Titanium Adventures ...Down Under!

[GyrOZprey]

My TE gyro-gypsy adventures around SE Australia is drawing to a close ...what a fantastic month ...47 hours on the new gyro ...about 3000 Nmiles flown! An absolutely stellar reception by the Down-under gyro community with magnificent hospitality + aid & abetting in my mission ... no matter what brand they fly!

I totally bombed my hopes to do daily blogging about the trip ... simply too tired - often, and huge frustrations with my laptop and the OZ internet!

Here's a few retrospective teasers ..... tomorrow I begin my trip back up off the balmy "Sunny-coast" ... over the GDR ... great dividing range - to my old home area of Stanthorpe.... then fly the gyro back down to TAG Aviation's test pilot Sam's place ...near Yass!

My first solo flight in OZ and my maiden flight in "Festy II"... red 914 was on April8th from Sam's place in the Yass river valley ... Sam flying along side in his neon yellow TE ... a day trip of 4.5 hrs flying up to some fellow gyro nuts at Wellington NSW ... I getting some practice in XC planning using the OZRunways AV-NAV maps! The hill terrain was very intimidating to start with ... after a couple of flights ... I began to really enjoy it!

 

[GyrOZprey]

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On Sunday I took two local friends (- from pre married life in KS) ... up in the local Caboolture area for scenic gyro experiences ... with Gail I flew around the spectacular glasshouse mountains then playing chase ...following a local TE owner ... Tony Enright ... showing Bruce some low beach flying out on the ocean beach of south Bribie Is. Another "Titanium convention" ... there at Caboolture SEQGClub ... THREE living in the hangar these two weeks!

 

[GyrOZprey]

Posting pics is a bore with this size limit! ... those on FB .... you can see the scenic pics there!

 

[Abid]

Very nice Chris. Enjoying this adventure. Fly safely.

 

[AirCommandPilot]

Living the dream!

 

[Txgyropilot]

Awesome Christine! Been following this trip on FB too, great stuff!

 

[Vance]

Thank you for sharing the joy Chris.

Your writing style helps me to feel right there with you.

What a wonderful adventure.

 

[Brent_Brown]

Chris is that a R22 body on a gyro frame parked next to yours in the photo you post above?

 

[GyrOZprey]

Chris is that a R22 body on a gyro frame parked next to yours in the photo you post above?

Yes indeed it is ... that is Robert Burton's homebuilt Robbie-cab Chevvy LS1 5.8 V8 gyro ... one of the reasons we flew up there that day for him to show it off ... to Sam ... looks like it flies nicely .. loads of power ... but very heavy gyro!

 

[GyrOZprey]

Yesterday I completed the "circle" ..... I had to depart Stanthorpe a 1/2 day early due to a weather front speeding up across my path... return-to TE home base @ Sam Polyaks place in Yass river valley! From Stanthorpe I flew west towards the town of Texas.... to get away from the "tiger-terrain "(rough range/forest terrain) that gave me such anxiety on the flight up!... on the western side of the ranges ... more civilized farmland & broad valleys ...made for a delightful flight to Gunnedah .... my night & refuel stop ...as my contact at SkyRanch for refueling had ended up in hospital for a couple of days ....15 mins farther was the town of Gunnedah with the nice airport right next to town ..... a call to the aero club to access the fuel cage and a call to a local motel.... I was all set ... got a ride to the motel with the refueling chap after covering the gyro on the tie-down area and grabbing my overnight gear ! Yesterday was a lovely stable-air flying day with a light tailwind high overcast cloud .... super magic flying weather for my last epic XC leg! Gunnedah to Wellington over the Liverpool range ..... I reflected how far I have grown as pilot navigating the unfamiliar range -terrain with MUCH less trepidation than a month ago! Relaxed enough on calm-air days to take pictures with my pocket camera. My nose-mount go pro H3 will run out of battery after about2.5 hours on the wifi ... so I can take short video clips from the dash mounted remote! At times I just had to pull out the pocket camera or new H5 go pro on a handle to take some video by hand!
I dropped into Wellington to visit with Mack who owns the hanger there housing his Airborne trike Bob B's gyro ( above) and another UL FW! .... we chewed the fat over several cups of tea & biccies about microlight aviation ... until it was time for me to top off my fuel and hop over to Larras Lee rural fire service strip on a hilltop near the junction of Bellcreek & Molong rvr ... there I landed to visit with an old friend (local farmer) ... who I'd not seen for 32 years ... but become Facebook friends several years ago! He & his family enjoyed my drop-in visit and we had a great catch-up ... for about an hour! To the south we could see some cumulous building ... so I said I'd better get going before the weather went bad on me! The last 1.5 hour flight to Sam's was bittersweet ... probably my last OZ fly with my lovely new TE gyro ...soon to be shipped back with 2 others ... and become my demo gyro in US.

 

[GyrOZprey]

Pics ... previous post Will Lee & his family Netta , Desmeralda & Harry on the Larras Lee RFS strip.

As I departed the strip ... took a pic of their homestead - next door to the strip! ...oops getting the file too big message again ... even in a new post??????? ...go to friendly FB ...eventually I'll get all this on my blog!

 

[GyrOZprey]

One last gorgeous day to fly .... decided to do the local triangle circuit of Tumut & Cootamundra .there were early morning fog-residue clouds ..."puffys" at 3500' .... very smooth air with a very light S wind ... it was hard to decide on a runway for landing /TO into the wind ... wind socks pretty limp! At Tumut I met Peter ..a newly minted FW (Jabiru) pilot and then Sue a student pilot at Tumut aero club ... we had a lovey chat talking aviation and then showing off the gyro ... I think a TIF and some lessons will be in Sue's future for sure!
At Coota ...John - a lifelong local was intrigued by the gyro ...asked many good ?s while I ate my lunch! Here are todays pics from the Tumut-Coota Yass riverValley & region flight! ...... eventually when I get back to decent computer & internet ..... otherwise those on FB ... can see!

 

[All_In]

What an adventure of a life-time!!! I've traveled the world but to fly a gyro would be so much more!!

I hope you write an article about it for Rotorcraft in PSF!!!
Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[GyrOZprey]

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Next shipment of Titaniums for USA nearing completion! Serial #'s 0035,0037& 0038 .... Aussie orders picking up especially the "Kelpie" model ... with mustering pack!

 

[CLS447]

How many sold in the good ol' USA ?

 

[Steve_UK]

this may help

http://titaniumgyrocopter.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/titanium-gyrocopter.html

or just search the FAA Register

 

[GyrOZprey]

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This week my " Aussie, April 2017 gyro-gypsy adventure tourer" Titanium Explorer with 914 ... "G462" ... now 456TE ... got A/W cert & now flying in US airspace! ... first 1.5 hrs flown off yesterday!

next up ...awaiting paperwork ( rego card) for the white "Kelpie" model going to Louisiana!

Upgraded with a color -coordinated truck ...to haul the "gypsy-wagon' ... 40ft toyhauler ... enough of the old 2000 F250 breaking down ..all the time!:tape::frown:

smartened up the wiring bundle up the mast with addition of loom!