Attitude is everything - OZZY EDUCATIONAL!

Hi Mate, I am writing to you because I need your help to get me bloody pilot's license back. You keep telling me you got all the right contacts. Well now's your chance to make something happen for me because, mate, I'm bloody desperate! But first, I'd better tell you what happened during my last flight review with the CAA Examiner. On the phone, Ron (that's the CASA d*#"head) seemed a reasonable sort of a bloke. He politely reminded me of the need to do a flight review every two years. He even offered to drive out, have a look over my property and let me operate from my own strip. Naturally I agreed to that. Anyway, Ron turned up last Wednesday. First up, he said he was a bit surprised to see the plane on a small strip outside my homestead, because the ALA (Authorized Landing Area) is about a mile away. I explained that because this strip was so close to the homestead, it was more convenient than the ALA, and despite the power lines crossing about midway down the strip, it's really not a problem to land and take-off, because at the halfway point down the strip you're usually still on the ground. For some reason Ron seemed nervous. So, although I had done the pre-flight inspection only four days earlier, I decided to do it all over again. Because the prick was watching me carefully, I walked around the plane three times instead of my usual two. My effort was rewarded because the colour finally returned to Ron's cheeks. In fact, they went a bright red. In view of Ron's obviously better mood, I told him I was going to combine the test flight with some farm work, as I had to deliver three poddy calves from the home paddock to the main herd.After a bit of a chase I finally caught the calves and threw them into the back of the ol' 172. We climbed aboard, but Ron started getting onto me about weight and balance calculations and all that crap. Of course I knew that sort of thing was a waste of time because, calves like to move around a bit particularly when they see themselves 500 feet off the ground! So, it's bloody pointless trying to secure them as you know. However, I did tell Ron that he shouldn't worry as I always keep the trim wheel set on neutral to ensure we remain pretty stable at all stages throughout the flight. Anyway, I started the engine and cleverly minimized the warm-up time by tramping hard on the brakes and gunning her at 2,500 rpm. I then discovered that Ron has very acute hearing, even though he was wearing a bloody headset. Through all that noise he detected a metallic rattle and demanded I account for it. Actually it began about a month ago and was caused by a screwdriver that fell down a hole in the floor and lodged in the fuel selector mechanism. The selector can't be moved now, but it doesn't matter because it's jammed on `All tanks', so I suppose that's okay. However, as Ron was obviously a nit-picker, I blamed the noise on vibration from a stainless steel thermos flask which I keep in a beaut little possie between the windshield and the magnetic compass. My explanation seemed to relax Ron, because he slumped back in the seat and kept looking up at the cockpit roof. I released the brakes to taxi out, but unfortunately the plane gave a leap and spun to the right. "Hell" I thought, "not the starboard wheel chock again". The bump jolted Ron back to full alertness. He looked around just in time to see a rock thrown by the prop-wash disappear completely through the windscreen of his brand new Commodore. "Now I'm really in trouble", I thought! While Ron was busy ranting about his car, I ignored his requirement that we taxi to the ALA, and instead took off under the power lines. Ron didn't say a word, at least not until the engine started coughing right at the lift off point, and then he bloody screamed his head off. "Oh Shit Oh shit! Oh shit!" "Now take it easy, Ron" I told him firmly. "That often happens on take-off and there is a good reason for it". I explained patiently that I usually run the plane on standard MOGAS, but one day I accidentally put in a gallon or two of kerosene. To compensate for the low octane of the kerosene, I siphoned in a few gallons of super MOGAS and shook the wings up and down a few times to mix it up. Since then, the engine has been coughing a bit but in general it works just fine, if you know how to coax it properly. Anyway, at this stage Ron seemed to lose all interest in my test flight. He pulled out some rosary beads, closed his eyes and became lost in prayer. (I didn't think anyone was a Catholic these days). I selected some nice music on the HF radio to help him relax. Meanwhile, I climbed to my normal cruising altitude of 10,500 feet. I don't normally put in a flight plan or get the weather because, as you know getting a FAX access out here is a friggin' joke and the weather is usually 8/8 blue anyway. (But since I had that near miss with a Saab 340, I might have to change me thinking on that.) Anyhow, on leveling out, I noticed some wild camels heading into my improved pasture. I hate bloody camels, and always carry a loaded 303 clipped inside the door of the Cessna just in case I see any of the bastards. We were too high to hit them, but as a matter of principle, I decided to have a go through the open window. Mate, when I pulled the bloody rifle out, the effect on Ron was friggin' electric. As I fired the first shot his neck lengthened by about six inches and his eyes bulged like a rabbit with myxo. He really looked as if he had been jabbed with an electric cattle prod on full power. In fact, Ron's reaction was so distracting that I lost concentration for a second and the next shot went straight through the port tyre. Ron was a bit upset about the shooting (probably one of those pinko animal lovers I guess) so I decided not to tell him about our little problem with the tyre. Shortly afterwards I located the main herd and decided to do my fighter pilot trick. Ron had gone back to praying when, in one smooth sequence, I pulled on full flaps, cut the power and started a sideslip from 10,500 feet down to 500 feet at 130 knots indicated (the last time I looked anyway) and the little needle rushed up to the red area on me ASI. What a buzz, mate! About half way through the descent I looked back in the cabin to see the calves gracefully suspended in mid air and mooing like crazy. I was going to comment on this unusual sight, but Ron looked a bit green and had rolled himself into the fetal position and was screamin' his freakin' head off. Mate, talk about being in a bloody zoo. You should've been there, it was so bloody funny! At about 500 feet I leveled out, but for some reason we kept sinking. When we reached 50 feet I applied full power but nothin' happened. No noise no nothin'. Then, luckily, I heard me instructor's voice in me head saying "carb heat, carb heat". So I pulled carb heat on and that helped quite a lot, with the engine finally regaining full power. Whew, that was really close, let me tell you! Then mate, you'll never guess what happened next! As luck would have it, at that height we flew into a massive dust cloud caused by the cattle and suddenly went I.F. bloody R, mate. You would have been really proud of me as I didn't panic once, not once, but I did make a mental note to consider an instrument rating as soon as me gyro is repaired (something I've been meaning to do for a while now). Suddenly Ron's elongated neck and bulging eyes reappeared. His Mouth opened wide, very wide, but no sound emerged. "Take it easy," I told him, "we'll be out of this in a minute". Sure enough, about a minute later we emerged, still straight and level and still at 50 feet. Admittedly I was surprised to notice that we were upside down, and I kept thinking to myself, "I hope Ron didn't notice that I had forgotten to set the QNH when we were taxiing". This minor tribulation forced me to fly to a nearby valley in which I had to do a half roll to get upright again. By now the main herd had divided into two groups leaving a narrow strip between them. "Ah!" I thought, "there's an omen. We'll land right there." Knowing that the tyre problem demanded a slow approach, I flew a couple of steep turns with full flap. Soon the stall warning horn was blaring so loud in me ear that I cut it's circuit breaker to shut it up, but by then I knew we were slow enough anyway. I turned seeply onto a 75 foot final and put her down with a real thud. Strangely enough, I had always thought you could only ground loop in a tail dragger but, as usual, I was proved wrong again! Halfway through our third loop, Ron at last recovered his sense of humor. Talk about laugh. I've never seen the likes of it. He couldn't stop. We finally rolled to a halt and I released the calves, who bolted out of the aircraft like there was no tomorrow. I then began picking clumps of dry grass. Between gut wrenching fits of laughter, Ron asked what I was doing. I explained that we had to stuff the port tyre with grass so we could fly back to the homestead. It was then that Ron really lost the plot and started running away from the aircraft. Can you believe it? The last time I saw him he was off into the distance, arms flailing in the air and still shrieking with laughter. I later heard that he had been confined to a psychiatric institution - poor bugger! Anyhow mate, that's enough about Ron. The problem is I got this letter from CASA withdrawing, as they put it, my privileges to fly; until I have undergone a complete pilot training course again and undertaken another flight proficiency test. Now I admit that I made a mistake in taxiing over the wheel chock and not setting the QNH using strip elevation, but I can't see what else I did that was a so bloody bad that they have to withdraw me flamin' license. Can you?

Gyro Traveller in Transit

Well no white gloves on Air New Zealand but the turn out was better, smarter appearance and the guys had ties and jackets, much improved on the sloppy crew that flew me down from LA last September. I had a long phone call with Steve who looks after the NZAA web site just before leaving NZ and we discussed a link to the Gyrate web site and this blog, thanks Steve that would be great. We also spoke of the need to improve communication with NZAA members and it was my view that we need a membership card and a standard welcome/renewal letter to acknowledge receiept of funds. What do you think! how about some comment on the blog!

White Gloves - a must have for flying

Hamish, this one is for you! Thanks for your help with IT marketing it has been a stimulating course which started this Blog and I hope will refresh the Gyrate website and marketing material. Now that I have your attention ladies and gentlemen I would like you to be aware that GYRATE is taking a Winter Break and will be back to normal service around the 5th September. I will be available on email and Skype and will maintain a blog throughout. I intend to visit the factory in Germany and arrange for three more machines to arrive in Tauranga as soon as possible. The plan is to be seamless from the consumer point of view and to offer new machines to be configured with engines to suit customer requirements. I will be travelling Air New Zealand to Los Angeles Thursday night and will again be disappointed with the uniform and dress standard of this proud National Airline, come on guys and girls you can do better, maybe some white gloves and even a tie!

More Eagles Soaring Soon

Well it has been a close run thing but finally I have confirmationn that my original MTO3 Eagle has been sold which opens the door to import a further three machines in a 20ft container from Germany. The aircraft will arrive as before without engines as these are available at Tauranga through Colin Alexander of Solowings, the local Rotax agent. I am hopeful that we can expedite production and shipping so that we can have delivery early in September. Meanwhile I have asked Colin to provide a zero hours Rotax 100 hp 912ULS for the twoseat Dominator which will fill any gap. Bruce Watson has said that I can also continue to train on ZK-RGG should this be required. This will give us a full spectrum of machines on offer at the start of the season, right through to top of the range glass cockpit Xenons. A fine single seat Dominator remains available for a discerning buyer with a limited budget, the aircraft flies very well and could provide some excellent experience for someone not wanting the hassle and expense of building from scratch.

Who is doing What

Following use of Philipp's picture in the last post an exchange of emails brought me this picture of the Sportcopter, built by Philip and his brother, being flown in Hungary where the regulations appear to favour gyro flyers, I am told there are 15 MT03 aircraft flying! Philipp has been suffering from ill health and spent a time in hospital while they sought to find the correct drugs to combat internal infections. The two turbo charged MT03 Eagles in New Zealand are busy, Phil Chalmers has done some 50 hours in the last few weeks, cracking them in before he heads back to Iraq for another six weeks of mortar dodging. Sid Lane has some twenty hours on his aircraft but is about to be slowed down by a course of radiotherapy. He assures me he will be over all that by the start of the new summer season. I will be taking eight weeks away from Tauranga and Phil Hooker is being reintroduced to Kahu to continue the flight test program. A couple of incidents in recent days have reinforced my belief that in most cases remote training is not an economical option and raised the question is aptitude or attitude the most important factor in flight safety; it has to be attitude! I was always told that great pilots use great judgement to avoid the use of great skills.

Soggey Sunday and Solar Cells

Well there are floods all around the world and today Tauranga is suffering torrential rains although nothing like the tropics. The gyro hangar is pretty waterproof although we do suffer when, like today the rain is blown on strong winds and it comes underneath the doors. The photo taken by a student from Austria last year shows the Eagles nest with excellent lighting both natural and artificial. I have just installed solar panels strapped onto the upper side of rotor blades of aircraft that are going to be idle for a while. This is to maintain the charge in the batteries. The blades are positioned so that the light streaming in through the clear roof panels is directed on to the solar cells. This system is well proven in the gliding world and indeed has been keeping my VPM in the UK charged for nearly a year.

Insurance for Hull and Third Party

Well at last I have an insurance quotation for a potential Eagle owner even though he is flying on a novice certificate. Not cheap and a heavy excess but at least cover is offered. A second Company is close to quoting so maybe at last the improving accident record is beginning to be recognised. This cover will facilitate financing any future sales and so opens the door to those who wish to fly modern gyros today and pay later. The morning was taken up with outlining changes to the Gyrate web site which will expand capability in terms of links to useful information and provide more detail on both training and aircraft for sale. I would be interested to hear from anyone in NZ who would like to advertise their gyros through this site. Remember we are happy to train anyone on their own machine, providing it is suitable, instructional charge is currently only 75$ per flying hour and includes all that time taken in preparation and debrief.

What a difference some wind makes

Another bright Autumn day but the flags advertising Tauranga City Airport are fluttering furiously from the lampposts on Jean Batten Drive. My first student has the school Eagle refueled and ready to go and the temperature in the hangar has dropped with a significant wind chill factor. No worries with suitable flight gear I am soon quite snug in the rear seat as we check the weather being broadcast from the Tower. A stiff Southeast breeze suggests a good day to leave the circuit and head away for some engine out field landing practice. After take off our angle of climb is impressive as the ground speed is somewhat reduced by 25knots at a 1000ft, we press on and travel East along the Pacific Coast until well clear of suburban sprawl and out over flat farming paddocks. When the day arrives for an engine failure may it please be over flat farm land with a stiff breeze blowing and of course I would also like sufficient height to select my spot and turn into wind. The exercise proved worthwhile and emphasised the need to stay close to your field as a gyro has little penetration into a wind when at best glide speed. Height can be lost but not regained and extending the distance travelled just doesn't happen when you raise the nose. We returned to the field to do some circuits and experience the joy of hovering on finals with perfect ease while traffic backtracks and departs ahead. Oh how gyros like to show off with a little wind to help. Later, as dusk approached Kahu was set up with lights on the rotor blade tips and cameras to record the tracking. This proved to be near perfect.

Bright Spots beneath a Leaky Sky

Well they promise a fine day tomorrow but I spent the second day this week on the ground watching the sky leak. It did give me the opportunity to enjoy a leisurely brunch at the Classic Flyers Cafe, one of Tauranga Airports major attractions where they show videos of expensive aviation errors before enticing you to visit the aviation museum to see what survived. Classic Flyers is a success story and is still growing fast as a tourist attraction and center for aviation minded people from all over NZ and indeed the world. The Gyrate web site and brochure need going over and I had meetings on Monday with Martian Design Labs to attend to this work, they produced the very successful designs for the aircraft as well as doing the publicity and promotion material. Email arrived from Poland showing the fitting instructions for the new Xenon doors which should be finished just in time for me to leave for an overseas break. Work in hangar 9 continues to perfect the Kahu project and more flight trials are expected later this week.

Sunday - Damp Day in the Bay

So I have found this neat site for weather, it seems to be fairly accurate for the rather special local climate that we have in the Bay of Plenty. It is called Windfinder.com and can be used for anywhere, I hope to have a link to Tauranga Weather on the web site and the Blog when I find out how! The other good news is on the insurance sceene, we seem to have an Australian broker on side and he is confident of placing our risks at a fair rate. Watch this space but now that some gyroplanes cost more than the flying club spam can the income from premiums is becoming more attractive. I flew in a Xenon from Tauranga to Dannevirke via wairoa and Hastings and after the worst of the hill country I plucked up courage to take some pictures as attached.

Xenon Doors at last!

Finaly DHL managed to deliver the new doors for the three NZ Xenons. Air freighted from Poland to Auckland in about 4 days it took another 4 days to get to Tauranga. These are not cheap doors, the delivery costs exceeded the price of the goods and this was high to start with. Anyway another fine day in the Bay and the Xenon and Eagle provided training around the circuit in light easterly winds. We move forward.

Friday 13th, Blade Tracking - not flying!

Today I have ben using lights attached to the end of my rotorblades to make sure that each blade cuts exactly the same path through the air. Failure to match the blades causes the control stick to shake excessivly and the whole machine and the occupants suffer fatigue. To do this we drill the blade ends and attach mini LED lights that shine in towards the crew, by filming the lights we can see if one is flying in a different path to the other. It is best done at last light and it was so black when we finished I must have qualified for a night rating.

Training in Company Systems

Today has been educational for me, I have been subjected to statistics about Company success, if you have good systems and account control your Company will stand an 80% of surviving even in the hard times ahead. I spent the afternoon addressing my accounts and tax returns!

Training in Tauranga

What a fantastic day, sun all day and almost calm conditions created still water on the inner harbour that reflected the colours of the day and the evening sunset. I trained two students in the MTO3 Eagle and flew some 2 hours of circuits. All very relaxed as they are both at solo standard and contemplating purchase of machines in which to proceed further.

Initiation

Following an instructional session on computer Internet marketing I have created my first ever blog site and will enthrall a small but select audience with the unbridled joys of flying gyros in the beautiful Bay of Plenty.