Exceptional Gyro-Porn from Henry Gyro-life!

[GyrOZprey]

Gorgeous videography & colorful- amazing scenery!
Glad he is willing to take the calculated risks to do this type of flying - so -we can enjoy - vicariously!

 

[georgio744]

I'll have to admit that most gyro videos bore the heck out of me; not this one. Henry is a magician with the cameras and editing.
George

 

[WaspAir]

For those who might be tempted to duplicate some of this, it is worth noticing the markings and legends on the charts. National parks, national seashores, national monuments, etc., (think Yosemite) have a requested floor of 2000 ft above the highest features wihin 2000 feet laterally, and 2000 feet above the rim of any canyon. You can really piss off voters, political donors, lobbying groups such as the Sierra Club, and government regulators who already have no love for gyros by getting anywhere near spots like Half Dome unless you are very, very high.

Play Luke Skywalker somewhere else, please.

 

[Gyro-nut]

Absolutely beautiful scenery and fantastic cinematography. That machine is just an expensive camera mount

 

[Boots]

Nice video
Thanks for sharing

 

[Resasi]

Thanks for posting Christine, wonderful scenery and some amazing views in the video, and a real taste of what gyro flying is all about.

Have been fortunate to have flown quite a lot from coast to coast and always loved flying over Americas vast and wonderful scenery. Sadly most of it was at quite high altitudes between 31,000' to 37,000'. Sometimes in clear weather so we could appreciate the vastness.

This video however gives the views from a very much closer perspective and for me completes the experiences I had some years ago. I would always marvel at those early pioneers in their covered wagons forging their way Westward through unknown terrain and sometimes hostile territory.

My Grandparents in Kenya travelled by Ox-waggon from the East African Coast to where they eventually settled and farmed up-country before they bought their first car so a little similar though nowhere near as far.

 

[gyrokam]

Gorgeous videography & colorful- amazing scenery!
Glad he is willing to take the calculated risks to do this type of flying - so -we can enjoy - vicariously!

Amazing!

 

[AgentCheese]

Great video - Thanks for sharing

 

[Doug Riley]

The video might be given an alternate title: "Supreme Faith In Your Engine."

 

[GyrOZprey]

The video might be given an alternate title: "Supreme Faith In Your Engine."

"Living-on-the WILD-SIDE!" ...yes we all recognize this .... after even your so-reliable 9-series rotax engine lets one down - that first time ...one's flying "calculated-risk-taking" CHANGES! I know ...I took those chances in 2017 - I HAD A BLAST & got some great videos for the memories - I'm happy to enjoy others adventures vicariously now! The constant pre- planning safest routes & scouting in flight for those good landing spots - really does take much of the joy & enthusiasm for grand adventure away from flying!

 

[Jason312]

Awesome video!
That's how flying is meant to be!

No RULE violations or risky flying that I saw.
If you don't trust your aircraft to fly like this why would you EVER leave the ground?

 

[Abid]

The video might be given an alternate title: "Supreme Faith In Your Engine."

I went over the whole state to Tennessee twice going to Mentone last August and back at around 1000 feet AGL and sometimes lower. You could have said the same thing to me for that time.

 

[Andino]

I enjoyed much of the video, but some of the flying was damned foolish. He often left himself no "outs." A poor example of ADM.
Although we've probably "all done it" not all of us have posted video proof of it.

 

[WaspAir]

I went over the whole state to Tennessee twice going to Mentone last August and back at around 1000 feet AGL and sometimes lower. You could have said the same thing to me for that time.

From 1000 ft agl you have about 1.8 square miles in range at 4:1 glide. From 500 feet, only 0.45 square miles. From below the rim of a canyon, well, look between your feet, and that's where you're going to be in a few moments.

 

[Jason312]

I don't understand why you guys ever go flying if you have the "I could crash at any moment" mentality?
Stay on the ground and don't worry about foolish flying, glide ratio or emergency landing areas.

I also don't understand why anyone feels the need to bash Henry for his flying. It doesn't effect y'all in any way. Nobody is making YOU fly like that!

 

[WaspAir]

We're not flying with Pratt & Whitney reliability behind us. Gyros suffer all sorts of failures. We survive by managing risk, and that requires recognizing and planning for it.

As a CFI, I have a moral and legal obligation to teach good habits and set good examples.

As to Yosemite, Half Dome, and El Cap in particular, I'm also a climber, and having my experience there (or at other sites) disrupted by a rude pilot really ticks me off. Climbing, by the way, is another realm in which small mistakes can be lethal and good judgment is what allows you to live to do it again.

To be impersonally blunt, if Henry packs it in (besides the human tragedy), it has a big influence on the insurance rates for our little community.

 

[Henry_GyroLife]

Just for your information, when I flew over Yosemite, all upper parts of the park were closed due to their frozen condition. That includes all access roads, trails etc in the upper park. Only the main road in Yosemite Valley was open. There were not many tourists in the valley due to a possible flood and the time I flew was very early in the morning. The park was completely closed due to the flood 2 days after the day I flew.

BTW, I'm self-insured except a liability and retrieval expense coverage by Garmin, so it won't affect insurance rate much, even I crash in my gyro.

 

[Jason312]

As a CFI, I have a moral and legal obligation to teach good habits and set good examples.

I totally agree. You have to teach a student to fly in the safest way possible and they should continue to fly that way for a while until they become more experienced.
An important distinction here is that Henry is not a new pilot nor is he YOUR student.

Also, just like a friend of mine who taught in R22/R44's, he came to work for us and soon realized that everything he taught the student NOT to do is exactly what you need to do when your using a helicopter the way it was designed for. Yes there is more risk but if you could accomplish the mission flying how you are taught in flight school you could do the job with a much cheaper airplane.

As to Yosemite, Half Dome, and El Cap in particular, I'm also a climber, and having my experience there (or at other sites) disrupted by a rude pilot really ticks me off.

And here we have a totally separate issue that is very common today. Hikers don't like Horses on "THEIR" trails. Horse riders don't like bikers on "THEIR" trails. Traditional mountain bikers don't like electric bikes on "THEIR" trails and... apparently climbers don't like aircraft anywhere near "THEIR" climbing areas.
The important point that many are forgetting about PUBLIC LAND is that it's for EVERYONE to use and enjoy in their OWN WAY.
As long as they are not going out of their way to continually fly by you or are flying too close to you that they pose a safety hazard, my suggestion is just wave (Kidding, I know your hanging on for your life ) and continue on enjoying your climb.

I'll share my pet peeve which is having to listen to someone's music while I'm enjoying nature. I am not a music guy and typically don't like the music they are playing BUT it is public land for everyone to enjoy in their own way.

 

[WaspAir]

An important distinction here is that Henry is not a new pilot nor is he YOUR student.

I am well aware of that, which is why my first post began, "For those who might be tempted to duplicate some of this...".

The important point that many are forgetting about PUBLIC LAND is that it's for EVERYONE to use and enjoy in their OWN WAY.

Except that some of those possible ways have been officially determined to be detrimental to the public. That's what AC 91-36D is all about. For the moment, compliance is voluntary, but that won't last if too many ignore it. The regulatory step from advisory to mandatory is tiny.

On the safety issue, pilot experience has never been a guarantee of piston engine reliability on amateur built airframes. To think one substitutes for the other is an invitation to disaster.

 

[loftus]

An old teacher had the saying 'Just because you can, does not mean you should'
Having said that I love Henry's videos and as long as the risk is that he does not hurt anyone but himself I'm all for it. All kinds of risk takers do that. As for not pissing other people off, that's a relative thing as there's always somebody you're going to piss off, so the best we can do is be aware and be courteous to others where possible. I moved to a twin engine fixed wing that flies well on one engine precisely because I no longer wanted to fly close to the ground on one engine, and flying low was a prerequisite for me to do the type of photography I like to do. And then of course there have been two Aircam accidents in the last month, one where the pilot lost both engines simultaneously on approach to landing probably due to carb icing, not having any form of carb heater, and the other breaking the other rule of low flying, hitting a tower. The first there were no fatalities, the second both pilot and passenger died. Both pilots were very high time commercial pilots. Flying will bite you when you least expect it.