Curtis: It's been great to read of your enthusiasm showing your excitement about gyro flight.
Your best bet to arrange a bit of flight instruction is to contact several by phone now.
Because it is getting close to the convention, any instructor will definitely know if they will be attending w/ their two-place machine.
You have a few strikes against you for obtaining flight training by just showing up @ Mentone right now:
*This Covid-19 issue causing people as well as instructors to not be in attendance @ Mentone.
*This short time frame prior to Mentone to make arrangements w/ one or more CFIs.
*Training isn't really conducive while the event is in full-swing. Many instructors will tell you they want limited-to-no other aircraft utilizing the runway & pattern in a training situation. Mentone is buzzing w/ activity on Saturday, the busiest day.
*Most instructors prefer to train earlier in the week b/4 the weekend there, or @ Rochester airport nearby, w/ it's less traffic.
Strong suggestions from many here on the forum in the past is to call the instructors directly to see who will be there & check w/ them as to their training availability.
Try to schedule time w/ more than one instructors, to lessen your chance of getting no instruction if the one you made arrangements w/ turns up to be too busy w/ others @ Mentone to get to you, or, they cancel their travel plans @ the last moment, or while on route because of tow vehicle problems.
Your chances are high that you won't be able to get any training, due to the problems mentioned above. There usually are more people asking the gyroplane CFIs for an introductory ride for themselves & their family members than people wanting flight instruction.
Don't let that discourage you if that happens. There are always gyroplane CFIs present @ Mentone. Ask around as if your life depended on it to find them. Get to know every one of them you can, spending time w/ each. CFIs are generally a friendly bunch, full of knowledge. "Pick their brains" as the old saying goes.
Discuss flight training possibilities w/ each. Ask if they will give you ground instruction while @ Mentone. Make sure you pay for that ground instruction so that you don't waste a lot of their time.
Regular CFI instructor attendees @ Mentone include Steve McGowan w/ his "Black" Mazda-powered tandem, Greg Gremminger & other Magni folks, & the Autogyro folks & their dealers/instructors.
Face the fact that you will most likely have to travel out of your area for flight instruction w/ a gyroplane CFI. It is discouraging that the training for gyroplane instruction isn't as simple & inexpensive as a local flight school is for those who work for a living @ a job they are tied to for 40+ hrs. each week, w/ limited vacation time off work.
I had to travel over 2,000 miles from home for sufficient CFI flight instruction to obtain my "Junior" gyro rating, utilizing a week's vacation over two yrs. This was over ten yrs. back.
Now there are a lot more gyro-CFIs scattered around the country, making it a little bit less arduous. There was a gyro-CFI w/in 30 miles of me that had a training machine, but he was too busy running his business & employees to devote much time for instruction.
If you can find flight instruction in your local area w/ a CFI that has a tail-dragger airplane that has a stick (not a yoke) & a throttle on the left side of the cockpit (not on the instrument dash). Takeoffs & landings (including attitude of the airplane), & the general slowness of those older airplanes is a lot alike to flying our gyroplanes. Tricycle geared airplanes don't fit into this advice.
An Aeronca Champ or Piper Cub is that style. A few of the newer tail-dragger airplanes would also work that have a control stick & throttle in those mentioned positions.
That type of airplane instruction is also far less expensive than gyro instruction is for various reasons. Getting a slug of time in one of those airplanes will make you comfortable w/ the flight regimes of tail-draggers so that you can easily transition to gyro instruction. Your muscle-memory coordination will be tuned to gyro flying by doing this.
