Autogyro Pilot Miller in Auto accident

[mcbirdman]

As found in my AOPA news email sent today:

AVIATION NOTABLE MILLER SUFFERS SERIOUS AUTO ACCIDENT
Johnny Miller, AOPA 058843, an autogyro record holder, longtime
contributor to the American Bonanza Society, and founding member of
the United Flying Octogenarians, was seriously injured in a car
accident in Poughkeepsie, New York, Miller's hometown, on the evening
of March 21. The accident sent Miller, 98, to a critical care unit
with fractures of the sternum and ribs. At press time, he was
recovering well. Miller was honored at AOPA Expo in 1999. He also
received
the 1999 Pioneers of Vertical Flight Award from Groen Brothers
Aviation,
in recognition of his record-setting transcontinental autogyro flight
in a Pitcairn PCA-2 in 1931, and for his yearlong airmail service using
a Kellett KD-1B autogyro in Philadelphia in 1939. "AOPA Pilot" profiled
Miller in its "Pilots" column in the December 2003 issue


jtm

[Chuck Irby]

Hello James,

Thanks for your informative posts.

It's been a while since we've heard from you. Are you staying too busy with your building project? How is your project coming along?

[mcbirdman]

Hi Chuck,

Yes I have been busy. I do read this forum some but I miss Norms. I started a post about the difference between this forum and the other and decided not to post because I thought that the points would end up obscurred. I felt if I posted short it would look generalized and too long is too much time. Since there is no other forum I check in here in hopes of finding useful information once in a while.

I have been splitting my time between my photography business and the one place and the new projects and my family. What has happened rather unexpectedly was that two men from Indiana came up to visit me to see the single place Little Wing and I was told - ya know - not much harder to make 3 parts instead of two or one... The hard part meaning the setup.... So next thing I know we are building 3 Little Wings down in Indiana. I drive down on average one day a week and get there early and stay late.

We got the landing gears, seats, and most brackets/tabs/gussets fabricated. (tubing/fitting dept) There are a lot of them. Two side frames have been moved off one jig and has moved to the jig that will hold them as the upper and lower crossbeams are attatched to the frame. The second set of side frames is starting to be fitted into the jig. A lot of time and attention is spent setting up the jigs and just getting things ready to cut tubing. Richard Lidke is great at that as he is an engineer and draftsman who can read prints quite easily. We are having fun and we are trying to not let the distance between us slow us down. We stay in contact with Ron Herron and watch the detail. We joke about talking to engineering department or being able to send the tack welded parts to the welding department etc.... We are enjoying the build and look forward to the time we get all the sister ships together for a flight together...

We are a little amazed at the prices of engine choices and are trying to figure out what we will use. The radial looks nice,costs alot and the 912 turbo is nice and costs even more I think. Many people in gyros are using the subaroo and have heard about the sub 4. We have time to think about it and are trying to find a good direction to go. Rich found a high power vw in florida but we don't know how reliable it is since we don't know anyone with experience. Reading the other forum I seem to remember talk about a general rule of only so much hp for so many cc. and that 80 or so was the max you could really expect out of a vw since it was originally made for only 40.

We obviously want all the things any of you would want for your own aircraft engine including the best price / safety / performance / reliability ratios. We still have time to decide because there is so much to do. It is going to take us a while but we are going to get there. We are taking photographs (photo department) but since it is mostly layout and jigged parts there doesn't really appear to be much to see. Most people like to see a frame sitting on the gear or whatever and we just haven't got alot to show photographically.

Well, I have to photograph a wedding in a short time so I have to go get equipment loaded from studio. Will be checking in more often. I do like this forum for different reasons but I miss Norm's. Talk to you soon, jtm

[Chuck Irby]

James,

Thanx for the update. It does sound like you have your hands full with the Little Wing project alone. It also sounds like you have more patience than most of us.

Ideally, how much horse power are you looking for?

Keep us informed form time to time, please.