The time has finally arrived for Air Expo 2000 and our annual club picnic! The airport management decided to get the show set up earlier this time around as it is planned to be even bigger and busier than last year. So, everyone should meet Tuesday evening around 6pm if you can make it. Set up activities may continue several evenings this week, so please show up and help if you can. Then, the big air show is Saturday the 24th and all our gyros will be out on display. The show gets under way after 10am and includes an aerobatic competition, cropduster demo, and warbird and military fly-bys including the B-2 and an F-18 demo. Should be a great day! Check www.airexpo.com for details.
Then on Sunday the 25th, our gyro flying contests start promptly at 8am. So get up, get you and your gyro ready to fly by 8am! We will have timed pylon and bomb drop events. Timed pylon is where you are timed while flying two laps around the traffic pattern. The goal is to match your own lap time. Last year we had four pilots come in under 10 seconds difference with a winner of only 3 seconds! And of course, the goal of bomb drop is to drop a bomb (bag of flour) on a target. Closest drop wins. Surely someone can beat last year's distance of 13'8". Please fly safe!
Everyone should bring whatever meat they want to cook on the grill and one side dish to share. Chapter 5 will provide plates, utensils, sodas, and other extras. We will have the grill going around lunch and dinner times. We will hold our monthly meeting at the usual 1pm, followed by flying or kicking back in the hangar. We will have nominations for new Chapter Officers this month and elections will be held at the July meeting.
Finally, the awards ceremony will be at 6pm. Trophys will be given for the two contests and `Best Man & Machine'. There will be a fourth trophy `Most Fly-Ins Attended' that will be held and awarded at the end of the year. Is Mark still ahead on that one?
Seems like nearly everyone is doing more flying than building now! This is the way it should be! After a lot of work, both Bobs now have their ships together. Tim's new stabilizer is installed and flying well. Between flying his Bandits, Joe is busy cranking out new machines and shipping them off to all sorts of places. Gary is back into the training season as a Gyro CFI. And I think everyone else is just out flying around. Here's just a couple such flying reports. Thanks for the article George!
Now I, too, was ready; the engine caught right away, and the breeze was plenty to keep the rotor turning after careful start. Once aloft, I lazed southward till well away from the airport, swung west where the uncontrolled airspace ceiling is high, and began to climb. [If I am to join the flock flying to El Mirage this September, Boa must be able to climb to altitude faster than terrain.]
A layer of clouds sat at 2500'. I pushed between the white fluffies, never losing sight of the ground entirely, yet not in the least worried about the prospect. Above the cloud, back towards the airport, and just where is it by the way? The home field looks very different from up here, and I turn back to avoid encroaching on Beale airspace.
"George?" said someone on the Marysville frequency. I key the mike: "Yo." The hangar hangers-on had heard far-off gyro sounds and were playing spot-the-gyro; others joined the search; at length my orange chariot emerged above a cloud. "How high are you?" Higher than I'd get with chemical assistance, I think, and answer "four four hundred." I notice the chill and conclude there's no need to join the gyronauts' Mile High Club just yet.
Engine at idle, steep descent, good chance for carb ice so I check power availability now and then and reflect that an engine-out is surely least inconvenient two thousand feet above your home field. Back in the hangar, I removed the rotor to prepare for pre-rotator installation. S.o.B. A full eighth inch out of line; no wonder the stick shook.
PRA5 adjourned to the usual hangout for lunch. Afterwards flew briefly with re-strung rotor to make sure the stick shake was indeed gone. Then off with the entire rotorhead for its rework. Next week I'll have a slight increase in mass and rotor inertia, and an increased measure of convenience.
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http://www.quiknet.com/~twitham/gyro/pra5/Timothy D. Witham <twitham@quiknet.com> Last modified: Sun Jun 18 17:09:56 PDT 2000