Norman & ROXY's flight track

What a GREAT adventure! Proves gyroplanes are for cross country and around the world trips too and it improves the image of Rotax being trustworthy aircraft engines.
 
Looks like he's home!

Looks like he's home!

Last tracker point is now in Larne. Incredible journey! Wish I'd have known when he was passing through Idaho!
 
He made it!

He made it!

Congratulations Norman & Roxy!

Norman's gyro was dubbed Roxy for its registration letters G-YROX

This is a man of faith, for sure in the Rotax engine.
I asked Norman what would become of G-YROX? was it destined for a museum?
Norman replied"I intend to keep flying it, stickers and all.

I believe this man has earned a fresh new MTO (from Autogiro) and a "Thank you" engine from Rotax. And Roxy should get some rest in Oshkosh or the Smithsonian.
We should start a petition.

Norman and myself during his 3 day stay at Lansing, IL.

Norman and his mascot (my) "Roxy" the Boxer.
 

Attachments

  • hair mod.jpg
    hair mod.jpg
    74.6 KB · Views: 0
  • roxy mascot.jpg
    roxy mascot.jpg
    133.3 KB · Views: 0
Last edited:
He did it. So happy
 
Um... say 'CONGRATULATIONS!' to Norman :hail:
 
Close up pix of M&M

Close up pix of M&M

For those who were not able to visit with Norman as he rounded the globe, I offer some pictures I took during his stop here.

Norman stayed at my son's house while he was here. Mike had the brilliant idea to have Norman autograph his globe. I suggest Norman draw his path around the world, Norman responded by detailing the trip on the globe and George Smundin captured the talk with video on his cell phone. The cell phone saga is a long one and will eventually be posted up on You Tube.

1) Minutes after landing at KIGQ "Roxy" rests in the historic Ford hangar.
2) Norman was quick to remove his dry suit as it is waterproof and was quite hot on this stormy day. Norman's route paralleled 2 tornadoes, they were 10-20 miles south of his easterly heading.
3) The nose art
4) The highly reliable Rotax 4 cylinder, 4 cycle engine.
5) Norman's rather crowded cockpit.
6) A tribute to the British Rotorcraft Association.
7) Vertical tail fin art.
8) Aft body art and tribute to the PRA.
 

Attachments

  • 20150616_125917.jpg
    20150616_125917.jpg
    133.3 KB · Views: 0
  • 20150616_130003.jpg
    20150616_130003.jpg
    126.7 KB · Views: 0
  • 20150616_130206.jpg
    20150616_130206.jpg
    129.7 KB · Views: 0
  • 20150616_130232.jpg
    20150616_130232.jpg
    137.5 KB · Views: 0
  • 20150616_130137.jpg
    20150616_130137.jpg
    127.9 KB · Views: 0
  • 20150616_130251.jpg
    20150616_130251.jpg
    132.2 KB · Views: 0
  • 20150616_130300.jpg
    20150616_130300.jpg
    128.2 KB · Views: 0
  • 20150616_130549.jpg
    20150616_130549.jpg
    130.2 KB · Views: 0
Last edited:
perhaps someone can talk us around his instrument pannel
 
Does anyone care?

Does anyone care?

I sure do not understand the lack of enthusiasm around here.
This is probably the most important thread I have ever seen for promoting gyroplanes.
 
I sure do not understand the lack of enthusiasm around here.
This is probably the most important thread I have ever seen for promoting gyroplanes.

Not at all Tom .... I think there is (was) plenty of enthusiasm .... trouble is Norm had several starts and stops , there were several threads here on this forum when he began , and then lengthy silences , I actually thought he had quit.

But Norm himself failed to provide advance publicity .... I think he could have had some crowds in some cities if advance notice was given , he could have made a point of visiting the gyro hotbeds in USA , by the time we heard he was in Canada he was already in the High Arctic.

In other words the marketing publicity sucked big time .... independent cancer groups and gyro guys would have put out the red carpets and called all the TV stations every place he landed .... but it is like he went mostly in stealth mode.

I am with you all the way Tom , I wish there had been more publicity , esp considering he was trying to bring public awareness to things like the bowel cancer he survived , as well as gyros

Anyway , thanks Tom , for all the pictures and your hospitality .... at the time I was hoping the Chicago weather would turn crappy for a few days and you could have kept him there longer.
 
I have enjoyed Norms flight from the start and thought it was great.
 
Hi Tom,I agree in what you say,however isn't strange that members like Ron and others for example steer away from this website because of the negitivity yet do not comment on the positives like what Norm has achieved.
Kym.
 
Some of the old timer gurus could do with acknowledging the achievement of Norman and his nine year old Auto-Gyro MT-03 too.
 
Sadly a lot of the old guys don't hang out here much. I was asked not to post about gyroplane characteristics until I have more time so I don't hang here much until then. What's the point if I cannot help anyone with what I've learned here?
Gee's Greg G, Tim O, Ron, Kai, Leigh, Udi, Stan, me, Gabor, ScaryGray, Tom... man the list goes on and on. We were all here several times a day when the forum was so much different and fun to ask questions.

We come here so much less that we miss many posts or there would be many more posts on this thread as there was when we were all here.

I was just lucky to see it.
 
Last edited:
'Old timers?'

'Old timers?'

Why the just the 'old timers?' Haven't seen much support from anyone apart from the few stalwarts, especially in the UK. In fact, news of his Thailand mishap came through while I was counting the out the collection tins at Popham Microlight Fair in 2010. The total of almost £50 raised was met with a snide remark from one of the NG crowd of 'he'll need more than that to fix it.' Says it all really. Embarrassing.

What does it matter if you're an old hand or a newbie? A very brave man has persevered for 5 years, overcoming some serious setbacks (which would’ve defeated most of us) to complete one heck of a solo voyage, while dangling from a free spinning rotor. Not to mention all the records he's broken along the way. It was one of the few remaining aviation ’firsts’ and it happened right in front of us. We who come here because we allegedly share the love of the free spinning rotor.

I’m old school and proud of it - I don’t like MTs and flying by numbers, but I’m a gyronaut and as such, I’ve nothing but total respect and admiration for what Norman has achieved. :first:

To battle through cancer, learn to fly and then scoot off round the world on your own - wowsers! How many of us have that kind of fortitude? I certainly don’t.

Celebrate his safe return instead of trying to stir the pot - in fact, redeem yourself by making a donation.

https://www.justgiving.com/gforgyro/
 
Began watching Norman's progress from the time I first saw this thread and learned about his flight. Unfortunately, since I'm a newcomer to this forum that was late June, after I got back from ROTR. By then he was well past us out here in fly-over country.

Had a great time flying an MTO at ROTR while taking some lessons with Desmon. That was only an hour at a time. However, flying 470 miles over nothing but ice cubes and polar bears, or glaciers & fjords in rain, low cloud & lurking fog in a composite sardine can with bag of gas in the back seat and a whirly thing on top.....that's pretty incredible! And that's only the last few legs of the journey.

It's too bad there wasn't more publicity here in the US to draw more attention to the flight and the cause. But that takes a lot of legwork to get the word out. A daunting task even for the big organizations.

He's probably glad to be home.....but wondering, "What do I do now?" How do you top that one?
 
I got permission to promote Norman's arrival in the Chicago area by his logistics crew in Egypt. There were several aspects of this flight that made media involvement nearly impossible.
I contacted several TV, radio and print media outlets in the Chicago area and found out that this would be a difficult thing to pull off.
Mid morning, Norman is on the ground in Oshkosh, WI. surrounded by rain, departure time?? Suddenly, he is in the air. Rain shower areas dot his path all 225 miles to us. Rain and storms will be increasing as he heads south. Tornado warnings for our area. Media wants to know when he will arrive at Lansing (I thought he wouldn't, choosing an alternate airport) I told the media I'd let them know when he gets close.
TV 9, WGN says they may have enough ceiling to get their traffic copter up for a video flight of Norman along Chicago's skyline, the visibility and ceiling numbers are poor. I give the media Norman's monitored frequency. A rain free corridor opens up West of Chicago and Norman is now 60 miles West of the shoreline. All traffic copters are on the ground and have no interest in heading to an active tornado warning area. Norman continues south toward the tornadoes. The line of extreme weather if passing 10 - 20 miles south of the course he will eventually make to Lansing. The cells and tornadoes are rain shrouded and Norman later told us he saw a wall of black alongside of his course for the last 30 miles.
As he kept coming, we quit watching the SPOT Tracker and went outside to see a bright yellow MTO fly right over the airport. airport management was notified that he might be coming in. (they were told earlier, of a possible stop)
Not knowing Norman's fuel status, we guessed he might be taking advantage of his weather window to out run the storms and land at an airport much further East. I was guessing he probably had another 200 miles of fuel when he flew past.
Just then, my handheld radio crackled with a rare sounding call sign and Norman was seen turning on a long final.
After landing, and assurance he would be around for a little while, the local media was on scene and our village Mayor came out to greet GYROX.

If we could have guaranteed a flight path and ETA,and had better weather, we probably would have had total media coverage. I kept our chapter members informed of Norman's progress and that we were going to dine with him, all were invited. Sadly, just a hand full of our club members took enough interest to stop by and meet Norman during his 3 day stay. I was surprised at the lack of interest shown by my gyro friends. They were the losers.
 
Last edited:
Top