in that open canoe a lot and steering a dough is fun too (not better or worse, just different). But getting the bird lining up on the RW takes a lot lot longer (prerotation, Checks etc.) than the CD 2. And the other fixed wing pilots and the tower guys get very nasty on the radio on a busy day when Gliders, Helis, Turboprobs etc. are lining up and cursing the Gyros. Germans are much more direct (some call us even rude) and not patient. Staying slow on a left lane of a German Autobahn and man: you will have fun. (pls. Mind the fact that we do not drive on the wrong side of the road )

Every model has it pros and cons, I am just mentioning what is important to me. I call a cat a cat when I see one (sorry: Kraut gene).
Haven’t flown the Cavalon yet, so I only can judge the taxi on a grass RW and was able to compare take off distance under similar conditions (29 degree centigrade and 1900 feet msl with two on board). The Cavalon is more specious than the CD2 and does not look bad at all (It did win the Red Dot Award for its design). Would not say no if you put it in front of my hangar but would not spend the much higher money they are asking for.
Although I am a very critical person (especially when it comes to spend money) I am in the moment quite happy with the CD 2, hope it will stay like that. If not I am gonna tell. Would love to ride the Arrow copter. Also a company that is leaving the safe mainstream and goes for new solutions.
Regarding the magneto checks with the CD 2, everything is digital and depends on the working electrics. Yes, that could be a problem, but the turbo Rotax has the same problem.
The Rotortec engine got single ignition. Has not been a problem with all the engines flying. Hope it will never be.

I have no intentions to put anybody’s toy down. Viva la difference
PS: I did get my Sling rating for my SA license at your place.

[Steve_SP]

Hi

I understand there was a gyrocopter accident at Dahlem-Binz, Germany on 28th May 2014 ( yesterday ).

The photos show a complete burn out - just the rotors remaining.

A news link tells us that the 71 year old pilot suffered serious injuries.

The rotors appear to be white with red blocks - similar to those on your CD2 photos at the top of this thread.

Can you confirm if this accident did or did not involve a CD2 and if so do you have any knowledge of the circumstances please - thank you.

see nine photos here

http://www.ksta.de/dahlem,15188880,27293422.html


Steve

[okflyer]

Sad story. Just heard about the accident myself..
But I had a telephone call with the pilot on Monday night (before the accident).

During the briefing flight with the Gyro company (when he wanted to pick up the CD2 he orderd) it became clear that he had not the sufficient qualification (in terms of coordination) to fly a gyrocopter. The company advised him to get a decent training before flying as a PIC. He owns a fixed wing license and got the gyro license a couple of years ago during a time when a sign out (and a theoretical test) by a gyro instructor was enough for a fixed wing pilot to get the Gyro license. The have changed that 2 years ago and now a full check ride with a certified examiner is needed for conversion pilots as well.
He signed up for the CD2 five years ago and just did the mandatory hours to keep his license.
He had a crash in a MTO in Costa Rica during an organized Gyro vacation while an instructor was copiloting a 2 or 3 years ago. One of the instructors (who did not let him fly him solo) is located where the accident happened. But the guy is now one of the only 2 instructors who are familiar with the new CD 2. Therefor he had to come back to the school for the CD2 training. The accident pilot called me up to complain (because I did my license at this flying school) about the instructor for ripping him off by telling him that he still needs a lot of hours due to his lack of coordination. I told him I never had the impression that the instructor ripped me off and he should be patient and listen. He did not like to hear that, but promised me that he will not go on his own. In Germany a signed conversion for each model is not mandatory. Therefore from a legal point of view he was legally permitted to fly his own bird without sign-out. It seems to be (my latest info) that he came to the airfield after the instructor left the place, took his gyro out of the hangar and got off by himself.
I do not know what happened, I am not the person to judge anything.
The sad thing is that a lot of people have for seen that development, but nobody was able do something about it.
The pilot is 71 years old dentist with a very strong assertiveness and sometimes not easy to cope with. It breaks my heart to hear such bad news. I cannot confirm that a technical problem was NOT the cause for the accident. But from the information I have, I doubt it.
In one of the other threads I was complaining about the SA rule to get a rating for each model.
For such cases, I will review my point of view.
Lets pray for the poor chap. He got seriously burnt.
There will be an official inquiry and report about the accident. It will take some time. I will translate it into english if there is a demand for that (feedback).

[Steve_SP]

Hi "OK"


Thanks for your reply - it certainly sounds like a tragic event - imagine ordering a new gyro and then nearly killing yourself and destroying that same brand new gyro just after receiving it.

I will keep a look out for the BFU report in due course - I appreciate it may take many months to appear.

I can't work out if he took off and crashed or rolled over whilst taxying - any further insight would be welcome in due course.

Question - how can we try and prevent the raging fire ( particularly if just from a taxying roll over ).

Question - are you able to confirm which particular CD2 was involved - ie "D-M.........." - thank you.


Steve

[okflyer]

Hi Steve, he was not on the taxiway.
Accident happend on the RW.
Cheers
Ok

[crazydoc]

Where does the fuel overflo exit the cd 2?

[Gyronaut]

So sad, such a tragic loss of a lovely machine. Glad there was no loss of life.

I thought the fuel cells where external and reduced the probability of a fire?

Was it on landing or on takeoff? Would be interesting to hear what happened - in order to avoid it happening to any of us.

I wish the pilot a speedy recovery.