The April meeting was held on the 30th at Nut Tree. We had a good
turnout and one guest visiting from Reno. Troy brought up his idea of
flying at the Black Rock Desert the last weekend of July. This is a
dry lake bed about an hour north of Reno and 40 miles by 7 miles in
size. Closer and bigger than El Mirage! The altitude there is about
4500 feet. Everyone loved the idea. A couple of the members have
been there and agree this would be a great place to fly our gyros.
Let's start planning this trip at the next meeting.It's also time to start planning our flight to El-Mirage in September. At least two and maybe three RAF 2000s will be flying from here to El-Mirage this year. Are any Bandits or other types going to join us? It's time to get a Los Angeles sectional and start getting serious about this long cross country. It should be a great time!
We have finally obtained a big grill for the picnic in June! At the meeting, it was decided that everyone should bring whatever meat they want to cook on the grill and one side dish to share. This will spread the cost out so we don't have to use as much club money. The club will supply the other items such as plates, utensils, sodas and the fire.
Since the meeting, Tim has been building
this horizontal stabilizer for his RAF 2000, thanks to some help from
Gary. It mounts around the keel and extends back beyond the tail
wheel. All that remains is to cover it and fly it!
Mark may have got a head start
toward our new most fly-ins attended trophy by being the only gyro to
fly to the Watts-Woodland Fly-In. Here's what Bob L. said on the
rotorcraft.com conference:
"On May 6,2000 Woodland Aviation the largest Westcoast Beechcraft
Dealer held their annual flyin. Eighty five aircraft arrived including
restored T28s, T34s, Cessnas,Cozys,RV4, RV6 etc. When the smoke
settled, the best original design AND the Best of show trophies went
to a lowly gyro.- Congrats Mark, you won everything! To Marks credit
he passed out information Packages for his friend,welder and
co-designer Joe Souza. Mark drew the crowd over to the runway when he
departed and made a high speed pass. Every kid on the field wanted
his/her picture taken with the shark mouth gyro. Mark was happy to
accomodate them. In conclusion, it was a great day for gyros and
Mark."
--Bob Lewis
By seven thirty, six gyros from Marysville were ready for flight: Mark's Predator, Shawn's re-tailed Air Command, and four Bandits (George, Troy, Jerry, and Gary L's). Presently Gary B. arrived in his RAF with Bob L., and the contingent straggled off single file towards the north. Joe started first in Gary's Rotax Ultralight Mighty Mouse Special, and must've found some extra horsepower somewhere, because the rest of the bandit drivers didn't see him again till Oroville. During the thirty mile flight the faster RAF and Predator gyros went their own way, but the remaining four stuck close enough together to land as a group.
The gyro display area near the main hangar was graced with seven (count 'em) seven fly-in machines. Now the weather was altogether too warm and too sunny. A nearby hangar provided shade where we could visit while keeping an eye on the gyros. Once the shade was gone there was less reason to stay. Troy, Shawn, and George didn't wait for the cooler air of the evening to depart.
With the severe weather season now past, we can look forward to more
such excursions.
--George Atkinson
It's also time to work on your flying skills. At the picnic in June we will have timed pylon and bomb drop events. And finally, someone just sent me this amusing little bit:
PRA Chapter 5 Newsletters are also available on-line at:
http://www.quiknet.com/~twitham/gyro/pra5/Timothy D. Witham <twitham@quiknet.com> Last modified: Sun May 21 20:50:24 PDT 2000