Balluminaria

[barnstorm2]

It was a good weekend for flying sort of things, especially for late November.

Saturday we had a role-reversal. Connie took ME to an aviation event. lane:

Connie discovered an event at Eden Park in Cincinnati called Balluminaria ( play off of luminaria I suspect ).

http://myducksoup.com/gallery/balluminaria.shtml

A number of Hot-Air balloons setup (tethered) around the Eden Park reservoir's 'mirror lake' wait till dusk and then light up as hundreds gather to watch.

The display is well placed and can also be seen from the Playhouse In The Park, Cincinnati Art Museum and the hills of Eden Park.

We took 2 of Connies dogs with us. Harley, the 'therapy dog' and Tayla an old german shepard. We left Bourbon (pit-mix) at home as he is a bit much to handle in public. He is not so bad with people but he was not well acclimated to other dogs when he was young and we have to be on our guard if a stray comes running up to him. He is a Katrina rescued dog. His behavior has much improved over the last year thanks in part to agility training and watching every episode of 'The Dog Whisperer' together.

The scene was spectacular. The balloons would disappear in the darkness until they fired the burners. When the burners fired they would light up in wonderful colors and reflect on the lake's surface. The photos are a pale reflection of the event.

Today, Doug Gaudette and Gene Brown drove down from Xenia Ohio to take a 'intro to gyroplanes' flight with me in the Twinstarr.

I don't recall what the official temp was but it was in the high 40's low 50's range. Few people have flown with me when it is this cold, it takes alot of enthusism for flying. Doug and Gene were well prepared and quite dedicated to getting some gyrotime.

Doug is known here as "PPGDoug" on the Forum and is the proud new owner of a single-place Dominator. Gene Brown is a fellow aviation enthusiast and is an Aerothruster pilot (Propeller-driven motorbike).

Doug and I had an hour and a half of 'co-training'.

I am NOT a CFI. I do make my living as an instructor but I teach network and security engineering not any sort of flying or physical skills related topics.

Doug is a new gyro owner and wanting to get a head start on his training while he makes arrangements to meet with a CFI.

I would like to get a taste of training as I have been pondering if I should some day go for my CFI. Although Connie has flown from the front seat on cross country trips I have never let anyone else take off or land my Twinstarr. Connie is light and easy to look over/around when I am flying from the back seat.

Connie told me before I left.." You better not snap at him like you did me!". (apparently, I had some emotion in my voice when giving Connie some direction at one point... )

So, I figured I would get some backseat piloting experience with a large passenger up front and a taste of teaching someone else about gyro flight (snap -free ).

Doug is already a well skilled and experienced pilot and from a previous flight I know he has straight and level down pat. So it would be running the pattern for us.

The first two runs around the pattern I flew up front to make sure everything on the gyro was in good order and to familiarize myself with the weight of the load and conditions. I demonstrated a normal landing and a steep decent landing.

Next we swapped positions and with the exception of landings Doug flew the gyro from takeoff through the pattern and final down to about 10 feet.

Doug caught on quickly and during a break I found some ways to better describe some things I had failed to give a good discription of earlyer.

One 'feature' of the Twinstarr is that during pre-rotation the intercom does not have enough power to allow communications between pilots.

During our next session Doug flew the pattern without any input from me at all. The pattern got busy and we were flying with several other aircraft in the pattern. I had Doug not land but rather just fly 5 feet above the runway at 50 mph airspeed.

After two rounds of this I think he would have been ready to start landings but there is only so much learning we can take in a day (don't forget I am learning also).

I got some great experience flying from the back. I imagine that this is what tail-dragger pilots have to deal with. I could see the runway until the second half of final at which time it turns into the back of a helmet. I then had to fly down to the runway, flair and land using peripheral vision only. IFR for gyro pilots!!

It was great having Doug as my first pseudo-student. Since he is already an accomplished pilot all I had to do is introduce him to gyro-flight.

During the last pattern we even got some slight precipitation. Not bad just enough to clean the bugs off of the windscreen.

Next, Gene Brown got his first spin in a gyro. I only took him around the pattern as I was concerned about the weather and short on time.

Ok, I'll stop blabbering now. Hopefully, Doug won't mind me debriefing online!

Here are the photos....

All photos are high-resolution. Click to enlarge or Right-Click and open in New Window for best viewing.

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[barnstorm2]

Rest of the photos.

Thanks for viewing!!

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[Timchick]

Cool balloon photos. I'd like to see a dog chase him from behind on that Aerothruster. And, I'd hate to see a child run out in the road. Looks like it should have some sort of prop guard on it just to be on the safe side.

 

[BUD ONEAL]

Should he throw a wreck in that with the engine running it would be a "splintering experience"

 

[barnstorm2]

Thanks Tim,

As far as the AeroThruster goes...

I have been an avid motorcyclist since I was 13.

I have been chased by many a dog while I was riding motorcycles and mopeds. I don't see any more danger here. Dogs tend to run along side and with the high mounting of the prop should be fine. Hopefully, prop-blast would be a deterrent from behind.

The most dangerous dogs are the ones that get in front of you and that result is the same with any motorbike.

I have yet to have a child run out in front of me but if one did while I was on a Aerothuster I think the front of the bike would be the danger.

Chains, mufflers, hot header pipes out front.., pegs sticking out the sides.. lots of menacing things on most motorbikes.

I'll bet that AeroThruster can stop alot faster than my old '73 BMW Toaster could.

I don't think your concerns are unfounded, I just think there is no significant added danger to pedestrians just to the rider/pilot.

Pretty cool transpo though eh?!?

 

[automan1223]

Xtra Cool !

Xtra Cool !

That night stuff must have been extra cool !

J

 

[gyroparts]

Wow, does that picture of your bike bring back lots of memories. This is a bike that I built back in 1977. It had a 5 hp briggs and a 36 inch prop. It would do about 35-40 mph. The bike was an old Schwinn and would shake pretty bad at that speed. I had a centrifugal clutch on the engine so the prop would stop at idle speed.

The stupidest question I ever had while riding it was from a police officer. He stopped me for speeding 40 in a 25...and his first statement was "does that thing really work?"

I rode that bike for over 10 years before it was finally scrapped.

~Jerry

 

[Resasi]

Guess I must be getting senior, first thought on seeing both those aerothruster pics was, that's neat but..!

A prop guard similar to that used on the powered parachutes has to be inexpensive, imminantly do-able and surely the safe way to go.

Tim, instructing as you already know is hugely rewarding, as a new and quite lowtime flight instructor I learned enormously from my students, their reactions and what went on between craft and pilot from an observers standpoint. Sometimes didn't do the incipient ulcers much good, but people do have to make mistakes and how to recover from them. Trick was to know when not to allow them to make mistakes because both of you were going to die. I went into it because I couldn't find another flying job at the time, best thing I ever did.

As always great pics, those balloons by the lake are just beautifull.

 

[Arnie Madsen]

Tim , you have a rare and special photo ... TyreAttacksSubburbs.jpg ..... wow . It is a photograph that looks like an artists watercolour painting . Unusual colors. It should be entered in a photo contest or be used on a calendar. Very nice.

Arnie Madsen
Bell 47 G2

 

[GyroRon]

Yeap, that bike looks cool, but it does need a prop guard!

 

[barnstorm2]

That night stuff must have been extra cool !

J

Yes! it was!!

Wow, does that picture of your bike bring back lots of memories. This is a bike that I built back in 1977. It had a 5 hp briggs and a 36 inch prop. It would do about 35-40 mph. The bike was an old Schwinn and would shake pretty bad at that speed. I had a centrifugal clutch on the engine so the prop would stop at idle speed.

The stupidest question I ever had while riding it was from a police officer. He stopped me for speeding 40 in a 25...and his first statement was "does that thing really work?"

I rode that bike for over 10 years before it was finally scrapped.

~Jerry

Ha! Does it work! Sounds like a blond joke!

I will attach some photos of an original 1914 Aerothruster that was in the vendor spot next to mine at last year's Vintage Motorcycle Days. It sold for $14k !!

A prop guard similar to that used on the powered parachutes has to be inexpensive, imminantly do-able and surely the safe way to go.

Tim, instructing as you already know is hugely rewarding, as a new and quite lowtime flight instructor I learned enormously from my students, their reactions and what went on between craft and pilot from an observers standpoint. Sometimes didn't do the incipient ulcers much good, but people do have to make mistakes and how to recover from them. Trick was to know when not to allow them to make mistakes because both of you were going to die. I went into it because I couldn't find another flying job at the time, best thing I ever did.

As always great pics, those balloons by the lake are just beautifull.

Thanks! Yes, I think I learned as much as Doug did if not more!

I don't plan on quitting my day job!!! My primary desire is to act as sort of a "backup instructor" for the 2 local CFIs Ed Newbold and Gary Goldsberry.

I will NOT take any business away from these guys as they are better at it and more dedicated than I for sure. However, if I can give some intro rides or help people build time when Ed or Gary are unavailable I am happy to contribute to the sport.

Tim , you have a rare and special photo ... TyreAttacksSubburbs.jpg ..... wow . It is a photograph that looks like an artists watercolour painting . Unusual colors. It should be entered in a photo contest or be used on a calendar. Very nice.

Arnie Madsen
Bell 47 G2

Thanks!!

Yeap, that bike looks cool, but it does need a prop guard!

Humm... Ok, now we have 4 people saying that I guess there is something to it.

Now, the tables are turned and I am the skeptic.

I know blades are potentially dangerous to the operator, but I don't see much added risk to pedestrians. Like the PPG setups the prop should stop much more easily then say a runway motorcycle engine / tire. I have not forgotten the death of Chuck Irby my buddy who was killed by a prop-strike when his Dominator engine went full throttle while he was working on the craft.

What I am skeptical of is just how much help a prop-guard will give you?

I was under the impression (please correct me if I am wrong) that the PPG prop-guards were mostly to keep the lines and straps out of the prop. I have examined them up close and I don't see how they could take much of an impact at all...

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[gyroparts]

That is the original configuration I had on my bike. Direct drive mounted farther back. The weight of the engine behind the rear axle made is very squirrly to ride. Moving the engine ahead of the axle and using belt drive and a shaft fixed the handling problems. Kinda wish I still had that. BTW, I did have a cage around the prop for a while. Don't know why I took it off.

~Jerry

Great pics of that original bike!

 

[StanFoster]

Tim: Great shots as usual. The balloons reflecting over the water...wow! That belongs on a cover.


Stan

 

[automan1223]

Check out Alex's site

Check out Alex's site

http://www.windsandwings.com/video/AeroBike.wmv

has a lot of cool videos, one of such a bike...

Jonathan

 

[Gyro_Kai]

Great pics! Especially the "Nightglow" of the balloons.

Kai.

 

[PPG Doug]

Front Seat TwinStarr Passenger

Front Seat TwinStarr Passenger

Tim, mind you debriefing on line? No way. Im just wondering where you had the camera hidden as I never even knew you had it with you. I was going to post a pic or two once Gene gave me the CD w/ the pics, but I only got those yesterday.

I'm sure those of you who have ever owned a 2-seat aircraft, probably had many, "can you take my friend for a ride" types of questions. Those questions probably came after you took that person for their ride first... My point, Tim is doing me a great service by getting my butt in the air and I absolutely appreciate it.

When I flew sailplanes and General Aviation years ago, I actually looked forward to taking people up, but that was NOT with my own glider or FW. I think it is very different toting pesky people up in your own aircraft. I was not piloting my "pride and joy," only renting the sailplane or Piper and flying. Tim taking the time and patience to get my feet wet in a gyro is simply because he really wants to see the sport grow.

Scott Biser, (RSBISER) whom I've know for many years now from our Powered Paraglider days together, is responsible for infecting me with Gyromania a year and a half ago (that didn't sound right huh?). I've not felt right since. I owned a hang glider trike the entire 1 1/2years since Scott introduced me to gyros. All that time, I read more and spent more time on Rotary Forum than any trike site. I flew trikes, yet read about gyros...

So, Scott further introduced me to Tim and the rest is history so far.

Thanks Tim for the time in the Twin and for the pics, which I never knew you were snapping from the back seat. I'll pay closer attention next time.


Life is too short not to fly...