Welcome, "foreigner" Erik!
I always enjoy your posts here & read every single word of what you share about your gyro journey over the decades!
Didn't you buy a brand-new set of McCutchen Skywheels rotors and a brand-new Rotax engine long b/4 you had a gyro to mount them on?
Hi Kevin.
Yes, I can share my entire journey.
In 1967, at 10 years of age, I saw the James Bond movie "You Only Live Twice".
And I thought: I want a Gyrocopter - someday.
Forward to the mid-80's. I imported a Rotax 477, so I could build an AirCommand.
But I got the wrong gearbox, so it ended up being a SCSI 503 instead.
In 1989 I went across the US to California to meet Martin Hollman (Bumblebee). When I phoned him from his hometown,
he said: I don't have time for you - I'm flying to Oshkosh. And that was that - I did not have time to reply: So am I.
And trying to meet him had made me late for Oshkosh. But there I called McCutchen and bought a 23' rotor.
Over the years I moved to this small island but still bought more and more pieces for a Gyrobee.
In 2015 I became a member of the Danish Gyro Association and had my first (boring) flight purely as a passenger.
In 2017 I rented a MTO Sport (complete with a CFI in the back seat) in Sweden to participate in the annual Danish/Swedish
event. 6 hours of stick time plus one landing and one start (wishing I had read the manual - that would've made it prettier).
In 2019 I saw an ad on Facebook - a 914 MTO Sport at a great price. In Sweden, so I imported it. As one HTC propeller blade
made a hollow sound when knocked on, I bought a Ukrainian Aero Prop. And someone else damaged the Type1 rotor,
so I eventually ended up buying a Polish 8.4 meter composite rotor (standard MTO size).
Travelling across the country for every block of hours, I eventually earned my license/certificate early october 2022.
Last year I made a perfect full stop landing - a bit above the asphalt runway. That made a crack in the undercarriage bow.
So I found another, changed ignition modules, oil and coolant hoses and renovated the carbs with floats and float bowl etc.
Quite expensive - and I had not cancelled the full hull insurance until october.
After a dreadful winter I just need to put in a handful of screws and check everything seventeen times.
The all new Gyrobee parts are still on my mind - I need only the tail and a prerotator.... But having the MTO - I don't know.
And I just passed the exam for english language radio usage two days ago, so I can use my radio outside of Denmark -
you guys have it so easy...
I needed that to fly to Germany and to a large European gyro event in Sweden late may. So I had to pass..
Thank you for your interest - I love talking and writing gyro.
Cheers
Erik
