Despite the onset of colder weather here in Michigan, Jim Fields is logging hours on the production prototype of the HoneyBee. If he looks cold, that's 'cause he is! Never-the-less, he is having a ball.

For the last year or so, I have been getting questions about the "Superbee" - the next generation gyro based on the original Gyrobee. The fact is, I had lots of new ideas I would liked to try in a new ultralight design, but there is no way I could justify the expense for a non-commercial project when I already had the Gyrobee available. That changed in November of 1997 when Jim Fields of Grand Rapids approached me about the possibility of producing a kit of the Gyrobee. Jim was starting up a new company called GyroTech, Inc. and was interested in getting into the kit gyro arena. Instead, I convinced him to go out on a limb and produce the next generation ultralight machine, based on the design ideas I had accumulated based on our experience with the Gyrobee. The design philosophy was pretty simple:

• Retain the essential features of the Gyrobee that made it a rugged and easy to fly aircraft.
• Uncompromising ultralight legality with respect to Part 103
• All the new features should be capable of being retrofitted to existing Gyrobee airframes in a way that would let builders decide what, if any, modifications they would like to make.

Well, it has been a fast eight months since then, but the aircraft, christened the Honeybee, was ready for static display at Mentone 98. Let me start by saying that I am definitely not a neutral observer with respect to the HoneyBee. The design is clearly a Gyrobee derivative and I'm the one who provided the new design input! However, I want to emphasize up-front that I have no financial connection with GyroTech and will not be receiving any proceeds from kit sales. Don and I are conducting flight test trials on the prototype and we will probably be flying one a lot as part of continuing R&D work. My interest in the project is purely based on trying to provide more options in the ultralight gyro area, not on any commercial motives. With that said, lets take a first look at some of the features of the new design.

Here is an angled side view of the HoneyBee. Note how the aircraft sits well back on its tail when empty. The Gyrobee has a very flat stance, with little angular different between resting on the tail or forward on the nose wheel. Instead of the balancing act that is typical of most gyros, you just drive the Gyrobee down the runway until it is ready to lift off. In contrast, the HoneyBee has a significant angular difference between the two extremes as a result of its larger wheels. It is thus a bit more demanding in terms of takeoff technique (no more so than a typical gyro), but should be capable of outstanding short-field performance.

Here is a nice side-view of the HoneyBee on the taxi way at Grand Haven airport where the aircraft is based.

Here is an angled rear-view of the HoneyBee, showing off the new tail design to good advantage. The tail group construction of wood, foam, and glass. The rudder is hinged with a continuous piano-type hinge. There is ample rudder/fin area for good directional stability in an engine-out situation, but the tail moment, like the Gyrobee, is long, thus reducing rudder sensitivity. The horizontal stab has about 50% more area than the Gyrobee and it is integral with the rudder, thus moving it further back for even greater effectiveness.

The gyro is now equipped with a new Rotax 447 (CDI ignition, 2.58 gearbox), swinging a 66-inch, two-blade Power Fin prop. With this configuration it pulls a solid 280 pounds and the climb is magnificent. It also just loafs along in cruise.

Here is a view of the front office, showing the seat, Rotor Hawk stick, the LEAF quadrant throttle on the left side, and the Digipod instrument pod/flight recorder.

The nose wheel is similar to that of a trike and provides excellent ground handing. The support struts also incorporate shock absorbing, which greatly smoothes the ride on rough grass fields. The nose wheel is a 12 inch Tuff Wheel constructed of Zytel.

Unlike the Gyrobee, the HoneyBee maingear struts (axle, drag, and diagonal) are rigidly triangulated. Shock absorbing is provided by a one-inch diameter, solid fiberglass rod at the outboard end of the axle, essentially adapted from the idea used in the Pterodactyl fixed-wing ultralight. This gear does a superb job of smoothing out the roughest field! Maingear wheels are 12 inch Zytel Tuff Wheels, just like the nosegear.

The head assembly, rotor hub, and blades are Rotorhawks. The blades have an 8 inch chord and span 24 feet, but are surprisingly light for their size. They seem to handle very smoothly and spin up easily by hand. Initial flight testing was done at 1.5 degrees, but lift for climb was marginal. Set at 1.75 degrees, they still hand-start easily but now have plenty of lift for an aggressive climb.

The HoneyBee prototype has been reworked this year to match the features of the production version of the kit. The cubical, Eipper GT-style tank has been replaced with an "over-the-root-tube" tank in the MX style. The tank mounts to a 2 x 2 stub that extends from the back of the mast. The tank is more streamlined than the Gyrobee version but can't be removed if you need to get gas out off field.

This view shows the Digipod on the prototype, as well as the very sharp rudder pedals. These are water-cut to create weight-saving webs and also feature the HoneyBee logo on each pedal. Very sharp looking!

The HoneyBee logo on the prototype tail. The production tail is just slightly different and requires no cable bracing.

 Jim Fields in the HoneyBee and I in the Gyrobee flew 27 miles over and back (about 55 miles for the morning) to attend the October meeting of the Central Michigan Gyroplane Club (PRA 63) at Maple Grove airport in Fowlerville, MI. The HoneyBee is definitely a cross-country gyro!

• Plans if you want to build from scratch.
• Parts for those who want to build some of the aircraft, but skip the hard stuff.
• Kits - everything needed to complete your aircraft in a single weekend.
• Fully-assembled aircraft. Part 102 ultralights are not subject to the 51% rule, so if you would like to drive up and take delivery of a fully-assembled aircraft, that is an option.
• Upgrades - all the new features will fit on the standard Gyrobee airframe. If you would like to add any or all of the new HoneyBee options to a new or existing Gyrobee, you can do so with no fuss.

 Step-by-step account of building a Honey Bee Gyro from the GyroTech kit.