Flying AR-1 915 Zephyrhills, FL to Mentone, IN and back

[Abid]

I am currently on my way back and I hope I get a clear day for most of the day tomorrow so I can cross some states.
Flew from Zephyrhills (near Tampa) to Mentone, Indiana in my AR-1
Was surprised to find no rain or storms on the way. Starting from Zephyrhills and going to Live Oak and then passing near Voldasta into Butler Municipal airport and then Rome, Georgia. Then made it all the way into TN the first day (about 6 hours flight time) but had to come back to Rome, Georgia because the airport I was going to land at was closed and I knew Rome was open at 8 pm and had a hanger to store the aircraft at.
Second day, I flew over TN and went into Glascow, Kentucky and from there to Elizabeth Town and then Seymour Freeman Indiana and then Mentone.

Flew a ton at Mentone. Introduced many interested people to gyroplane flight.
Won award for furthest flown and reserve grand champion (2 seat).
Now the reverse trip begins in earnest hopefully tomorrow but very bad low ceiling weather still persists.

 

[GyrOZprey]

Many thanks Abid for your great presence at Mentone - all week your service with the 2-place intro-flights was mightily appreciated! - as we were short two valued aircraft & demo-pilots/CFI's due to accident & illness!
It was great & successful convention ...with the most fabulous weather all week- until Saturday noon ...so the competitive events were not run!
Mentone's greatest strength (apart from the loyal pilots who come every year) AND the skeleton-crew of volunteers who set-up tear down & man the gate, canteen & office - IS in our full slate of informative class-room forums ...safety topics & discussions, new FAA regulations upcoming, manufacture's presentations & LOTS of great information for newbies and old hands alike! Mentone is THE event to attend for both information and practical demonstrations of gyroplanes!
So many who came on down from OshKOSH ..commented that they were disappointed in the slim-pickings there for their gyroplane - research!

THAT FOLKS IS WHY ...PRA ...keeps our convention dates AFTER OSHKOSH ...so that those researching folks can come on down for in -depth information and SEE all the manufacturer's ( & legacy machines & home-built) - in one place ...that is also safer & quiet airspace for the discovery & demo flights!
Mentone PRA Convention DATES FOR 2024 is. JULY 31 to Aug 3 ..the week after OSH ...who have dictated the last FULL week in July!
Mark your calendars ...spread the word!

 

[Loren Jones]

Many thanks Abid for your great presence at Mentone - all week your service with the 2-place intro-flights was mightily appreciated! - as we were short two valued aircraft & demo-pilots/CFI's due to accident & illness!
It was great & successful convention ...with the most fabulous weather all week- until Saturday noon ...so the competitive events were not run!
Mentone's greatest strength (apart from the loyal pilots who come every year) AND the skeleton-crew of volunteers who set-up tear down & man the gate, canteen & office - IS in our full slate of informative class-room forums ...safety topics & discussions, new FAA regulations upcoming, manufacture's presentations & LOTS of great information for newbies and old hands alike! Mentone is THE event to attend for both information and practical demonstrations of gyroplanes!
So many who came on down from OshKOSH ..commented that they were disappointed in the slim-pickings there for their gyroplane - research!

THAT FOLKS IS WHY ...PRA ...keeps our convention dates AFTER OSHKOSH ...so that those researching folks can come on down for in -depth information and SEE all the manufacturer's ( & legacy machines & home-built) - in one place ...that is also safer & quiet airspace for the discovery & demo flights!
Mentone PRA Convention DATES FOR 2024 is. JULY 31 to Aug 3 ..the week after OSH ...who have dictated the last FULL week in July!
Mark your calendars ...spread the word!

This was my first PRA/Mentone visit and I thoroughly enjoyed my brief time there (Friday pm arrival.) Such a great group of people and a wonderful place to fly. I'm blocking out more days next next year to enjoy much more of it.

Loren

 

[Abid]

Well, I made it to South Georgia from Shelbyville, Indiana in one day (today) in my AR-1.
I would have made it all the way to Zephyrhills, FL if not for the IFR carpet of clouds as I tried to enter Kentucky from Indiana that made me turn back waste flight time and wait it out at an airport for 2+ hours at KSER (Seymour Freeman).
At Rome, Georgia as I landed there was rain and storms coming. I could have stayed there but I decided to change my planned route and go on the east side of Atlanta and around to the south to beat the storms coming from the west. I did feel the turbulence from those storms as I got around the east of Atlanta to the south. I had plenty of class D airports under class B that I transitioned through that I could land at if things started to look hairy, so it wasn't so bad. Airports reported winds at 9 gusting to 27 and variable direction at one point. It did turn my 86 knot cruise into a 105 knot ground speed though.
Tomorrow morning, I will meet and check out our new composite shop vendors here whose airport in South Georgia I am hangered at, before heading to 24J (Live Oak, FL) and then KZPH (Zephyrhills, FL). Wish me luck.

Route back has been
On Aug 7th, 2023
C92 (Mentone) --> KGEZ (Shelbyville) 50 miles of the flight was at 500 feet AGL because of 1200 foot ceilings

Aug 8th, 2023
Rained out all day. Enjoyed hanging out with Raul and Brent and found out Brent is luckier than me in a casino. I wasted $3 on slot machines. Brent won $120.

Aug 9th, 2023
KGEZ (Shelbyville, IN) --> KGLW (Glascow, KY) (But since enroute turned IFR I returned to Indiana and went to) KSER (Seymour Freeman Municipal) (spent about 1.4 hours and then decided to head a bit more west to Bowling Green, KY (KBWG) but then while headed to KBWG, KGLW went VFR and I changed heading and went there. So eventually route was:
KGEZ (Shelbyville) --> KSER (Seymour Freeman) --> KGLW (Glascow, KY) --> KRMG (Rome, GA) --> KOKZ (Sandersville, GA)
KSER was weather forced.

Most of the flight over TN (where I had no stop) was at 700 to 800 foot AGL because of low ceilings. I did go up to almost 4000 feet for a bit above the clouds in the morning but they built up and I came down.

Planned trip route was
C92 (Mentone, IN) --> KSER (Seymour, IN) --> KGLW (Glascow, KY) --> KRMG (Rome, GA) --> KACJ (Americus, GA) --> 24J (Live Oak, FL) --> KZPH (Zephyrhills, FL)

 

[Abid]

And we start our day with 400 foot ceilings in all of South Georgia. Yay .

 

[Sv.grainne]

What does it look like later in the day?

 

[Abid]

What does it look like later in the day?

Well I am here at ZHills, Florida. So ...
Just ran around the rain showers

 

[Mayfield]

Congratulations Abid. I seems you had a great adventure!

Glad you arrived safe. Vance was just telling me how nice your aircraft is.

Jim

 

[WaspAir]

Glad you are home safe. Here's an unrelated question: would you do it again?

Just wondering about the fun/trouble ratio you faced.

 

[Abid]

Glad you are home safe. Here's an unrelated question: would you do it again?

Just wondering about the fun/trouble ratio you faced.

I have done the flight to Oshkosh and back 4 times. This time was first time alone in the gyroplane.
I really had no trouble except weather on the way back but in thunderstorm season you do have to expect that. Not bad at all. Just exercises your flight planning, navigation and decision making. You plan and then nature plans and you have to see if you can change your plan

 

[WaspAir]

Glad to hear it!

 

[Abid]

When I left Zephyrhills for Mentone, the weather was unusually nice. Not a single rain storm or thunderstorm in sight. Just north of Tampa the outside temp even dropped a cool 5 to 10 degrees and I could have used a very light jacket instead of the t-shirt I was wearing.
It was in fact possible to go from Zephyrhills all the way to Indiana in that one day. It was a 10 hour trip and there were 14 hours of sunlight. I am not a very early riser however and stopped at 5 pm instead of 8 pm.
As they say in VFR flying, you got time to spare, go by air. That pretty much holds true. Weather dictates these long flights.

 

[Abid]

Passing from Kentucky into Tennessee

https://www.facebook.com/abid.farooqui/posts/pfbid0ukW9gudFYYKQZySy6ZQdBHjaYEyYJYpZYyeTa63iFomxGT1Y2o6dMYMBCkbWv6Sjl

 

[Vance]

§ 61.315 What are the privileges and limits of my sport pilot certificate?

(c) You may not act as pilot in command of a light-sport aircraft:

(12) When the flight or surface visibility is less than 3 statute miles.

(13) Without visual reference to the surface.

In my opinion VFR over the top is not for Sport Pilots.

 

[Abid]

§ 61.315 What are the privileges and limits of my sport pilot certificate?

(c) You may not act as pilot in command of a light-sport aircraft:

(12) When the flight or surface visibility is less than 3 statute miles.

(13) Without visual reference to the surface.

In my opinion VFR over the top is not for Sport Pilots.

I had visual reference to the ground through every second of the whole flight. This isn't truly VFR over the top (Ill remove that term if it bothers you) as you can clearly see in the video Vance unless you aren't watching the actual video and seeing the ground every second that's there. Visual reference does not have to be directly beneath us all the time. As long as one can see the ground from where we are flying, it is visual reference to the ground. This should be covered in training and testing.

 

[Abid]

Indiana is flat like Florida

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=831229998397403

 

[Loren Jones]

Indiana is flat like Florida

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=831229998397403

Most cellphone towers are less than 100' so they don't have to comply with the requirement of lighting anything taller than 100'. If you are dodging towers at 700' they are more likely broadcast radio or television antennas, which MAY host cellphone antennas, too.

 

[Abid]

Most cellphone towers are less than 100' so they don't have to comply with the requirement of lighting anything taller than 100'. If you are dodging towers at 700' they are more likely broadcast radio or television antennas, which MAY host cellphone antennas, too.

Yup there were 3 pretty tall ones from Mentone all the way to Kentucky border

 

[GyrOZprey]

My first experience with VFR-on-top .....a band of morning -fog over the Arkansas river had formed a compact cloud-band ( WITH - view-holes to see the ground) - about 30 miles wide ...here is my experience with the goPro view on the nose of my gyro!

 

[Abid]

Arrival at Mentone after 900 miles of flying