I flew my gyro upside down!!!

[GyroRon]

Wow, what a rush! I just had to haul butt home to report to you guys what happened today.

This morning I got up at 5 in the morning. I checked the outside temp on the back porch and it was a comfortable 22 degrees. Ah! great day for a sunrise flight in my new - no pod - gyro! So I quickly got dressed - forgot to brush my teeth, shame on me! - and drove out ot the airport. Along the way I stopped at McDonalds to pick up a Mc Griddle breakfast sandwich with eggs sausage and cheese please, and of course I had to get a extra hashbrowns because I like them so much. Dr pepper to drink please!

So then I get out to the airport and open up the hangar. Wow it just feels so good I take off my jacket, it is a bit cooler here, temp shows 20 degrees outside my hangar. Great I think, cool temps = more lift and it will help me stay clear headed while flying.

So I pull the gyro out and give her a preflight inspection. I notice the prop is hard to spin, must be because the oil was so thick from the cold that Maple pancake syrup out of the fridge would have been thinner.

After my pre flight I went out behind the hangar to pee. Dr pepper runs right through me and I didn't want to pee in my pants in the gyro since I was going to also try to loop it today.

So then I go back out front and fire up the gyro. 20 minutes and four cigarettes later she is warmer up and ready for takeoff. So I hop in and off I go. Today the lift was amazing, I was showing a climb rate of 1000 fpm and at a airspeed of 55 mph. I quickly climbed up to 3000 feet and made my way over to the aerobatic box.

Over in the box I played around with some hard turns and wing overs, hammerheads etc... - I had gotten some aerobatic training frm Chuck E. last week and felt sure with the training he provided I could pull these manuevers off. So then I decided if that Jim dude out in Lumberjack country could loop his gyro then so could I. So I did what chuck taught me to do, Shallow dive to VNE - 100 mph - and pull back with all you got and hold on, and squeeze butt checks just in case things start to scare you. So I did it.

As the gyro got inverted I saw the sun rise over the horizon. It was great. So I finished my loop and went right into two more. then I decided to roll it to the left which was cool too. And I tried to do one to the right but it was too slow to the right and I pulled out once I got upside down. I didn't like the feeling I had hanging upside down from the little lap belt, and I haven't gotten a chance to install the shoulder belts yet.

Anyway just wanted to share my Story with you all.

[Chuck Irby]

Ron, you are too much. That had to be a dream. Right.

[Screw]

I can't believe he drank a Dr. Pepper with a McBreakfast Griddle :P

John-

[scottessex]

Yeah, and he looked exactly like the guy in the picture under his name. :o

[Udi]

I want some of those "cigarettes" too, Ron ::)

Udi-

[GyroRon]

Dr pepper Rocks! I drink it with everything. Btw if you haven't tried a McGriddle yet you are missing out big time! Best breakfast item you can get through a drive up window. ;)

Udi, my cigarettes are all that... I smoke Camel menthols. I used to smoke Newports but I figured since I am Ron AWAD and hence a camel jockey - really I am 1/4 syrian 3/4 Irish - I ought to smoke Camels! ;D


And if any of you all realy believe I looped my gyro this morning in the cold, well then you might believe me when I tell you I flew a buddy around today in it by having him stand on the keel and holding on tight to the mast. Sorta like the dude on the road warrior movie did.

[Chuck_Ellsworth]

Ron :

Never mind the flight training, I told you not to keep reading Ken From Sandiggo or you will get to be as weird as him.

I see you did not take my advice. ;D

[GyroRon]

Chuck I am simply just trying to get the forum going again. Last few weeks have been slow, last few days has been dead. what are all you guys doing?????

[GyroRon]

that one is slow too. So why don't one of you go over there and start up some BS to get things going.

[Chuck Irby]

Ron,

You are old enough now that you could quit smoking. You know they aren't good for you. In addition, think how much gasoline a pack represents.

Just quit. I did. Quitting smoking is easy, it's the habit of reaching for them that's hard to break. Put some tooth picks in your pocket and reach for them instead.

[GyroRon]

I know, I was supposed to quit new years day. I know that it is bad for me.

[Chuck Irby]

Besides, you need the toothpicks to keep the bugs out from between your teeth. Of course there aren't too many bugs flying around when it's only 20 degrees, huh?

[GyroRon]

nope not many bugs.... especially at 3000 feet upside down

[Screw]

I agree Ron,

It has been too slow here. Thanks for this thread!!!

Definately picked up a little....Thought the "How to Control your Women" thread was gonna get messy. Suprised Chuck E. didn't come after you with a hammer after using his name in relation to loop training ;D

Here Chuck E. Chuck E.!!! Get'm!!!

[GyroRon]

you know what?

[ToddP]

C'mon Ron,

Go out and do the loop, then we'll have an accident discussion to talk about! Hold On...maybe thats not such a good idea.

[Gary_in_Orygun]

I got to thinking, which would I rather die from: a loop in a gyro that went bad or lung cancer from smoking? I think I'll take the loop.

[ToddP]

Thats funny Gary,

I've had the same thoughts. If I were diagnosed with something terminal. I'd be trying some crazy stuff while I could. A gyro loop would probably fit in that category ;D

[CLS447]

Ron, I was shocked when you said you left the house without brushing your teeth. And then you have soda for breakfast. You're gonna rot your teeth! Then you smoke all those cigs. You have got to do somethin about your health.

When is Mcdonalds gonna run breakfast specials? You know like 2 for $2 ? I mean $1 cheeseburgers are great but it cost me $10 for Shar, me & the kid yesterday for breakfast...... I'm not rich!

[GyroRon]

Chris I can't explain it, you can spend way more on a breakfast at the fast food places than on lunch there. I rarely am up early enough to eat breakfast. My first meal of the day is normally lunch - lately I have been skipping the fries and just getting a large Dr Pepper and three Double cheeseburgers with only Catsup on them - 4.76$ with tax - and then I won't eat again till around 8 or 9 pm and that is usually a smaller meal.

I do need to do something with my health, smoking and drinking all the soda, and eating all these greasy foods are going to do me in sooner than later.

[Chuck Irby]

Shame on you Ron, you may as well be doing the loops. Actually, there probably aren't many of us who treat our bodies as we should. Shame on me too.

On a brighter note, it will probably get back up to 60 degrees today, the sun is shining and the wind is 3 mph from the SW. By Monday or Tuesday it is to be in the low 70's. Wonderful flying weather.

Have ya'll thought any more about the first anual "Rotors Over South Mississippi"?

[ToddP]

Chuck,

That great news, we're enjoying seasonably crappy weather. I think we might hit a high of 34 today with sleet and snow in the forecast. >:(

C'mon Spring ;D

[StanFoster]

Ron: I had some ultra conservative type all hyper about me flying a gyrocopter. He is the do nothing type...wont fly at all commercial either for fear of dying.

I just told him to stay at home...where its safe....crawl inside his closet....and DEATH will still find him.....only there wont be much life to take.

Kind of hit him hard.....

He has a little less conservative look on life now. I think I made my point.

[Mike Hook]

Ron it is true

If your not standing on the edge your takin up toooooooo much room.

Mike

[Screw]

Stan,

Those are words to live by if I ever heard them.

John-

[barnstorm2]

I don't think so but since things spin in the opposite way down there you have to put the rotor blades on upside down.... ;D

[Screw]

I heard rudder control is reversed in Austrailia. ;D

John-

[Aussie_Paul]

Only when using my gyro as a lawn mower!!! :) Aussie Paul.

[Phil_Ruffin]

I've used mine as a leaf blower. Knocked out the yard in about 30 minutes. Of course the neighbor didn't get as big a kick out of it as I did.

[Heron]

Sheesh . . .what a winter!!
Everybody's going cookoo . . .
::)
Better bring those "camels" to the next fly-in Ron.
Heron
this one is for you!

[KB2man]

Sounds like fun! 8) Dont think I will try it!

Have fun....

KB2man ;D

[scottessex]

Phil, I have done the same thing. I have "the baddest leaf blower on the block"!!

[Phil_Ruffin]

Scott, maybe the baddest in the county.

KB2man, try it, you'll like it.

[lkollenborn]

Hell! I just found this site the other day so will be reading it at the steady.... Main thing that I wanted to bring up was the fact that inverting a gyro will sure cut the grass at a more even cut, heh,heh... Later and PLEASE stay outa those smoke filled rooms....

[Gyrobound]

And if you put it sideways you can edge along the sidewalk nicely.
Scott :)

[Rotor-Head]

I love the original story and the evolution of the topic.....

[scott heger]

Let me see....if I go fast enough,.... and pull hard on this stick infront of me......ohhh sh*t.... the sky is upside down, and so are the trees!!!! Yeeehaaa.


Scott Heger, Laguna Niguel, Ca N86SH

[mgbbhc]

I believe the only person who regularly loops a modern gyro is Jin Vanek. (Johnny Miller did it in the 30s - see the eminently forgettable 1935 movie "Ladies Crave Excitement". The Autogiro footage is not relevant to the movie, other than to establish that the heroine, shown here as the pilot, did indeed crave excitement, but is notable – about a minutes’ footage of Johnny Miller doing two loops, presumably taken from his air show performance. Canadian pilot Godfrey W. Dean had made the first loop in an Autogiro, a particularly challenging and impressive maneuver given the aerodynamics of the aircraft’s rotor, at Pitcairn Field on October 13, 1931, an aerial feat that later astounded all who watched Johnny Miller’s flying exhibitions at air shows in 1932.

Bruce Charnov :)

[mgbbhc]

I believe the only person who regularly loops a modern gyro is Jin Vanek. (Johnny Miller did it in the 30s - see the eminently forgettable 1935 movie "Ladies Crave Excitement". The Autogiro footage is not relevant to the movie, other than to establish that the heroine, shown here as the pilot, did indeed crave excitement, but is notable – about a minutes’ footage of Johnny Miller doing two loops, presumably taken from his air show performance. Canadian pilot Godfrey W. Dean had made the first loop in an Autogiro, a particularly challenging and impressive maneuver given the aerodynamics of the aircraft’s rotor, at Pitcairn Field on October 13, 1931, an aerial feat that later astounded all who watched Johnny Miller’s flying exhibitions at air shows in 1932.