I guess you ought to know...
I guess you ought to know...
how it came about. Jeppesen was contracted by the FAA to rewrite the RFH. A helicopter pilot and very talented technical writer, Jim Mowery, was tasked to rewrite the book, including for the first time, several chapters on gyrocopters. The first 14 chapters went very smoothly, but he was stumped on the last few. He contacted one or two of the high-profile gyro people at the time, mainly Don Farrington, and one of the RAF guys. Farrington provided most of the early information. The needed graphics had to go to the artist early, so many, if not most of the illustrations featured the 18A. One day I received a call from Jim asking if I would meet with him, show him my gyro and discuss the gyro chapters as written. I reviewed what was already done and found that there were things stressed that had little bearing on most gyro's, such as jump takeoffs and ground resonance, and little about aerodynamics, such as PPO and thrust line. I was able to put Jim in contact with many gyro notables such as Chuck Beaty, Rob Rominger, Jean Fourcade, as well as representatives from all of the major manufacturers such as Ron Herron, Ernie Boyette and a rep from Air Command. It was their input which turned around what started as an Air & Space 18A flight manual into a balanced discussion of aerodynamics, training and flight operations. Jim was frustrated as the 8 gyro chapters took longer than the 14 helicopter chapters, but in the end, it turned out pretty well. At least it didn't try to explain autorotation as "like squeezing a bar of soap" as was noted in a previously well quoted book. It is not as complicated as a technical text on aerodynamics, but addresses most of the important information for the average pilot. My contribution? My right main wheel was featured in Chapter 18.