Today's Flying Pictures

[barnstorm2]

Skyward View

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Rare photographic evidence of the condition known as 'sleep flying'.


ohio river in the background.

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Barge on the mighty Ohio River.

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A hazy view of the Ohio River

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These are the kind of houses you can afford if you don't spend all your money and time on gyros.....

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My Magellan GPS.

I prefer my Garmin E-Map display but this one is more reliable.

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Color coordinated farm house buildings and pool.

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Frozen Lake

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At least the beach does not have snow on it now.

[GyroRon]

Tim, do you always have to hold that much rudder in there while your flying? If so I bet you will like a Tall tail!

[Chuck Irby]

Tim,

Nice pics, but it sure looks cold up there. How cold was it while you were up taking the pics?

Also, I just tried to find out who you are and where you're located. So for those of us who don't know you, please update your profile page for us.

Thanks a bunch,

[barnstorm2]

Ron,

Yes, she is one of the early model AirCommands to which I have added a HStab. The keel is very short so the tail gets all the blast from the prop. After my 2-place is done I plan on conveting her to CLT and perhaps tall tail.

Chuck,

It was a nice warm 40F yesterday. Much better than the mid 20's I have had to fly in the past four weeks. My profile has my location in it I don't know why it might not have worked when you clicked on it. I am located in Cincinnati Ohio. These pictures were taken East of Cincinnati. The Ohio river shots are near Moscow Ohio and the lake shots are of East Fork Lake in Clermont County Ohio.

I was able to fly an hour and a half yesterday which was a nice change. It had been so cold the past few weeks that after 40 min of flying I had to turn in because the cold had eaten through my gloves and glove liners.

[Chuck Irby]

Thanks for the reply Tim,

You must leave your gonads at home in the dresser drawer while you're flying. I would freeze mine off if I flew when it is that cold. I get cold flying down here when it's only 60.

I did see your location on your profile page, but your name wasn't on it. If I hadn't seen Ron's message calling you Tim, I wouldn't have known your name.

[barnstorm2]

Chuck,

I went into the profile editor just now and there is no place to put my name unless I replace my 'handle' with my name.

I wish I had the option of flying in warmer weather.

My investment in ski clothes keeps me warm enough to fly unill it drops below freezing but then I have to keep the flights short. The cold gets through my gloves and gloveliners first. If I get larger gloves then I would loose by ablily to operate the small switches on my radio, GPS and such.

[Phil_Ruffin]

Tim, Great photos, I look forward to seeing them when you post.

In the future I plan on taking a trip around the country in my gyro and visiting all the cool places you guys post here. So watch out I may just show up at your house!

Regarding Chucks post about real names in the profile, you can put it in the signature section along with your "Always a student" quote.

Phil

[BOP Flyer]

Hi and thanks for sharing those awesome pic's.
Its always great to see what other countries are like from the air. I take my hat off to you though, not so sure if I would be keen to fly in such cold weather!

[barnstorm2]

Phil,

Updated my profile. Thanks!

You are welcome to visit and you may share my hanger space should you need or desire it.

Barry,

Thanks! I hate the cold too but I have no choice. I am not going to let myself get rusty though the winter. I drove 6 hours round trip for each of my flight lessons last summer and I refuse to let any of that investment slip away. I have my hope set on a Private Pilot Ticket this spring.

One positive aspect is that my 447 performs well in the cold air and can lift my winter-aquired excess bulk.

[scottessex]

Those pictures are awesome, and way to go for flying in the cold. ;D

[Chuck Irby]

Tim, That'll work. It's just nice to be able to check everyone's profile and learn more about them. Thanx a lot. Chuck

[BOP Flyer]

Hi Tim,
Yep, its a bit of a shame that gyro instructors are spread a bit thin on the ground. Its pretty much the same deal over here as well.
But I'am a bit spoilt in that I live in an apartment on top of one of the hangers right on Tauranga airport, Just perfect for keeping an eye on all the flying going on around here!

I will try and post a couple of pics so you can see where I get to fly around. It is of Tauranga and Mount Maungani. Its in the Bay Of Plenty, North Island of New Zealand.

Cheers Barry

[BOP Flyer]

Tauranga and the Mount

[BOP Flyer]

Mount Manganui.

[Phil_Ruffin]

Man 'O Man....Barry those are some beautiful shots. I live in the middle of Georgia, USA and the closest thing we have to a mountain is in my back yard. It's called Hog Mountain and it's really just a very large hill.

But, it is the highest point between Stone Mountain, Atlanta and Cuba. When I get back in the air I will start posting a few photos and let you see my boring country side.

[barnstorm2]

Wow, great pictures!

I get the beegees just flying over the Ohio river.

All that blue sky and beaches. Let me know if there are any job openings for computer networking instructors!!

Can you land and take off from the beach??

[barnstorm2]

BTW. I am a big fan of Architeuthis. I would love to fly over the sea and search for Giant Squid.

Makes me want to look into floats. I know there are difficulties with the thrust line and prerotation but surely these could be worked out??

How about floats that can inflate and deflate in flight? The weight would stay the same but you could reduce drag. A C02 bottle could be used for emergency inflation. A light retractable keel could be dropped to counter pre-rotation tourqe??

Pehaps one long lightweight float down the center keel of the gyro and smaller stabelizer floats mounted like wheel pants?

Someone needs to come up with something. It would be sooooo cool 8)

[gyroblackwell]

I agree with the SOOOOOOO COOOOOOL, and frankly get a little tired of hearing "don't try that.... it's too dangerous! Lets face it "nothing ventured ... nothing gained" just gotta be smart about how you go about designing and testing such a float option. I have found that test models of the rather large size (1/4 scale) do real well in figuring out a design.
I am presently building my own "tractor gyro" design, and hope to have it ready for the big PRA meet this summer.
After that, I may try to incorporate a float design to it!

I am sure that plenty of people told Bensen he was nuts for creating a "gyro copter" after-all you can't fly a gyro with the engine in back !?!

;)

tim

[BOP Flyer]

Hi Tim,
There is always a lot to see in the water, sharks which get very close to the swimers, funny things is they never know they are there!, dolphins, stingrays etc.

In the first pic you can see a beach behind the "mount"
There is a low flying area further down the beach and yes you can land there. By the way, the Mount is only 900 odd ft high and is an old extinct volcanic cone but is very pretty and fun to fly around. Its also the entrance for Tauranga harbour.

Cheers Barry

[barnstorm2]

Barry,

I am most envious! I can't wait until I get to fly over the ocean.

[Aussie_Paul]

Hi Barry, in 1999 I flew around that lovely mountain with Rob Sanders in his Raf with a stab.

That is the mountain in the story on my web page re developing the Raf stabs.

Beautifull.

Aussie Paul.