Rotors Over The Rockies - Photos

On the way to Ogden for breakfast

Another view on the way to Ogden

On the ground in front of the tower in Ogden.


If you click on a picture it will take you to a larger view and let you see the entire album. The first picture is in a separate album with other non event images.
 
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Going on West and flying with your guys is on my Bucket list...

Mark, you're welcome anytime, but the week of ROTR is the best opportunity. Population centers are so far apart out west here that no one area has much activity. We had gyros here from at least five states this year, and it's great fun to have them all together.

That Friday morning breakfast cross-country to Ogden is going to be added as a regular, annual feature of ROTR. If you look carefully at Mike's photo on the ground at Ogden, you'll notice the restaurant emptied out to see the gyros. Some of those folks then drove the 21 miles north to join us.

It's hard to beat an airport with a 7500' runway in Class-G airspace, out in the middle of nowhere, with spectacular mountains right on the edge of town. We love Brigham City!
 
The trip

The trip

Thanks guys for a great trip. The whole thing went off without a hitch and we had a great time. Mike Burton went the extra mile to make sure we got all the training we came to Utah for. One of the days he trained with Dave for a few hours and then came back at 9:30 pm and trained with me till almost 11 for night training. Then was back at 9 am to train with Dave again. Thanks again!
It was great to meet all of you guys in Bringham City and put faces to everyone that is on here that showed up. Thanks to all the people for putting on the event!
Our Eastern Oregon stop on the way home worked out very well for those who are wondering!
So, is the prize for longest traveled with a gyro a gas card???? We rolled in the driveway with 2,260 miles total.
Here are some random pics from the trip.
I will upload more when I get rested up and have time..
You guys got most of the gyro pics up so I wont put up duplicates.
Brad
 

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Brad,

Sorry, there is no gas card that comes with the award for the furthest traveled (with a rotorcraft) but there is a plaque and it has your name on it. If you will send me an e-mail and give me your mailing address I will see that it gets sent to you. And thanks for joining us for a fun filled week of flying (Utah style).

Doug
 
I guess Brad is too busy flying his machine to take time out to get back on this thread, Mike, do you have an address for Brad?

Doug
 
ROTORCRAFT editor Paul Plack flying photos, Part One

ROTORCRAFT editor Paul Plack flying photos, Part One

Our PRA magazine editor captured on film doing additional solo work toward his Private Pilot-Gyroplane rating.

1. Paul descending to a landing at Brigham City's airport during ROTR. He is wearing a short-sleeve t-shirt, since it was nice warm weather, with the taller mountain tops still frosted by MOTHER NATURE AND OLD MAN WINTER, both whom have been bringing all of us too much of the nasty stuff!

The rest of the photos were the following week.

2. Paul departing Nephi, Utah airport on one of his cross-country legs. Taken from the air by me, being flown by CFI Mike Burton in Jay (Last name?)'s SparrowHawk.

Jay was in Spanish Fork for training from Mike in Jay's SH. He lives in Rock Springs, WY. Works for the BLM, managing the wild horse program. My first time in a SH. I was impressed w/ the horses coming from the Subaru's 2.5 l. engine, w/ the cam grind. They told me that its some 190 of them! Also, the bucket seats were very comfortable, something I certainly can't say about the RAF stock seats...

Most noticeable in #2, Paul likes to hold the cyclic comfortably, for him, below the hand grip.

3. & 4.: Same as #2.

5. Paul descending into Nephi airport.

Part 2 follows...
 

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Part 2: Paul Plack's X-Country flights

Part 2: Paul Plack's X-Country flights

1. Taken from the ground of Paul lifting off out of Nephi on one of his X-C legs. I pretty sure Jay took this photo, using Mike's camera, because of the clarity of it as well as the vivid colors. It beats my cheapy digital camera by miles in quality photos.

Paul flew about 114 miles to add his solo XC to his list of credits toward his PP-Gyro rating. He started at Spanish Fork, then flew to Provo, and then on to Nephi and back to SF, re-fueling at each time he arrived.

2. Fuzzy, but shows the beauty of the towering mountains on the east fringe of the valleys.

3. Jay caught Mike Burton piloting the SparrowHawk w/ me in the passenger seat trying to get some good photos air-to-air of Paul's event, while Paul pre-rotates and starts his take-off roll. The Rotax 503 seems to lift him off nicely, in spite of the airport's elevation of 5,000'.

4. A little gnat in the distance, but still climbing up. Paul likes to fly some several thousand feet AGL, for emergency options, he cites. This photo shows the vast distances they enjoy to fly in Utah.

I took many more photos of Paul air-to-air, but what I see in the camera's viewfinder, and what the digital pixies end up taking was usually two different things, causing just about all of them to be blurry. I try to follow the moving gyro, but I guess filming from another moving aircraft is harder than I thought...

I'd never been south of the Provo area before this trip. The valley that Paul flew over several times between Spanish Fork and Nephi is pretty to drive through, but more scenic from the air, especially w/ the mountain tops dusted w/ snow.

I got in several flights in my gyro that week over the Spanish Fork/Utah Lake area, but the climb rate was less than desirable for me. If I had tried to completely fill the 8 3/4 gallon tank, I knew I could only fly at first light, and had better plan on using the entire runway.

At my current weight, I cannot hold the nosewheel and tailwheel off the ground, balancing on the mains, at full throttle, and expect to lift off at Utah elevations, using a Rotax 503 engine. I had re-jetted for the altitude. I have to put the nose wheel back down on the runway, and wait for some airspeed build up before it lifts me off.

It took me quite awhile to lift off and climb out there with only a bit over 5 gallons of fuel. Paul weighs almost 40 pounds less than me, so he experienced shorter lift-offs and better climb rates using my machine.
 

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...Paul likes to fly some several thousand feet AGL, for emergency options, he cites...

Well, maybe not several thousand, but 1,000' AGL allowed me to fly over the center of a couple small towns along the route instead of zig-zagging, and I wanted to be 1,500' AGL when I got back to Spanish Fork, so I could overfly the center of the airport to get a look at the wind indicators, especially without a radio.

The highest I got was about 2,000' AGL, but yes...it is nice to always see the next potential emergency landing site between your knees.

Kevin, thanks for the great photos! Wayne had asked to see some along the cross-country, but I didn't want to risk my camera going through your prop. Here ya go, Wayne!
 
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More ROTR 2011 photos\

More ROTR 2011 photos\

Dave Jefferson soloed while at Brigham City, Utah, using his bud's (Brad Moore) converted RAF 2000. Dave and Brad are maintenance guys and work at the same paper plant in Toledo, Oregon.

Dave is building a Dominator and has a set of 25' Sport Rotors for his project.

1. One of his lift-offs.

2. & 3. Climbing up and out.

4. Coming back in after doing three TOs and Landings. Many congratulated Dave on his achievement!

He does have a great advantage in that he already had some 80 hours w/ Brad in the cockpit B/4 getting training time w/ Gyro CFI Mike Burton. I asked Mike if he could see a difference in Dave's learning curve in training vs. a newbie to gyros. What do you think was Mike's answer?

Brad told me that he was tired of flying alone, so he got Dave hooked on gyros to have a flying partner!
 

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Gyro CFI Mike Burton flies solo at ROTR 2011

Gyro CFI Mike Burton flies solo at ROTR 2011

In addition to giving lots of rides, like Curt Pittman, Mike Burton also got in some light-gyro flying time. He says he enjoys the lighter side of gyros.

It took awhile, but I wised up, using a tripod to try to catch Mike's flying a bit better than previously w/out one.

Here he is heading off, one of the last shots you'll see of him flying straight and level. Besides flying a lot of turns, he loves playing in the winds while gyro-ing, such as doing some hovering into the winds and flying sideways. I'm one for a steady breeze if the wind is up, but Mike claims even gusty winds are enjoyable while flying a gyro!
 

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More Mike Burton flying photos.

The beauty of the area around the Brigham City airport is evident. The rocky crags, the tops dusted w/ snow, the greenery along the slopes and canyons running down from the peaks.
 

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Addiional MB photos

Addiional MB photos

Well, here are the last four that were worth sharing. Mike is a bit far out there on several of these, because that is the limit I can zoom in to catch him w/ my camera.

Second photo: Mike flying near BC airport, w/ views of new construction going on over in the town. Photos 1, 3 & 4 over the same area, just east of the airport, where there still is a marshy area and ranch land. The housing subdivisions are creeping in nearby.
 

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Eric Johnnson from Twin Falls, Idaho

Eric Johnnson from Twin Falls, Idaho

Flying his Bensen powered by the mighty Mac engine.

After hearing the Mac engine flying at Mentone and El Mirage, and not caring for it very much, I began to ENJOY that baarrruupp! barruupp! sound at ROTR, more so than hearing a Rotax!
 

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Curt Pittman flying two gyros at ROTR

Curt Pittman flying two gyros at ROTR

In addition to unselfishly giving lots of rides in his RAF 2000 to all kids that wanted one, as well as some adults, Curt got in some single place gyro work, shown here.

It took him only a few moments to get used to a light machine. He taxis a bit, getting the feel of the controls, balances for a short time, does a couple of hops, and away he goes! His touchdowns were picture perfect.
 

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Eric Johnnson and Mike Burton

Eric Johnnson and Mike Burton

1. Mike flying by, seen from under Eric's right rotorblade.

2. Both of them up in the skies, flitting around.
 

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Some more Paul Plack ones...but from Brigham City this time.

Some more Paul Plack ones...but from Brigham City this time.

Paul seems to like these gyro machines. He flies like he is very comfortable at the stick!

The earlier photos above in this thread of him doing his cross country flights took place the following week after ROTR, and were based out of the Spanish Fork, Utah airport, where AirGyro is located.

Photos 2 & 3 were included because I enjoy seeing the coning angle rotorblades make as they support the weight of the pilot and machine, and these two seemed to showcase that well.
 

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PRA Chapter 2 member Glenn Kerr at ROTR

PRA Chapter 2 member Glenn Kerr at ROTR

Glenn gets some time in learning the feel of a light gyro on the ground. He taxied around the apron, getting used to the feel of differential braking, rudder use, and throttle response.

The following day, he received a short bit of instruction from Mike Burton on rotorblade management, and put it into practice w/ the rotors spinning around while taxiing. Glenn has many years in motorcycling, both dirt biking as well as road riding around the west, and it shows in how he handles the throttle, rudder pedals, and braking systems.

He is scheduled to get his first dual gyroplane training w/ Steve McGowan in his Parsons two-place tandem gyroplane prior to the PRA Convention at Mentone, Indiana, and will stay on to be there for our 49th annual event.

Ask him if he's excited!
 

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PRA Chapter President Doug Barker

PRA Chapter President Doug Barker

Doug did a very short bit of taxi work at the Spanish Fork airport when the winds were calm one evening after ROTR.

Here he is spinning up the rotors as the sun was almost setting.

The taxi way is too rough for balancing on the mains, and it shows in the second photo, as he fades into the treeline near dusk.

The Nephi, Utah airport, 26 miles south of SF, is an ideal location for that, and we hope Doug can get some more time in there as he builds his gyro experiences.
 

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Kevin, thanks for taking and posting these. You managed to capture the feel of flying next to the mountains really well. They say that in another week, the snow will finally be gone from the high elevations. Sure has been pretty with the green below!
 
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