In keeping with his personal philosophies, Dr. Bensen did his own test-flying and continues to do so. A drag hinge was added in conjunction with the flapping hinge to allow each blade to move fore and aft and relieve in-plane stresses, generated as a byproduct of the flapping motion. The standard presents "performance results" criteria that identify the desirable PERFORMANCE attributes of the design. Company figures show more than 4000 Model B-8M Gyrocopters have been built since the model was introduced in the early 1950s, with an estimated 2000 currently flying.Many have met other fates, unfortunately; gyro accident reports in the files of the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Experimental Aircraft Association are shockingly high.One EAA study revealed that in the years 1967 and 1968 and January 1969, 46 Gyrocopter accidents occurred, including 28 involving serious injury or death. The VSKYLABS VSL B-8M Gyrocopter design is based on the general design features of the Bensen B-8M / X-25A Gyrocopter. Roberts and the other Bensen staffers were open and seemed willing to provide the information I had asked for, even when the subject of all those nasty rumors arose.Its test and evaluation programs revealed a thorough and almost fanatical devotion to some tough airworthiness and safety standards — an attitude that often causes mild consternation among Bensen devotees awaiting the approval of new products which have undergone or are in the midst of the necessarily slow and methodical process of research and development.Bensen owners are well supported by the factory, a national dealer network, newsletters and a comprehensive series of manuals for both construction and flight training. With these considerations in mind, I plunged eagerly ahead into Bensen’s world. The pattern hops were augmented by the incredible visibility of this little rotary-winged flying machine.Cruise speeds of 45 to 65 mph are equally stable, though flying slower was decidedly more fun since it afforded me more stick time. (PRA), which in its first decade grew to include 13,000 members with 50 chapters throughout the world PRA publishes a semitechnical magazine, Popular Rotorcraft Flying, and holds annual conventions.This year the PRA convention was held at Rockford, Illinois on July 20-26 Dr Bensen’s Model B-8 Gyroglider, classed as an unpowered rotor kite to be towed behind a car or boat, is therefore not considered an aircraft by the FAA, so no pilot’s license is required to fly it.A side-by-side two-seater B-8 is sometimes used as a pilot trainer. "it/page/tegretol-novartis-ZO1.aspx">pallanuoto.dinamicatorino.it tegretol Propeller like new too, no dings or marks. Even to the most knowledgeable, a reputation like this tends to be a bit unsettling.A few of my friends were among the skeptics who were aware of this upcoming story and subsequently offered their somewhat premature condolences, while another gave my name to his insurance agent telling him that I was in need of all the help I could get.With this in mind, the final moments of my trip to the Raleigh-Durham airport (home of Bensen Aircraft) were a bit awkward, as a mixture of a little nervousness and a lot of anticipation filled my travel-numb, road-weary head.My concerns were mollified by some of the research that I had done prior to heading south. This is the historically typical approach of such standards in order to promote, while not limiting, new or alternate ideas and innovation. Taking another break later in the afternoon, I watched Roberts and Elrod remove the rotor from the gyrocopter.The last step before untethered powered flight required that I taxi the copter sans rotor in order to get a good feel for the sensitive ground handling of the 90-hp McCullough-powered machine.The nosewheel steering was sensitive, and I spent much time speeding up and down the centerline of the taxiway, trying to keep everything on the straight and narrow The nosewheel sensitivity was the only tricky part of the operation, requiring some patient practice before attempting high-speed runs.It wasn’t too long, however, before I was boogying along doing S turns and figure-eights under the benevolent yet critical gaze of the My first cautious aerial excursions in the copter were straight down the runway as I grew accustomed to the throttle response and speed range, followed by gentle S turns to get the feel of the control system. Bensen gave the He instructed me to take the stick loosely and said that he would cover my hand with his and give me any needed corrections. Bensen gave Elrod the thumbs-up (accelerate) signal until we got to 10 to 12 mph, at which point he turned the pre-rotator off and allowed the relative wind produced by our forward speed to accelerate the rotor beyond the established speed.When the rotor started to really pick up, Bensen gave Elrod another thumbs-up and we sped to an airspeed of 35 to 40 mph.