Mentone 2014 - report & pics.

[GyrOZprey]

Now the Rotorcraft E-zine is in the PRA members mailbox I can post my report I wrote about Mentone - here for the RWforumer's & lurkers ... and the pictures I took ... now Lisa has had her "first-dibs" !

Mentone 2014 report.

Monday August 4th 7:15 am cdt The Toevs team – (farmer Jim, Chris & Bonzer dog) hit the highways & interstates in their trusty farm PU with camper onboard & towing the gyro trailer hauling Chris's “OZ'rora” ( Butterfly Aurora!) 804 miles and 14 hours later we pulled up to the PRA office @ Mentone airport ... quite amazed that the hard working staff were still working. A quick hello to Jane & Nevada ... about ready to close up for the day ... we found out our campsite # & planned to pick up our registration packet the next day!

Tuesday August 5 ... early bird day ... began with rain showers , mist & low clouds. After a long sleep & slow start we got our first good look at the campground & residents... pleasing to see a decent number already ensconced! Kent Goddard on his gyro-gypsy tour of all the major summer gyro events plus various smaller local fly-ins had been camped, helping prepare & flying his blue MTO sport for about a week already! Carl Schneider all the way from AZ with his unique rig & gyro was there, Sue & Gary Goldsberry & John & Agie Brewer's rig as well as the Boyettes camper & Dominator trailer-display tent were on site! There were many more who I have not connected to the owners -yet! Breakfast at the canteen was popular as the socializing began. The hanger space already sported a good variety of gyros.

My first priority at the AM pilots briefing was to obtain my first passcard ... hoping to fly my gyro at this – my 3rd PRA annual convention Both my recent instructors Craig McPherson & Michael Burton were present & Mike signed my card. The recent fly-in arrivals from Rochester had a special full briefing ... as they has been unable to make the earlier one with the weather delaying their flight! Joe Swanton .. did a great job with the twice daily pilots briefings & was a most worthy replacement for Tim O! Fully briefed on the expected weather & special flight rules & patterns for C92 during the convention pilots collected their gyro windshield sticker & headed out to enjoy!

As the weather improved, next job was to unload OZ'rora – so we could set up the camp-room in the front of the trailer for extra space. After removing travel / rain covers then cleaning & checking ... it was time to install rotors ... we used our new trailer side hoist & winch for the first time & all went pleasingly well!

Most of the rest of the day passed with a steady stream of lookers & “ole mates” stopping by to visit as I was trying to do a thorough post travel/ pre-flight inspection!

Tent camped in a couple of lots to west of us were Cory Ward & Gary Mullins( with his gyro) .. we got to talk & compare notes a lot over the next days! Jim also got to enjoy good chats with our camper neighbors Garnet & Elma from near Winnipeg Manitoba ... Garnet actually greeted,welcomed us into camp as we pulled in late Mon night .. but we were pretty road-weary/brain dead to be very sociable!

Mindful of my task to produce a report for Rotorcraft ... I did spend time walking around with my notepad .. trying to do mini-interviews with as many as I could ... especially the new faces! As usual although the camera was in my pocket most of the time I didn't take nearly enough people pictures!

There were a good variety of international attendees ... from my homeland Australia was Mark Rindel of Melbourne who is the OZ agent for mosquito helicopters ... he has his own airfield, flies a lot of different aircraft & holds fly-ins @ his airfield. He flies a classic Bensen gyro with VW engine,wooden prop & Bensen rotor. He was an a bit of a trip around ... taking in Oshkosh & Mentone!

There were a couple from Vienna Austria .. Eva & Willie.... they had been to Oshkosh and she had such enthusiasm & a HUGE smile every time I saw her ... very busy taking lots of pictures!

There seemed to be quite a few ex-trike pilots looking seriously to return to flying .. in gyros! One I spoke to was Lance Gibson of Panama ... now retired & with time to enjoy building/ flying again... he had recently test flown in a Magni with Greg Gremminger & was excited to join the rotorcraft world!

My most insightful interview was with Artur Trendak from Poland ... I was admiring his US agent Mike Bantum's newest Tercel .. fresh off phase I testing & shown off in flight with great skill by Mike - daily in the demo-box on the west side of the runway ... and on asking Artur his impressions of the Mentone fly-in ... he commented:
“It is very well organized and that he liked the way we were able to fly quite freely!” He enlarged by saying in Poland the public & spectators cannot get anywhere near as close to the flying area & it is hard to see the true up-close performance of a flying gyro – from the ground! We talked some more about his line-up of modern side x side cabin-class gyros & I picked up a spec sheet on the AAT & son line of gyros Tercel, Taurus & Twistair.
A couple of days later I was excited to get a demo-flight in the Tercel with Mike. Very roomy, comfortable, great all around visibility, I loved the compact & central instrumentation ... everything necessary ... but not cluttered! Amazingly agile & stable flier ... seems like a great (& afforably priced for the “Eurogyro” type) choice for a cabin-class gyro! I had FJ try it on for size .. with the smaller fuel tank option allowing the seat to go back some ... he could be comfortable ( headroom & knee-angle ) in one!

At the banquet PRA president Doug mentioned visitors from Austria, Australia, Poland, PuertoRico, Turkey and Ukraine .. unfortunately I did not get to meet the others!

Even though it seemed the campsite attendance was down from the previous 2 years it was reported that the daily visitor gate entries were up and we had what must have been a record number of CFI's in attendance.( 22???)
Older vintage gyros/CFI's included Steve McGowen's iconic parsons trainer “The Black”, Duanne Hunn's RAF, Chris Burgess Snowbird tandem and they were all observed to be in action daily! I forgot to attend the CFI meeting to get the full list but here are all the CFI's I noted attending .... Gary Goldsberry, Ernie Boyette,(Dominator/Vikingator) John Webb (Dom.) James Nadig, Ron Menzie, Silas Smith, Brent Drake(twinstar), Greg Gremminger (Magni), Galen Geigly( Calidus), Bob Snyder ( MTO),Craig Mcpherson (MTO), Michael Burton (Cavalon), Chris Lord (Xenon), Greg Spicola ( Apollo) also Rick Marshal (magni) & Aston Kinsey.!

Other interviewees of note are Ken & Cindy Stafford from SthCarolina .. coming from the trike world... reading about gryos on Rotary wing forum joined PRA & trained in a Magni (11 hours for an add-on to FW certification) with Dayton Dabbs ... came to Mentone to get time in an MTO.

Ed Casey of Griswold Iowa (800 hours UL – trike flier) has a Bensen/ Bensen rotor with 1600VW – very marginal & has not flown for 5 years ... he was so excited & enthusiastic & looking, researching, asking lots of good questions, attending forums ... interested in buying a modern design ultralite gyro.

Dave Haas from Wauconda IL ... the sec/treas of our latest PRA chapter 47 ... Fox River Valley Rotorcraft club - NW of Chicago! The hard working enthusiastic Paul Polster. Mentone's chief airboss is the club president!
Three of the club members were present at the banquet received their club certificate!

I attended a couple of forums on Friday ... Greg Gremminger's recounting of their recent 3,000 mile gyro trip to Monument Valley with 3 Magni's with photos was fascinating! I also caught Ron Menzie's forum.

John Rountree was busy with several forums on a variety of topics & co-ordinating equipment, location, & organizers for the Friday thrust test & canceled Saturday hang tests! ( promised equipment didn't show-up!)

The Wednesday morning fog was slow to clear and facilitated a lot of good hanger-talk & socializing around the canteen. After Wed. noon until Sunday the weather was great for flying ... the wind light – for most part although from the east .. the preferred runway 36 was in use allowing the TO / landings close to the main viewing area! A lot of gyros on the flight line on Thursday & Friday ... instructors especially in the new Eurogyros were busy. The campgrounds filled up on Wed & Thurs & then on Friday it seemed about 1/3 departed! Friday was the day of peak activity with flying & most gyros on display!

I attempted to fly mine on Wed afternoon .. when there was a lull in flying activity ... unfortunately a severe front wheel shimmy issue caused me to abort my 2 attempts to launch. I tried once more the next day after checking some things & taking heed of some observations of my lack of fullbackstick! Thursday I pulled apart the front end to access a spring that had stretched a couple of years ago & on replacing resolved the shimmy issue – then! Sadly even though I installed my spare new spring this did not resolve the new shimmy under these local conditions of rough runway & no headwind help to facilitate a quick front-end lift ... I almost had it lifting on my final(4th) attempt... but when shimmy struck it was horrific & scared a lot of knowledgeable onlookers!

Deeply disappointing for me – but there is so much more to Mentone than flying & I carried on enjoying the people & got an hour instruction with Craig on Wed. - to get my flying fix ... & Mike Burton generously took me up for a “cheer-up “ fly in his gorgeous new Cavalon on Thursday – at that magical time of day as the sun is dipping low in the west!

He is justly proud of his latest Airgyro trainer .. what a super-smooth flyer... he has the rotor balance just right & stick so smooth & light! He demonstrated some phenomenal stick & trim stability '' hands-off” in level flight – “slap” it L & watch ... nice stable L turn .. ditto to R. Now watch this he said ....& bopped it forwards ( I about had a cow as the nose dipped earthwards!!!) ... it leveled out into trimmed S&L flight very quickly ... this amazing modern gyro just wants to fly ... very stable, very forgiving! Great German engineering! WOW!!! :whoo:

I volunteered to run thrust tests & co-ordinate volunteers on Friday. 1-3 pm .. we tested 7 gyros.
It was a problem finding a suitable place to do the tests ... without getting a special exemption of the “no-live-props-in camp/hanger area” rule ... it was surprising ( and a safety concern) that the tests attracted quite a lot of onlookers!
The test results are attached at end of this report! Big thanks to Carl Schneider – who made his pull scale available when the promised equipment didn't show up. Dave McCutchen's truck was the anchor & he was in the full propblast taking readings off the scale on each pull, Stan V was monitoring strap security, David McComber relaying hand signals to pilot ... I was watching everyone & relaying signals from Scale reader to signaler ( David McComber) & recording gyros stats & results. Paul Minear & others were keeping the “run-away zone” clear ... in case something broke loose!

Although there were some interested in the Saturday hang- testing & weighing ... the necessary equipment did not show up!

For the main day - Saturday felt a bit anticlimactic .. a lot of gyros were packed up to travel home , many departed Friday eve & Sat AM .. the flight line was much sparser than on Thursday/Friday ... fewer flying.
The Samaritan medi-evacs put in a brief appearance.
I got a great demo flight in the Tercel with Mike Bantum. :whoo:

Jim & I helped Stan Foster with the 3rd annual Kero-cooking of hotdogs on his Helicycle turbine exhaust!
20 “Turn'n & burn'n” T-shirt purchasers got the first hotdogs & then the brave public who wanted to try one sampled the next batch! It's a fun & novel way to cook lunch! :smokin:

The 3 flight-skill competitions were well organized for the mid-afternoon lull-time in the daily flying.
This year the pylon-race returned ... one gyro at a time ... timed event with ground observers ensuring the proper form of flight - 2x figure 8's around two trees across in the corn opposite the main viewing area!
Participants were Mike Bantum in the Tercel/ 912RST,Stan Foster ( helicycle/ solar T62), Craig McPherson (MTO/912-RS.mod), Greg Gremminger(Magni/914), Doug Smith (SportcopterV1/Viking), Greg Spicola (ApolloAG1/914), John Webb (Blue Dom tandem, /Viking)

AWARDS ...
Pylon race went to Craig #1 – 33.75 sec and #2 Greg S. 35.83 sec.
The ClusterCluck egg drop attracted several entrants ... Doug Smith in his Sportcopter V1 finally Egged Stan's foot & John &Sandy Webb were second with a 6ft miss!

Only 2 entrants in the spot-land Doug Smith av. of 2 was 52 ft & Duanne Hunn in his RAF had 62 ft from the mark. ( Doug's first landing was almost spot-on ...!)

Awards were made at the closing banquet Saturday eve... surprisingly well attended ( for the near deserted campground) with excellent food & congenial company!

The farthest flown gyro was the Apollo AG1 ( Greg Spicola & Abid) from Zephrhills Florida .. having been up to Oshkosh first!)

The farthest traveled convention participant / visitor was Mark Rindel – from Australia.

Grand Champion rotorcraft ... Doug Smith's superb new Sportcopter V1 ( viking powered)

Pilot& machine – Greg Spicola & Apollo AG1

Most innovative - Ernie Boyette's Turbo-viking dominator.
Best workmanship - Mike Burton's Cavalon
Best single –#1 Vigil Young's (modified blue Dominator)
#2 Brian Hebden (red dominator )
Dual seat #1 Greg G's Magni
#2 Abid's F.'s Apollo AG1
Factory assist dual seat.
#1 Jim Faust /Galen Geigly ( Calidus)
#2 Mike Bantum ( Tercel)
Best helicopter .. Stan's helicycle

Special new award ... Presidents award ..to Gary Goldsberry for outstanding service & support to PRA.

The outstanding work of the airboss Paul Polster & his assistants Jeff Tipton, Cory Ward, Dave McCutchen & Paul Minear keeping every one safe in the air & on the runway was recognized!

I would like to make special mention of the incredible volunteer efforts of Robert & Nevada Rymer ... they put in very long hours - before, during & after the convention... they seemed to be everywhere I went ... always quietly attending to whatever needed doing ... in the office , in the canteen, sorting out AV problems in the lecture room ... cleaning up on Sunday packing away equipment! There were many other un-named & for most part unnoticed volunteers doing much necessary work behind the scenes ... Doug recognized you @ the banquet ... but on behalf of all of us participants I'd say a BIG HEARTFELT THANK-YOU for your time & invaluable service to the PRA convention! Without the volunteers ... there would be no convention!

No PRA convention report would be complete without mention of the outstanding fireworks show put on by the pyroclub .. Friday eve!

 

[GyrOZprey]

OZ'rora .. goes to Mentone!

OZ'rora .. goes to Mentone!

1,2 - loaded & wrapped for a rainy ride!
3,4 - Foggy Wed AM .. tower,hangars & camp
5, - Tues AM - ready to unload
6 - rudder immobilizer
7 - trailer hoist - ready for rotor-up
8 - assembling rotor

 

[GyrOZprey]

OZ'rora @ Mentone-2

OZ'rora @ Mentone-2

1 - assemble rotor
2 - awaiting the fog to move out
3 - on the flightline
4 - Mike Burton & Menzie's looking 'er over
5 - Jim & Stan ... observe the repairs
6 - torn down front area - to replace steering tension spring ... ( fixed the first shimmy episode - two years ago!)
7 - . three springs . new , replaced & original -( replaced 2 years ago!)
8 - fellow OZ Mark Rindel ... helping with reassembly of windshields

 

[cgmg]

Chris,

Great report, you really put the feeling of the convention into words!

People had no idea of what they missed this year, now they do.

Thanks for all you do for the PRA!

 

[GyrOZprey]

Early-bird days!

Early-bird days!

1 - Gary Mullins & his Dom-tailed Bensen
2 - Our camp neighbors Cory ward & Gary Mullins
3,4,5 - Hangers well filled - awaiting weather to improve!
6 - Brewers towing their Magi to the flightline
7 - Kent busy giving many tows to flightline :first: ... here to Duane Hunn
8 - Abid & ? in Silverlight aviation's Trike which flew with the Apollo AG1 gyro ( Greg Spicola) - from Florida to Oshkosh to Mentone & back to FL. ...:hail: epic!

 

[Brian]

Thanks Chris good to see you guys i have to find more time to talk to you

 

[GyrOZprey]

More from Mid-week

More from Mid-week

1 - Bob S. preflighting MTO & Mike Burton with Cavalon behind
2 - Steve McGowan's hangar/ tent was a popular shady hangout Paul P., BrandonW. Kent & Garnet!
3 - Instructors parking area.
4 - Mike B. David McComber & John Rountree.
5 - Mike B showing off his latest sweet Cavalon ... flown from Utah! ...:hail: epic2
6 ,7 - very well attended pilots AM briefing ...with Joe S.
8 - Great array on flightline!

 

[GyrOZprey]

Fun -fun-fun!

Fun -fun-fun!

1- Reaching out & doing mini-interviews .. Artur Trendak, Mike & Charlene(sp?) Bantum @...AAT / Tercel tent! & Doug Smith!
2 - Eyecatching Tercel
3,4,5 - more flightline
6 -fix'n a flat!
7 - Brent Drake going to fly a "classic"!
8 - The funniest redneck Tennessee "SCG" you'll ever meet ...Mr Iron Rooster himself ....non-stop entertainment & hilarity ... complete with bovine OB gloves & redneck PU tailgate - ( BIG wood plank) ... all came in handy for the evening project @ the canteen ... to build Airboss Paul an extended radio antenna for better communications! ... ... look-out Bonzer!

 

[Timchick]

Thanks for the write up and photos.

 

[GyrOZprey]

What the non-campers miss out on!

What the non-campers miss out on!

You never know who's going to provide the ad-hoc evening entertainment ... but there always seems like there is some fun / funny stuff going on in the campground .. often centered around the canteen!

Thursday eve Paul Polster enlisted any & all local talent to create a simple dipole antenna ( to go up on a pole above the airboss tent)to improve his communications from the handheld radio!

Cory Ward & Mark Rindel did most of the construction while the rest of us contributed tools & watched & laughed at the " TRSCG "... David McCutchen's entertainment!

1,2,3,4,5 ..... the hilarious making of a dipole antenna for Paul!
6 ... Paul wearing his martian hat - antenna @ breakfast!
7,8 the Friday breakfast crowd!

 

[Vance]

Thank you Chris; I am sorry I missed Mentone 2014.

Thank you, Vance

 

[GyrOZprey]

Friday ... forums & thrus-tests ( & flying for the rest - luckysods!)

Friday ... forums & thrus-tests ( & flying for the rest - luckysods!)

1 - Kent & Bonzer
2 - Hendrick & Gary
3 - Thrust test OOPs ... right next to classroom/ forums ! :redface:
4 - relocated to other end of hangars - Gary Mullins
5 - Gary's Dom-tailed bensen.
6 - Monty White's White Dom
7 - Mike Vadneys Sportcopter
8 - Paul M. Dave McC & Stan ... getting blasted!

THRUST TEST RESULTS ( I hope my chart doesn't get too scrambled here!)

Mentone 2014 Gyro thrust testing Alt - 860MSL (DA est @ 1400)


name type engine HP prop pitch Erpm/MP Thrust-lbs

1.Kent Goddard MTOsport rotax914 115 3 – autogyro- 68in 22` 5800/ 39in 461
456
av. 459

2. Gary Mullens Bensen /domtail SubaruE81 (?) 3-warpdrive-58 in 12.4` 4500
381
redrive 373
av. 378

3. Monty White single Dom. Rotax582 65 3-warpdrive-60in. 7.3` 6500 330
Cbox 2:58 317
av. 324

4.Mike Vadney Sportcopter vortex HKS700E 60 3-powerfin-68in. 14` 6000 274
3.47 gearbox 274
av. 274


5.Chris Toevs Butterfly Aurora rotax 912 100 4-powerfin-68in. 10.75` 5500 420
421
av. 420

6.Russ King -yellow Sing.Dom. rotax582-tuned 65 3-warpdrive-68in. 10.6` ? 368
3 :1 gearbox 360
av. 364

7.Brian Hebden red single Dom. Rotax 582 65 3-warpdrive- 60in. 14.1` ? 323
3:1 332
av. 328

 

[GyrOZprey]

We missed you too Vance!

We missed you too Vance!

Thank you Chris; I am sorry I missed Mentone 2014.

Thank you, Vance

More Thrust-test pics - Russ King's yellow Dom & OZ'rora ... getting strapped up!
Chapter 62 members Dean Dolph,Danny Whitten Jim & Chris @ Mentone

Jim & Bonzer ... enjoying a nap-time!

Bonzer checking out Glen's ( from MO) camp ... morning dog- walk!

Jim & John R visit ... Sat morn!

Paul M. packing up his yellow Dom.

 

[GyrOZprey]

Saturday -kinda sad .. being the LAST DAY!

Saturday -kinda sad .. being the LAST DAY!

Always busy & goes by way TOO FAST! :Cry:
1 - Chris Burgess packed up!
2 - Best single place gyro - Virgil Young's modified Dom "Bluebird"
3,4 FLY MART ... some deals & steals & ???!:noidea:
5 -Samaritan helo drops in!
6,7,8 Demo-flight with Mike Bantum in Tercel, nice central & simple intrumentation, overview of Mentone 2014 ... many campers already left!:sad:

 

[MH1FLYER]

Chris,

Thanks for taking me along for the adventure. Looks like it was a good turnout. Your pictures are priceless!!! Thanks for posting them.

 

[GyrOZprey]

Kero-cooked Turbinator exaust-blasted hotdog for lunch!

Kero-cooked Turbinator exaust-blasted hotdog for lunch!

...anyone????? Buy a "Turn'n n burn'n T shirt ... you get served first - a delicious solarT62 roasted wiener for lunch! For the new-chums ... there were enough left over to sample!
... for the third year we brought the special roasting fork ... duly sterilized & polished up ... actually it's an antique hay-pitching fork ... used when they bound hay or wheat into sheafs to toss up onto wagons... into haylofts - it had a CLEAN life .. NOMANURE!!! ... way too delicate! ... needle thin sharp tines are perfect for spearing multiple wieners!

Stan , Jim & I had lots of fun yet again ... doing the novelty lunch!

The afternoon was very laid back .. gyros flew, CFI's busy doing intro's ...we just enjoyed the visiting with friends, watching the flying & @ 3pm were the skill competitions ... the re-introduced pylon race was great to watch, Cluster-cluck ... always waiting to see if this was the year for Stan to get "egged" ... YEP Doug Smith got him on the foot! ... spot-landing ... seems like everyone was burned out after 2 flys ... just Doug & Duane trying to hit the flour-line! Lots of relaxing & unwinding ... soon time to clean-up for the closing Banquet!

 

[GyrOZprey]

Banquet & awards.

Banquet & awards.

John R & Steph Gremminger ... did most of the photos for Awards & around the Banquet ... I just took a few general pics ... covering the overall scene!

 

[GyrOZprey]

Sunday Packing -up .. nostalgic farewells!

Sunday Packing -up .. nostalgic farewells!

With 14 hr drive ahead we didn't want to linger too long ... kept moving with the breakdown of camp & load-up of gyro ... Jim was uncharacteristically patient :first: ... gyro & tools stowed & strapped, lunch & on-the-go food in the truck cab ... Bonzer . ready to be home ... he'd had enough camping ( about 2 days ago!!! :lol
One by one the die-hards left.... big rigs & small pulled out .... all the tapes & posts, trash bins were gone ... the clean-up crew working hard ... by time we headed home about 10am!
Bitter sweet farewell for another year ... Mentone 2015 seems an eon away!
The long drive was a special time too ... to share our unique memories & discuss so much , I started my report notes while all was fresh-in-mind! ... a good transition back to "real-life"!