Mid-West to West Cost Flight

[dabkb2]

The first 2 are at Corona

Thae next 4 are air to air on the way to Oceanside

The next 2 are at Oceanside

You will need to double click the air to air shots

[WHY]

What is the itenerary coming back ??

Tony

[All_In]

Sorry for the delay, was at the family 4th of July party same thing today.

However, the last time I talked to Greg they were going to return on the route published.


Also as soon as I can get the picture for Tom Kelly I'll post some of the better 70+ pictures he took.

[scott heger]

I can't believe I missed you guys in Corona. I am in Germany and just checked the forum after one week. Hope you a safe return, and remember you are on a a great adventure in your lives, enjoy the "ride". You are doing something most gyro pilots and wantabees only dream about and never accomplish.

SCOTT HEGER
Laguna Niguel, Ca N86SH

[gyrogreg]

Just a quick note: We changed the return route to follow I-40 through Albuquerque - the central route. First day out of Henderson, made it almost to Double Eagle west of Albuquerque, but a ferocious pop-up storm chased us about 50 miles back on I-40 to Grants Milan for the night. Thanks Wes - saved us. The winds were cross and strong and gusty - but we managed to land on a couple of their short taxiways between the main taxiway and the runway - that was rough! Wires on one side, rough ground and hill on the windward side!

Next day great to near Tulsa for the night - Pogue. Half day the rest of the way this morning.

Update on Bob - has not found anything wrong with the engine yet, but the event snake bit us from flying away from roads. Both the first days we were over a lot of places that would have had a much worse outcome - that's why we doubled back from Farmington all the way down to Las Cruces to follow the southern route West.

So far, Bob's best guess is that the 914 TCU auto shut down the turbo from a hot airbox temp. He will be checking the TCU digital memory to see if it notes anything to shut it down. When it happened, he still had a smooth 4000 RPM, but tried to die at more throttle. So far carbs and bowl and floats check OK. Runs fine statically on the ground. He'll find the prob, but right now he took his family to Branson MO for a little R&R.

Best pics - Hoover Dam, LA beach, Wes at Grants Milan NM.

- Greg

[Brent Drake]

Glad your back safe. I bet the trip was awesome. I 'd like to hear some stories at Mentone.

[All_In]

Sorry Guys for the delayed response. Took 2 of my kids & 3 grand kids to Disneyland on the 4th-the 7th of July. Been working on PRA and PRA31 business since then. This is my 1st break.

Tom Kelly and I flew patches from KSEE Gillespie to KBOB Oceanside and picked up Dave Bacon.

It was one of those flights flying under a 1600’ overcast with some portions of the flights through passes where the hills on booth side of us were in the overcast. It was the first time I’ve elected to fly in this weather as we were on a photo shoot mission. Understand I selected wide passes and there was always room to do a 180 and fly back the way we came so it was not nerve racking and I found it enjoyable. However, I won’t do it again unless I really need to get there.
It was also the first time I use the GPS terrain map to actually find the lowest widest passes to weave our way through. It made it so easy and we found ourselves in Temecula valley when the on shore flow burned off and it became clear skies.

Here is Tom Kelly description of the event and some pictures:

On July 3rd, I had a chance to be part of the PRA Chapter 31 hosting team to greet a group of 2 Magni Gyrocopters and a Robinson R-22 Helicopter on the outbound leg of their round trip cross country from St. Louis to Oceanside, CA. It was a fun day that started out a bit ‘iffy‘, because of low ceilings and a thick marine layer along the coast. All turned out well. John Rountree, myself and Dave Bacon flew into Corona Municipal and landed about 10 minutes behind the St. Louis group. We found the group parked by the fuel pumps with several people gathered around the three machines while their owners fielded questions about the equipment and the trip.
The two gyros were powered by Rotax 914s and the reason for the stop in Corona was to visit Aircraft Spruce to pick up enough fuel additive for the trip back to St Louis. The additive is used to mitigate the use of 100LL fuel in the Rotax engine.
After getting their additive, we all departed Corona for Oceanside , rotors first then us in Johns Cherokee 180 (otherwise known as ‘Patches’). We did some air to air photography while the three rotorcraft flew south towards Oceanside. We then heated it up so we could get into Oceanside ahead of them to pick up some Subway sandwiches. We’d originally planned lunch at Corona, but the airport cafe is closed (it’s scheduled to re-open in October).
We had lunch at Oceanside and the St. Louis group departed for Torrance, CA, where they would re-fuel before heading to Henderson, NV … the first leg of there trip back home.

[All_In]

And a few more at Oceanside airport on the coast!