John: I respect your enthusiam, drive, and friendliness to all.
It seems out of character for you to think you've been told to shut up and fly, as well as your thinking that everyone is jumping all over you.
Your knowledge of all things airplane and their flight is huge. Your gyro knowledge is still to grow quite a bit to match your fixed-wing expertise. Please don't go down the path that some do here in the past and think you have been ganged up on and that you are "outta here"!
I believe that most of those who have left this forum over the years in a huff, and also most of the few that have been banned from this forum have been because of their immaturity to interact well with the majority of forum members as well as the moderators and the owner of this forum.
You don't seem to fit that mold.
I am aware of the Wolverine forum and have visited ocasionally to attempt to learn from the rotorcraft knowledge there. While there is some of that there, such as Gabor's build, most of the comments are non-rotorcraft related, and some are negative comments directed towards this forum.
Unfortunately, one poster there thinks repeatedly posting three words ad naseum (two of which are consider impolite and extremely unpleasant expressions for most of civilized society) is something worthwhile for all to read.
Flying aircraft is such a thrill! Dont get bent out of shape because some of your friends suggest you get more gyro-flying experience and learn more about flying the poor-man's helicopter. You have many talents. Don't jump to conclusions that appear to me are incorrect about people telling you to shut up, or basically to go away and get a lot of gyro flying experience before you can post again.
You have so much going for you and also so much going on in your life. You are attempting to do a heck of a lot of innovative things to create a huge training center in California for gyros. It still amazes me that in the state of California doesn't have any active gyro CFI's that train in experimental gyros!
I believe Jon (Starks?) will train in either the Air & Space 18A or McCulloch J-2 certified gyros up around San Jose. But, for the population and economy of California, there should be a huge demand for it!
John: You've read my thoughts gyro-related. I'm going to add something else. I have relatives that are/were heavy, heavy smokers. They lived/live in the SF bay area.Virtually all my cousins there took up the nasty habit when they were young. Their parents were terrible examples and all but one of them became smokers.
Seven of them died from cancer and smoking-related diseases. Before those died, those had severe health issues. I truly believe smoking stresses the human body in many ways, even more than scientists can prove w/ research. My cousins left alive have all finally quit smoking. The last one was the most die-hard smoker and literally yelled at anyone of her family that tried to get her to kick the nasty habit. After she had lost her father, mother, and three brothers to lung cancer and emphisema (sp?), she came to her senses.
I also have observed several relatively-young co-workers who were heavy smokers in the past several years get diagnosed with major cancer growths, start aggressive treatments, and some then get struck down by strokes, and are gone shortly thereafter. Some older co-workers that were also heavy smokers battle cancer, think they have it beat, and then it roars back, cutting them down this time. The non-smoking co-workers don't seem to have nearly the severe health issues.
You know in your heart what this is about.
I can't prove that you have health problems because of your cigarette habit.
But the facts are there about the majority of smokers having other health issues and their health usually improves when they give up the tar and other chemicals that are burnt in each cancer-stick.
My wish is that you can join guys in our rotorcraft world that have quit and have been glad they did, like Dave Bacon, Mike Groshans, Paul Plack, Ben Souisa, Gilbert Sherperd (Bensen flyer from Oregon that comes to El Mirage), and others.
I believe you are a god-send to ignite the west coast into a gyro-mecca of training and flying. We need you to be in good health to finish your work!
If you are offended by what I have written here, so be it.
I will still respect you for all your good character traits and projects you want to accomplish. And, I will still think of you as a friend.
If you aren't offended, so much for the better.
I can't wait to see you flying solo in a gyroplane!
If you are excited about things now, when you solo, you probably will be bouncing off any wall you see, and never shut up about it!
