Aussie Paul did it, he really did.

[Aussie_Paul]

What a great thrill to fly Hybrid 2223 Km to the center of Oz and back again. In the Yank language that is 1131 statute miles there and 1131 back. That of course is in a straght line. I did some IFR flying!!!! I Follow Roads,Rail lines and Rivers!!!!!

I will download all the pics and gradually introduce you all to my great adventure.

All this was done without any support crew or vehicles.

I recieved the trophy for the furtherest distance flown to the Oz Easter National fly in. When you are developing a creoss country gyroplane, that is the trophy to bring home!!!!!!!

I am not game to work out what the piece of timber has cost me BUT whatever it has, it was worth it. 'just shows what you can do with a stable gyroplane. At times I reached 6000' above the ground to be above the thermals of the Oz interior!!!!!

Birdy showed us all how well he knows his gyroplane come trail bike with a rotor, and the conditions that he operates in.

Ok, that is enough to get you all interested for the moment. I have only been home 4 hours and have to train a student in 13 hours time, so I will download some pics and hit the sack!!!


Aussie Paul.

[Aussie_Paul]

The beginning of pics from the Oz nat5ionals. Aussie Paul.

[birdy]

Don't forget who owns the frame Paul.

[Aussie_Paul]

Birdy receiving his trophy from, right, Llewella, the ASRA secretary and registrar.
Wendy, the secretary of the Central Australian Sports Aircraft club, and Sherri, who now looks after the ASRA financials. Sherrie's husband, Steve, ASRA treasurer for 16 years, was a gyro pilot, but unfortunately died waiting for a lung transplant a couple of months ago.

It was great to see Steve's brother bring Sherrie to the Nationals at Alice Springs.

Aussie Paul.

[StanFoster]

Paul: Congratulations on that longest flight award. That is an accomplishment.

Hey...I want to see some "outback" shots of Australia. :)

Do you ever fly near the place they filmed "The Road Warrior"?

I never ever will forget watching that movie at the Paxton Airport in 1985. I rented it and watched it again at home. I could not believe such an aircraft exsisted!! I just had to have one of those "MADE IN HELL" machines. :D

I soon searched the Trade-A-Plane and flew out to Ohio to buy a nice Bensen with a 90 Mac on it. What a rush learning to fly that thing. :)

But then....the Mac attacks came :eek: Outside of my wedding night...I would say my happiest day was walking home three miles after my first engine out. I was ecstatic to have survived. :D

Anyway...a slap on the back Paul...way to go. :D

Stan

[Chad]

The three women in the photo look a bit scared of birdy!!!

[KenSandyEggo]

Birdy, we need some photos of you in action herding kangaroos.....er....wallabies.....oh, heck.....whatever you herd. Was it ostriches or koalas? Try to get us some photos of you at work. We'd love to see them.

[gyromike]

The three women in the photo look a bit scared of birdy!!!

They seem leery of what he might be holding in his other hand. :eek:



"Scuze me while I whip this out!"

[ToddP]

Way to go Paul! I can't wait to see some more pictures.

[Aussie_Paul]

I thought that I would put you all on a "drip feed" system for a while!!!!!

By the time I shrink almost 100 pics it will take a while.

Thanks for the congrats people. I believe that my flight may have been the longest one in a "Bensen" style gyro without ground support min Oz.

Aussie Paul.

[darrellwittke]

Hey Paul, great pics and accomplishment! But when can we see you wearing a hat covered in cow **** like Birdy's?

[KenSandyEggo]

"Aussie Paul did it, he really did."

Oh. I thought maybe he came to his senses. ;)

[Echo]

Well done Paul !! I have driven to Alice in my truck & I know how bloody far it is.
Great pics ,too! Keep them coming.
So now we all know what you look like, Birdman. Congrats on being Aus Champ!
Eric

[Al_Hammer]

Congratulations, Paul. You did it. :) Keep the pics coming.

[KenSandyEggo]

Notice where all 3 women's hands are. They're all in a protecting mode. Birdy must be something else.

[bogman]

Yep, looks like he was fixin to take a coupla of em "OutBack".:o

[birdy]

Hmmmm....Reckon I mite just lurk on this thread,save putt'n me foot in me mouth.

[H.LECTOR]

Congratulations Birdy, I beleive the grease on your hat is from the sump oil you pour on your rotor head, is that true? I read that on an Azzie site.

[Chuck Irby]

Congratulation Aussie Paul.

I would really like to hear more about the range of your machine and where you were able to refuel, etc..

[Chad]

Paul,
Sounds like one hellofa trip. I also would like some details on how your ship flew. AND...how far off are you from selling/building Firebirds?

[Aussie_Paul]

The longest leg that I flew was 3.5 hours. I did a couple of 3 hour and a few 2.5 hour legs.

I have 85 useable liters and she uses around the 17 to 20 liters per hour.

I cruised around the 60 to 65 mph mark, and was able to let the machine fly itself while I had sandwiches and drink for lunch.

There was one annoying moment when the batteries in the CD player ran out!!!!

Attached is a pic from up at 6180' above a town called Port Augusta in the State of South Australia. I must have pulled the nose up a little as I was looking through the viewfinder, only showing 40 kts!!!!!

There were approx 24 gyros at the flyin, and I took a pic of each of them except two, from the same perspective.

I will shrink them down and gradually post them.
Aussie Paul.

[Chuck Irby]

Thanks for these posts Aussie Paul. Where were you able to get 93 octain fuel on this long trip?

[Aussie_Paul]

Chuck I refueled 18 times for the entire trip. Twelve with 100LL at airports, and 6 with 93 octane unleaded mogas for which we have the ECU programed. For the mogas I landed on the roads and taxied up to the pump!!!!

Aussie Paul.

[Chuck Irby]

WOW!

That's pretty neat Paul. I sure wish there were more places around here where I could do that. Unfortunitely, we're just too populated in this part of the US to be able to do that very often. That does give me some ideas though.

Thanks a lot.

[Aussie_Paul]

Another "road show"

[Aussie_Paul]

Again.........................

[KenSandyEggo]

"Unfortunitely, we're just too populated in this part of the US to be able to do that very often."

Uh, Chuck...what exactly is the population of Laurel, Mississippi again? :rolleyes:

[Chuck Irby]

Pretty good Ken! You got me.

However, I was speaking of the difference between here and the OZ Outback.

It would be nice though, to be able to land on the highway, pull into a service station and fill up with 93 though, huh.

[ventana7]

Paul,

Congratulations on your cross- country accomplishment. I was sorry to have missed the ASRA nationals and a trip to the alice.

I did have a good experience at Bensen Days and Sun n Fun though. I'm headed back to Australia this afternoon.

Rob

[KenSandyEggo]

Chuck, I had a highway gas station plotted on my trip from San Diego to Buckeye, AZ if I needed to, but it wasn't necessary. I didn't hit any headwinds. It was at Dateland, AZ, about midway between Yuma, AZ and Buckeye. There's a gas station just off the highway with a lot of landing and takeoff room. I should have gassed up anyway just to give the Datelandites...or is it Datelanders...a thrill. :eek:

[Steven_Kozned]

Hey! That looks like Erldunda, entrance to the road to Ayer's Rock! Awesome!
Brings back great memories...

[mceagle]

Stephen,
The Road Warrior (or Mad Max 2 as we know it) was filmed at Broken Hill in South Western New South Wales. You are probably thinking about "Mad Max 3, Beyond Thunderdome" with Tina Turner. I am not sure what that was called in the States.

[Aussie_Paul]

Yes Steve, it is Erldunda. I landed on the side road that goes to Ayres Rock, stopped the rotors, and taxied out into the turning in lane to the gas pumps.


Hey Tim, we missed you at the Nationals. I'd bet you haven't missed many if any ASRA gyro Nationals. I hope that all is well.

I was looking forward to catching up and discussing a few things.

Aussie Paul.

[PW_Plack]

Ken,

I'm new to this, so tell me, is it legal to land at a gas station? Do you need permission of the person who owns the place?

[KenSandyEggo]

I doubt that at a remote truck stop with enough parking lot to put the Pentagon on, that they would complain. It'd be a novelty and probably be mentioned in the local rag and get everyone talking. By the time the sheriff heard, you'd be long gone.

[Aussie_Paul]

I will take the 5th ammendment on this one!!!!! :D

Aussie Paul.

[Aussie_Paul]

I bet that the explorers were happy to find that gap in the mountains back then.

Aussie Paul.

[Aussie_Paul]

Some dry salt lakes. Aussie Paul.

[birdy]

Paul obviosly don't get nose bleeds with altitude,I'v never seen Alice Springs from that point of view,thanx Paul.

[Chuck Irby]

Paul, Great shots. Keep them coming, please.

[Aussie_Paul]

A couple more to ponder. Aussie Paul.

[StanFoster]

Paul: That isnt an opal mine...thats some of them Mars photos.. :D

Seriously.....awesome photos....I have always dreamed of flying to Australia...but I cant quite put enough fuel on board my RAF. :D

Stan

[KenSandyEggo]

No, it's not Mars. His camera accidently went off when it was laying on that thing he calls a desk in his chicken-coop office. Don't you recognize coffee-spills, cigarette burns and dropped parts dings? :p

[jucie]

You deserv your premium. Parabèns, Paul!

[Aussie_Paul]

How in the heck did you know about my office? Which of my Oz mates told you? I will have to get even rather than mad!!!!!!!!!

Aussie Paul.


ps. here I am laying back having breakfast on the edge of a lake that Pom, Sir Donald Cambell, attempted a water speed record back in the sixties.

Now girls, don't all call at once!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

[KenSandyEggo]

Oh my gosh! That's about as bad as my infamous toe picture.

[Aussie_Paul]

See if these are better. Aussie Paul

[Aussie_Paul]

I had better shrink the gyro pics from the flyin up Birdys way. Not everyone likes scenery!!!!!!!

Aussie Paul.

[LARRYEBOYER]

Aussie Paul, terrific pictures and congrats on that cross country. I may have missed something. How many hours did you log in the air? I did a little calculating and I came up with 27o plus gallons burned(15 gal x 18 fillups).divided by 5 gal per hour gives 45 hours out and back. Am I close? What kind of thermal and wind activity? The hybred did its job!

[Aussie_Paul]

Larrye, you said,"Aussie Paul, terrific pictures and congrats on that cross country. I may have missed something. How many hours did you log in the air? I did a little calculating and I came up with 27o plus gallons burned(15 gal x 18 fillups).divided by 5 gal per hour gives 45 hours out and back. Am I close? What kind of thermal and wind activity? The hybred did its job!"



Larrye I did 53.7 hours in ten of the eleven days that I was away. I added 2 cups of water, no oil, and around 1100 liters which is 289 US gallons.

The wind and thermal activity was mod to severe, and I ended up at 6000' to get above it when I had a 25 mph tail wind that was raising some desert dust

Yes, old faithfull Hybrid did the job admirally. We believe from our development work that Firebird will be as stable at much faster speeds. The Raf cab is not the most efficient design.

Aussie Paul. ps will add a couple more gyro pics.

[LARRYEBOYER]

What does a high grade octane gas cost in Austrailia? I stopped at an airport when I needed fuel to make it home(I got lost for about an hour). It was $3 us. I pay $1.85 for 92octane at Sheetz across from my airport.
I just got a scanner for my puter. I hope to post some pictures of Lancaster county shot while flying.

[Aussie_Paul]

Larrye, The 100LL was around the AUD$1.20 per liter and the 93 mogas $1.15.

Ar home 100 LL costs $1.15 and 93 mogas $ .90cents per liter.

Multiply by 3.8 to get Oz $ per US gallon.

Aussie Paul.

[Chuck Irby]

Aussie Paul,

If that is in Aussie dollars, then 93 is more expensive here in the states, as I believe the exchange rate is $1.36 AD to $1.00 US. We are paying around $1.89 per gal.

[quadrirotor]

aussie mogas---> 1.00 au$/liter X 3.8 liters/usgal X 1.00 u$/1.36 au$= 2.8 u$/usgal...

[Aussie_Paul]

Another 2 gyros. Aussie Paul.

[Aussie_Paul]

I self promoted to have this in the local rag. The photographer girl would love a ride in my gyro, so I am organising that for her.

Good for me, good for gyros, and good for recreational flying.

Aussie paul. :D I think she loves me!!!! :D

[Chuck Irby]

That's very nice Paul. Way to go!

[KenSandyEggo]

Great, Paul. That should help our image a lot.....unless maybe the image in Australia isn't as bad as it is here for gyros.

[Aussie_Paul]

About on a par Ken, but I am doing my best.

I basically get no support from the main Oz players. It may be the presenter rather than the content, I don't know. Have a look at the oz forum. www.asra.org.au

Aussie Paul.

[CLS447]

Alright Paul ! Imagine, Up to 500' Wow. Congrats!

[Aussie_Paul]

Yeah Chris!!! I told them 5000' but someone stuffed up.

Aussie Paul.

[LARRYEBOYER]

Paul! You are the man. I'd love to shake your hand some day. I put you in the company of the likes of the Wright brothers and how about Chuck Yeager! All took risks to prove something could be done. Just like you.

[Aussie_Paul]

I hope that these come through ok. Aussie Paul.

[PW_Plack]

Paul,

That article in the local paper is something we need to see more of. Posting here, or getting an article in Rotorcraft magazine is great, but does little to further the image of gyros with the general public. Your writer got the altitude wrong, but appears to have gotten much of the rest of the details correct, and was very positive in her presentation.

Thankfully, she got one of your more flattering pictures!

[Aussie_Paul]

I went to the newspaper instead of ringing them. I had typed 1/4 page of the details, and I took the Pommie magazine that had Hybrid on the back cover.

That took their eye, and we ended up with a great little article.

I felt if I had just rung, they would not have been that interested unless I had died in my gyro. Got to be pro active!!!!!!!

I also write quite a few articles, and run a 1/2 page ad in the local sport aviation mag called Pacific Flyer. It is a mag that does not have any politics, and is greatly accepted by many people who are interested and usually looking for the right recreational aircraft for them. Most people interested in recreational flying just love human interest stories, and I seem to have a flair for doing that with my escapades!!!!

It is that sort of promotion that will gradually win more peiople to our (the best) recrational flying machines!!!!!!

Aussie Paul.

[Dewie]

Aussie Paul,

It's a while since you posted any more photo's.
Please keep them coming ,if you can find the time that is .
________
Depakote settlement update (http://www.classactionsettlements.org/lawsuit/depakote/)

[Aussie_Paul]

Have a look on the Oz forum under "where have I been ay" and you will see the predicament that I am in with the Authorities at the moment. Guilty until I prove myself innocent.

There is a certain gyro person arranging people, every so often, to report me to CASA for flying over the city of Ballarat. Why would I fly illegally over the city when I have a million acres of flat open farmland to fly and train over? :mad:

There is another person who reports most people at our airport from time to time. This time I am supposed to have flown over a crowd, as was an u/light fixed wing pilot the day before!!!!! :mad:

I will post another pic or 2 now before I retire for the evening, wow that sounds sophisticated!!!!!! LOL

This pic is a NZ Raf converted by dropping the engine and redrive down and has a stab set at approx 3 degrees negative AOA. I am going to NZ on the 20th to check it out and to set up a gyro CFI over there who wants to be a trainer of new gyro instructors. He is mature age and is very exoerienced at training the trainers. I come back on the 2nd June and hope that my predicament is sorted out as I have the following 5 weeks almost filled with students. How unfair to disadvantage my students by having them forced to train out of rough fields insted of suitable and safer runways!!!! :mad:

Should be great for NZ.

Aussie Paul.

[Aussie_Paul]

Another of the NZ Raf.

[Chuck Irby]

Aussie Paul, why are you guilty until you can prove your innocence? It seems to me that whoever is accusing you should have to provide proof. That sux, and you can tell the authorities there that I said so!

[Dewie]

G'Day Paul

Neat looking mod. job on the tail boom, in fact a neat and tidy looking gyro.
________
SoHotJane cam (http://camslivesexy.com/cam/SoHotJane)

[CLS447]

Paul, I wish you the best of luck with your situation.

That conversion looks very "natural". I suppose that he had his Prerotator cable lengthened? Can't wait for your test results! Is that an older air filter/ carb heat box? The heated air is not filtered ,right?

[Aussie_Paul]

Chris the air is filtered through a K&N before the air goes through the exhaust.

That is what I had on my very first Raf, then I had the one with the cold and hot air filter in the housing above the carby. I had the exhaust crack internally and let soot/carbon block the filter. I had lost 150 engine rpm and it took a while to find the peoblem. :mad:

Then I wised up after 2 Raf electronic ignition sytem failures and went down my own path of ECU driven FI and ignition. :mad:

Aussie Paul.

[CLS447]

Oh yeah, A second filter down at the exhaust, I forgot!

[Aussie_Paul]

Last night I recieved a bogus email from "review@casa.gov.au" it had an attachment and the message "Important informations" and had a high priority flag.

Luckily son Matt has procedures in place. This email had a virus, so someone who knows that I an currently in communication with CASA(Civil Aviation Safety Authority) has sent this email to me obviously hoping that I would open the attachment and infect my computer. :eek: :eek:

There is also some people bragging how they have finally got Bruty!!!!!! :mad: :mad:

It is a sad day indeed. :( :(

Aussie Paul.

www.firebirdgyros.com

[Chuck Irby]

AP,

You're right about it being a sad day. Unfortunitely, it ppears that it'll get worse.

[CLS447]

So you know who these weirdos are?

[PW_Plack]

I have this theory that the productivity of business using computers will eventually average out to be about what it was before computers.

We've been through the phase where companies have gotten rid of secretaries, because managers with computers now handle their own communications.

Now, in a day when a bored 13-year-old computer geek in the Netherlands with a grudge against Microsoft can cost businesses billlions of dollars, companies have hired armies of Information Technologists to manage their networks.

Most IT guys I know don't bathe or shave because nobody dares fire them. The secretaries were much nicer to have around.

[PW_Plack]

Paul,

It occured to me, when I re-read your post about the virus, that this may not have been directly sent to you by someone who wished you ill. The subject line "important informations" is characteristic of the grammatically-incorrect subject lines inserted by some of the internet worms that hijack an infected user's address book.

If someone has both you and CASA in his e-mail address book, and gets infected with Sobig or one of the newer worms, the worm will pick at random an address from his list to use in the "From" field, and he will probably be unaware that his computer even sent the e-mail.

There are probably any number of people who have both Paul Bruty and "review@casa.gov.au" in their address books.

[LARRYEBOYER]

Paul. I am extremely interested in the flying charistics of the NZ machine. Please post your evaluation. As you know, I have a similiar project underway. I now have accumulated all the stuff I need to finish. The new engine is on. I need to finish the brake system and instrement panel in the cabin. Chris and I mounted the redrive today. It won't be long now.(famous last words)Sorry to hear you have a stalker. Find out who it is and slap him/her arount the head a few times. In this country just denie. It worked for Bill Clinton.Then when you find out who your accuser is, report him to your Revenue Service. It is one of America's best ways to screw some one big time.Sure it would work in Aussie Land?