Back in business

[GyroRon]

" Do you want training in your gyroplane? Tired of getting run around about the type of gyro you want to fly? Well now there is a facility you can come and get the training you need in YOUR gyro. We don't discriminate between makes or models! We won't force you to buy a modification just to train! "

" Let the RAF2000 SHOW you it's the best high performance gyroplane that keeps pace with your growing abilities"

" In the words of Mr.Ken Brock " Don't tell me. Show Me" "

[Russell]

Ron is that a quote from something??????? If it is RAF did they ever go out of business??? :confused:

[GyroRon]

Here is more quote from the Ad in Rotorcraft magazine....

"You can join our flying club and get trained in our aircraft through gyro CFI. Train and vacation with the family on the snow white beaches of Pensacola FL. Have fun at Biloxi,MS casinos or exciting New Orleans, LA just a short drive from our training Facility. "

Still not sure what I am talking about? These quotes are from a Ad in the latest issue of Rotorcraft Magazine.

[Brian Jackson]

I read that on page 42 of the May "Directory" issue.

[Chuck Irby]

I suppose we all know whose ad it is, Huh?

[Chuck Irby]

Russ, where did you get the battery that's in my machine?

[Doug Riley]

Ron, you're being too subtle... mystifying all us slow-thinkin' types.

The ad copy is from Dofin Fritts, CFI. Dofin has, at least in the past, stuck to RAF's company line about the RAF 2000's stability.

Without a training exemption letter (such as those obtained by PRA and ASC), a CFI can still instruct in a homebuilt-experimental craft IF the craft belongs to the student. Without the exemption, though, he/she cannot use his/her own homebuilt-experimental for paid instruction.

It's interesting to see life-saving safety advice re-characterized as a "runaround." Much the sort of manipulation we get from government spin doctors and Madison Avenue promo artists.

Fortunately, enough "runaround" is being done so that the gyro safety record has been improving quite noticeably in the last several years.

[Russell]

Chuck I am pretty sure I got it from Ernie. If he does not have any Try any ultralite dealer.
RUss

[automan1223]

Yes, and the safety record has been improving because smart, concerned guys like YOU DOUG RILEY ! Chuck Beaty, and a bunch of others have taken the time to post your ars's off and educate those who want to know. and now we have hard core post'ers like RON AWAD that type themselves silly...

Things can only get better from here......

As a teacher you never stop learning. You are just a student with a sheepskin on the wall. Never get too old or set in you thinking to accept something new.

Jonathan

[Chuck Irby]

Russ, sorry it took so long to get back to you, but I appreciate that info re the battery.

[Hognose]

Yeah, Dofin has hewn to the RAF line that a stab is unnecesary and may even be dangerous. That said, he is a good pilot and a good instructor (I've flown with him). He lost his tickets for a year, and his DE probably for good, for doing an instructional flight in a gyro that had not flown off its time yet (As I remember the specifications against him). He has never, as far as I am aware, lied about this episode, and has admitted his error and accepts the judgment of the Agency against him.

I haven't talked to him since the period he spent on the beach. He has great enthusiasm for gyros and is a good ambassador to the non-gyro-flying public. Some people took a lot of glee in his grounding, and others blame him for accidents his students had (in one case, the student did wait for him for the "intro to how differently an RAF flies with doors on" class and lost control.. fatally...)

I don't believe Dofin's instruction was responsible for that mishap. I disagree with him on the safety of the unstabbed RAF (and I consider the AAI mod an even greater improvement) but I always saw him trying to err on the side of safety and inculcate good judgment, in all things except the stabilator issue.

I was introduced to Dofin by Chuck Feil.

The stability issue is not minor, and as Jim Mayfield says, it is not a matter of opinion (although Dofin, Duane and others seem to think it is). But what is gained by bashing the guy? One thing is for sure, you will never persuade him that way. He himself will not want to fly a bare RAF if we can convince him, but we can't convince him by confrontation and hostility.

The RAF organisation does not WANT to believe that their product has a potentially fatal flaw. It will be very hard to change their minds.

cheers

-=K=-

[automan1223]

I make any student a bet of any amount. New student that is. You cannot take a pilot or student pilot with considerable hours because their learning has already begun. Go and take 5 mins worth of stick time with a hs less RAF machine. Then go and see maxie in his 2 pl air command tandem. The results will amaze you. Or if you dont have an raf, fly a old style parsons trainer with high thrust lines and small rudder and see what I mean. The ac tandem will fly with more control, comfort factor and of course safety. There is so much to learn about flying that I do not feel it is productive to have to learn such a hard curve in an unstable machine on top of it all.

Jonathan