An all-new aircraft for FS2004, heavily inspired by K. Johnson's Ultralight Auto Gyro For FS2002, completely re-drawn in FSDS v3, incorporating B. Warwick's Rotax 447 engine.

I've included two models, a wide-track version, with a two-blade prop and a single carburettor, and a "sportier" narrow-track model with a three-blade prop and a twin-carb engine for an extra bit of va-va-voom ;-)

Being homebuilt, Gyrobee's have almost as many minor variations as there are individual aircraft, so please don't complain that these models don't look like any one specific aircraft ... they're not supposed to! I've taken features and characteristics from various photographs, used a bit of imagination here and there, then incorporated the bits I like best, including the belt & pulley propellor gearing from K. Johnson's original on the wide-track, single-carb version. The flight model is also all-new and is as close as I could practically get to the characteristics of the real aircraft, including being virtually stall-proof and able to just about hover (if not actually fly backwards) into a light breeze.

The "panel" incorporates my interpretation of AMPtronics Skydat GX1 LCD, giving airspeed, RPM, VSI, altitude, etc. in one compact package. The original is programmable to customers needs, so again, although my version may not look exactly like the one on the website, it's possible that one could be programmed to look like mine.

Hennie van Rooyen's Rotax engine sounds have also been included. Although originally for a 503 rather than a 447, one buzzy two-stroke is much like another and certainly much better than anything I could have come up with.

INSTALLATION NOTES:

Simply place the three folders, "GyroBee WTSC", "GyroBee NTTC" and "Rotax Engine" in your Aircraft folder, then you'll find the aircraft under "Homebuilt" in the aircraft menu when you re-start Flight Simulator. I've kept the Rotax engine sounds separate and aliased the sounds for each aircraft to them, to save space as much as anything. Similarly you may wish to remove the SkyDat_GX1.CAB from the panel folder of each aircraft and put just one copy in your Gauges folder.

SPECIFIC CHARACTERISTICS:

From a cold start, you'll need to use "Ctrl-E" to emulate swinging the prop, there's no starter, but at least you don't need to prime the fuel pump. A small amount of throttle may be necessary to keep the rev's above 600 until it's warmed up for a few seconds ... some might say typical two-stroke ;-) There's no brakes, by the way, but when you can easily land at below 10 knots, they're not really necessary. For take-off, full throttle and it'll lift off the ground, with a bit of backward stick, below 40 kts., then adjust the stick to keep the climb-rate below 800 fpm at around 60 kts. Level off at the required altitude and adjust the throttle to suit, about 5500 rpm for 60kts. Yes, it's a bit twitchy and very "hands-on", but that would seem to be what the real thing is like ... no trim tabs or hands-off flying ;-)

Landing is much like any conventional tricycle aircraft, except remember that at very low speeds the flight controls have less effect, so if you want to land it on the proverbial small coin, line up reasonably early and keep the nose into the wind. Don't hold the nose too high at touchdown, else the tail-wheel will tip you forward. Operating from a runway is no problem, but if you wish to land in an open field, be careful not to let the nose-wheel dig in too early, the main gear has a modicum of suspension, but the nose-wheel is rigid.

The default view in the 2D cockpit places the panel more or less where it belongs and still reasonably visible. You'll probably not be able to read the figures but the needles can be easily seen, and the view becomes almost total, similar to that from the virtual cockpit, with parts of the aircraft visible in the appropriate view. Pressing the W key once places the panel right in your lap, not ideal, but this gives you an opportunity to see what's what in detail, if you're interested. There's little more to see in the virtual cockpit, simply because there is very little to see anyway ;-) but I've included one, with an active panel, for those who prefer this feature. Please excuse the rather basic animated pilot figure. I'm a poor artist on a good day, but his hands and feet do move with the controls, and as there's nothing in the way of bodywork to hide him I felt I had to do something.


As usual with this sort of thing, feel free to do what you want with it except charge for it. If you enjoy it, an e-mail would be nice, if you don't like it, I'm sorry I wasted your time.

Chris Eve.
[email protected]