Auto Gyro Pilot To Be Honored

HOMER

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LAWTON, OK.
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BENSEN
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HUNDREDS IN MY HEAD
I WAS DIGGING THRU THE NEWS AND THE WORD AUTOGYRO CAUGHT MY ATTENTION.

ANDY KEECH (WHO IS LISTED IN THE MEMBERS LIST IS TO BE HONORED WITH THE FIRST EVER WILEY POST SPRIT AWARD.

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More Information
Award to honor autogyro pilot


By Susan Parrott
The Oklahoman

An Australian aviator will be honored in the name of Oklahoma's most famous flyer.
The first Wiley Post Spirit Award will be given Friday to Andy Keech, who has been a champion skydiver, free-fall photographer and record-setting autogyro pilot.

The Wiley Post Commission created the award to recognize aviators who exemplify the engineering and innovative pioneer spirit of Post, but without the financial support of either the government or a large corporate backer.

Post in 1931 was the first person to fly solo around the world. He invented the high-altitude pressure suit, considered to be the forerunner of the modern space suit. He also is credited with discovering the jet stream and he set records for altitude, speed and distance.

Post died in 1935 in a plane crash in Point Barrow, Alaska, along with Oklahoma's celebrated satirist and film star, Will Rogers.

"I've known of Wiley Post since I was a little boy," said Keech, who lives in Washington. "The idea of standing in his shadow at the age of 65 is quite a thrill."

Keech said he has no plans to retire his wings anytime soon. He's broken several records in the tiny, helicopter-like craft he calls Woodstock. When Keech took his first autogyro flight in the early 1980s, he'd already made a name for himself as Australia's national champion skydiver. But the autogyro experience stirred his soul and he decided to build one of his own, he said.

He set world records for distance, altitude, climb and speed.

"My machine is the best in the world in any one of them," Keech said.

Ron Herron, a Little Rock, Ark.-based aircraft builder who designed Woodstock, said Keech never wavered in his goal to break the world records.

"He struck out alone and faced every obstacle in front of him and made it work in his favor," Herron said.

Keech's ambition harkens back to that of Post, said Bob Kemper, executive director of the Wiley Post Commission.

"It was the pioneering spirit of his, the quest for innovation, that really drove him," Kemper said. "We've found that same kind of spirit in Andy Keech. He's doing it on his own."

Keech will be honored at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Servicenter FBO at Wiley Post Airport, 7200 NW 63. Tickets are $100 and can be reserved by calling Donna Boyd at 709-1550.

CONGRATULATIONS ANDY!
 
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