Boston to San Diego in a gyro.

'English' flag Chris. This seems to be an uncharacteristic slip-up. But then why not, your communications are all in English.

"Bull's Sperm forte" my be against premature balding, slacking libido, lose bowels or migraine headaches. Hmmm, sounds as though you may well have something for a vast majority of your readers. It never fails to amuse me the lack of young we seem to have in this sport, the present contenders of this particular adventure excepted of course.

Bensen days they are either seemed grandfathers or grandchildren with not many in between. Oh alright then there were a few.
 
'English' flag Chris. This seems to be an uncharacteristic slip-up. But then why not, your communications are all in English.course.

I know I am putting my foot in my mouth but I guess it´s the British flag, fluttering nimbly also above Welsh and Scottish countryside. I apologize for the slipup.

-- Chris.
 
Chris,
Looking forward to following your adventure. Will you be uploading photos along the way?
 
Day 1 -- Assembling the gyros

Day 1 -- Assembling the gyros

I was wide awake by 4 am due to the 6 hours time shift between Austria and the East Coast. The Days Inn we are staying at serves breakfast from 7 am, so I spent the 3 hours reading email, surfing the internet and preparing for the day.

We were supposed to meet the truck with our gyros at 8:30 and got a call at 8:25, announcing the truck´s immediate arrival. We had met Angelo Koschier ("akoschier") at a nearby Dunkin Donut joint just minutes prior, gulped down our coffees and hopped in the car to meet the truck at the airport´s gate. We were truly excited to see in which state our gyros were in the container. So Pipo, Robert and I waited impatiently for the driver to open the sesame.

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And that´s the picture we were presented with:

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A maze of yellow straps and bubble wrap that left not just Robert a bit confused. Unloading the gyros took longer than expected with four people giving each other good advice about how to proceed and everybody too polite to take charge. Eventually, we managed to unload both gyros unharmed, though and sot right down to assembling them. They had the prop taken off, the wheels and wheel pants taken off, the fuel system disconnected, the stabilizer and the rotorhead taken off.

This picture shows Robert after is initial confused state and already immersed in the action.

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Here are three more pictures showing the battlefield and work in progress.

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Finally, by about 2 o´clock our stomachs´ grumbling was getting the better of us and we decided to break for lunch. In the meantime, a forum member "Sweeny" had joined us. I am embarrassed to admit, that although I thought I had stored his phone number, I just now realized that I can´t dig it up anymore -- my phone somehow ate it. I hope that he reads this and gets back to me so that I can get in touch with him (my email is [email protected]). It was a pleasure to work with him and we had great fun doing it, too! It would be great if we could go flying together on Sunday or Monday as the weather permits.

Just before our lunch run we met Rebecca in her beautiful ´61 Desoto. She is a great lady bent on flying (she flies missions for the Coast Guard) and restoring antique cars.

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Just around 6 pm we were done: here is the proof.

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In the meantime we had to make two runs to a local hardware store to buy missing bolts and washers. The manufacturer, who crated to gyros, was everything but careful in doing so, unfortunately. We were missing rotor tie-downs, two tarps and several items of hardware. Oh well...

In the end we all had a great sense of accomplishment, when we admired the assembled gyros. In the process Robert managed to dowse himself with gasoline, I got a stiff back, and "Sweeny" bled from his finger. There are a few small taks we still have to complete, like bleeding the brake system on the red gyro and buying new tarps for them. This we´ll do tomorrow.

A couple of people stopped by during the day, and they all were amazed when we told them of our trip to San Diego in these flying motorcycles. It just served to whet our appetite.

Tomorrow we plan to finish the work and maybe even go for a small sight seeng tour over to Plum Island. We´ll see. I hope that "Sweeny" reads this and gets in touch with me because I´d love to go flying with him (my mobile number is: +43 (664) 2524653).

-- Chris.
 
Hi Chris, seems gyros arrived in good order great progress has been made and no big disasters.

Robert didn't go up in flames, the finger was obviously saved, apparently without the intervention of Bull's medicine, and hopefully you will make contact with Sweeny (hopefully not Todd, that gentleman shaved a little too close for comfort.)

With family members from England Ireland Scotland and Cornwall I was happy whichever flag it was, just pulling your leg that was all.

Great to get the en-route progress. Will be following with great interest along with, I have little doubt, many others on the forum.

Hope it continues to go smoothly.
 
Wishing you good luck & GREAT FLYING!!!!!!!!! will be watching. What a great adventure.
 
Chris, fly safe, and have a great adventure!

If plans change, and you're able to pass closer than 580 km to Salt Lake City, keep us posted. The local TV stations have translators (repeaters) which cover all of Utah, and parts of Nevada and Wyoming, and we have interested at least one of them in covering our event in June, so they're at least curious about gyroplanes.
 
Bostobn on foot

Bostobn on foot

Day 2 -- Boston on foot

This morning it was raining and we couldn´t work on the brake problem from yesterday. So we took the time to drive to Boston and have breakfast at Harvard Square -- a welcome relief from the continental breakfast served at the hotel. Since Robert hasn´t been to Boston before, we went for a quick drive downtown and a stroll through the Beacon Hill area. There we met this guy staring out at us from a window.

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Chances are it´s either Paul Revere or Samuel Adams. Anyone know for sure who this bust in Boston is?

After this we went shopping. Not to Zara, Hugo Boss or Calvin Klein but to a real big brand store: Home Depot. There we got two tarps, bungee cords, thin rope and sponges. At K-mart we picked up some brake fluid and shoe laces. For lunch we met a friend of mine and talked some about the good old times.

By then it had stopped rainind and we drove out to the airport to bleed the brakes and maybe take the gyros for a spin. As much as we tried, we managed to improve the situation but didn´t succeed in getting all the air out of the line.

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The break lever felt mushy and I couldn´t prerotate to a meaningful speed before the gyro started to creep forward. We had to accept this and postpone the flight until tomorrow. But we did manage to start up the engine, and taxi them across the airport to another hangar. This in itself felt like an achievement.

I used our stay in the Boston area and visited another friend for dinner. Returning home afterwards it was already kind of late and I felt ready for the sack. However, I want to make good on my promise and keep a faithful log of our trip, that´s why you are reading this.

Tomorrow we will use a vacuum pump to flush the lines and hopefully solve the problem. But first order of business is to drive to the Boston FSDO at 8 am so that Robert can pick up his US PPL. Then we go to the airport, fix the brake on DMRCA. If there is time, we want to fly over to a little airport on the coast, Plum Island, together with Angelo. If not, we´ll set sails for Saratoga Springs directly.

If some unforseen problems come up, we still have one additional day planned to deal with them. But just in case I´d appreciate it if you could keep your fingers crossed for a departure on Monday.

A quick question: is there a generally accepted frequency for air-to-air communication in formation flights? Since Robert´s gyro doesn´t have a transponder, we´ll be flying as a "flight of two" with me being the squadron leader and Robert my wingman.

For now I´m beat and will gladly retire for the night.

-- Chris.
 
this is going to be fun to read about this trip,I just started reading the thread a few days ago.

Good luck on the Trip. the fun is just starting.

I wonder if Stan spotted the helicycle in the hanger behind the Gyros.. :)
 
A quick question: is there a generally accepted frequency for air-to-air communication in formation flights? Since Robert´s gyro doesn´t have a transponder, we´ll be flying as a "flight of two" with me being the squadron leader and Robert my wingman.

This stuff is buried in the AIM at Table 4-1-3, and it's really an FCC designation more than an FAA matter.

For general aviation helicopter air-to-air communications, the standard is 123.025.

For fixed wing, it's 122.750 or 122.850.

There isn't one specifically for gyros, but I think you'd be within the spirit of the rules if you used 123.025, since you're more likely to be at helicopter-ish altitudes and speeds.
 
Thanks JR, used 123.45 in the airlines and later in exec, but suspected there may be a more 'official' one.
 
Day 3 -- First Flight

Day 3 -- First Flight

Day 3 – First flight

Looking back at this day, a lot has happened and I need to get everything in the right order so that it makes sense.

After the usual wake-up call at 5 am we organized ourselves, packed, checked out of our hotel and drove to Lexington where the Boston FSDO is located. There Robert had an appointment to pick up his US PPL. I was waiting in the foyer of the FSDO office and keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes alright. After 45 minutes and just before I started to get nervous, I was greeted by a smiling Robert who showed me his new temporary license.

Then we drove to the airport to fix the recalcitrant brake and be off on our first leg. We estimated maybe 15 minutes for the brake. Four hours later we finally had all the air out of the brake lines and were happy as a bunch of kids on a birthday party. I don´t want to get into any details how we did it and what we tried but it involved using about a quart of brake fluid which got onto parts of the gyro and everybody involved that I don´t want to remember anymore. But in the end all was good and we suited up to fly over to Hampton, NH, for a quick lunch.

Robert was excited to try his funky helmet camera that drew stares from everybody who saw us. It´s a Sony with a wide angle lens and a remote control. We are going to try it out and then hopefully post some short clips on youtube.

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Together with Angelo in his Cherokee, Robert and I took off from Lawrence and flew about 20 miles north to Hampton, just across the border in New Hampshire. Here is a view of the Atlantic coast near Plum Island.

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In Hampton we had nice grilled Haddock sandwiches and returned back to Lawrence. It was a great feeling flying our gyros in American air for the first time. They seemed to like it! Here is Hampton from the air.

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Back in Lawrence again we got ready for our first leg to Saratoga Springs when a nice gentleman walked up to us and asked a lot of questions about gyros and introduced himself as John. He seemed genuinely interested and flies a Cessna 150 himself. When we had gassed up and wanted to pay, we discovered that John had already taken care of it! It was a genuinely heart warming gesture to treat us to the fuel for our first leg. We said goodbye to Angelo, without whose help we would never have been able to get our gyros ready to fly. You already know what Angelo looks like, so here is a picture with Robert, John and me.

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I called up DUAT for a briefing and the weather looked good except for the temperature. It was a freezing 9°C on the ground and we donned everything on clothing that we could fit. I wore a T-Shirt, a sweatshirt, a sweater, a fleece jacket and a windbreaker on top along with two pairs of jeans, one over the other. It was barely enough to keep us warm. Back in Austria I had consciously decided not to bring gloves because, after all, we are in the middle of May and temps were around 20-25 °C. That was a decision I started to regret only 10 minutes into our flight. I had to push myself to take photos because it forced me to expose my right hand to the fiercely cold wind. Still, here are a couple of impressions.

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Crossing the border between New Hampshire and Vermont:

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Here is a self portrait of another kind:

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Over the Berkshire mountains we had to climb to 4000 feet due to mountains and unlandable terrain beneath. At that height my thermometer showed 0°C (that´s 32 °F)!!! There ought to be a low on such low temperatures. Maybe the new administration will do something about that. Write your Congressman.

After about 2:30 hours we arrived in Saratoga Springs, where my old buddy John Urbahn made himself heard on the radio on our approach. He is a flying nut himself, owning 3 planes (a Libelle glider, a Bower´s Fly Baby and an RV4 with a Mazda engine) of which he built 2. He showed us his RV4:

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It was about 10 pm when Robert and I couldn´t keep awake any longer. We had been up since 5 am and the excitement of the day took its toll. I postponed writing our report until the morning.

Today we plan to fabricate tarps for our gyros first and then set off toward Erie, a flight of about 4 hours.

– Robert & Chris.
 
Here is our itinerary as far as we have planned the times:

19.5. klwm - 5b2
20.5. 5b2 - kdkk
21.5. kdkk - c92
22.5. c92 - kset
23.5. remain in st. louis area (maybe kcps)
24.5. kset - kstj
25.5. kstj - klic
26.5. klic - kcbk
27.5. kcbk - kcos

(remainder to follow)

If somebody needs to get a hold of me it is best to do it by email to:
[email protected]

Greetings, -- Chris.
 
It worked for me. I got a Google picture with streets drawn in.

I could zoom in and out and click on the blops and find out what time they had passed there.

I feel like I am riding along on the adventure.

It looks like good progress so far.

Thank you, Vance
 
Most excellent Chris!

To me this is what life is about.

It's our adventures and the friends we meet along the way.

Life is a party if you let it be.

Way to enjoy life buddy and thanks so much for taking us along for the fun!!!
 
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This is pretty cool, I bet they will meet alot of nice people on the trip.

have a safe flight guys and thanks for taking us along.

great pics.
 
Good work guys, on the way and looking good.

Flew a couple of times between Cleveland and Long Beach. Although it was a bit higher than you guys will be doing it, and in one shot, it was still quite a journey over some great country. Gave me a huge respect for the pioneers who made it coast to coast.

It looks as though it will be a great adventure.
 
Yes, it feels like we have embarked on a great adventure. But the real kick is that it´s not just us doing it by ourselves but with you coming along and riding shot seat. It lends the experience a totally new dimension.

Thanks for taking an interest, -- Chris
 
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