What did you/do you do for a living to fly gyroplanes?

[RogerB]

Curious what everyone did/does for a living to be able to fly gyroplanes, especially considering how a euro gyro nowadays is north of the $100k mark.
If you have been in gyro's for a while what were you doing/did you do for a living to first get into them?

 

[Sv.grainne]

I bought a single place Aviomania, no where close to $100k.

Started training in 2020, built gyro in 2021, got Sport Pilot Cert 2023.

Retired DOD Civ, 2003.

Bobby

 

[MikeBoyette]

Been working in telephony my entire adult life. Started off in the army as a wire systems installer a.k.a. Cable Dog. Got out in 1994.

Worked as a contractor for a few years then got hired by GTE as an installer. A couple years later became a repairman doing trouble shooting for voice lines and DSL.

We merged with Bell Atlantic to become Verizon in 2001. In 2005 I joined a new group formed to install and repair a new fiber optic based system providing the fastest internet available, voice, and eventually television service like cable tv but much better picture quality and more channels.

In 2016 Verizon sold Florida, Texas, and California to a very small company from upstate New York called Frontier Communications. It was a very tough adjustment. They went bankrupt and had to issue completely new stock. They have turned it around and finally righted the ship. We no longer offer TV service (Thank God I hate TV). We offer up to 10 gig internet and VOIP service. I have been there 26 years and am currently out with a work related injury to my knee. I’m hoping to get back to work soon. This sitting at home is quite boring.

 

[RogerB]

Been working in telephony my entire adult life. Started off in the army as a wire systems installer a.k.a. Cable Dog. Got out in 1994.

Worked as a contractor for a few years then got hired by GTE as an installer. A couple years later became a repairman doing trouble shooting for voice lines and DSL.

We merged with Bell Atlantic to become Verizon in 2001. In 2005 I joined a new group formed to install and repair a new fiber optic based system providing the fastest internet available, voice, and eventually television service like cable tv but much better picture quality and more channels.

In 2016 Verizon sold Florida, Texas, and California to a very small company from upstate New York called Frontier Communications. It was a very tough adjustment. They went bankrupt and had to issue completely new stock. They have turned it around and finally righted the ship. We no longer offer TV service (Thank God I hate TV). We offer up to 10 gig internet and VOIP service. I have been there 26 years and am currently out with a work related injury to my knee. I’m hoping to get back to work soon. This sitting at home is quite boring.

That’s quite the career, good you focus on internet, don’t know too many people that still pay to watch propaganda on cable anymore

 

[Kevin_Richey]

Roger: I finally found an occupation that enabled me to afford to buy a used Sport Copter single seat model, the SC Lightning. New SC prices were too high for my wallet to afford.

I operated light rail trains for our local mass-transit district. All the overtime one wanted propelled me into such a financial position to afford to finally buy a Magic Carpet Ride, after waiting 20+ years to be able to afford one.

Was a bus driver initially for the first couple of years, while waiting for an opening as a train operator. Attended their light rail training course of several months, which I found as difficult as college-level coursework. We had to learn railroad terminology & systems. The emphasis was on how to not do something so stupid as to cause the death of fellow employees nor passengers as we operated consists, which are only two cars coupled together.

Every Friday, we had to pass the weekly exam w/ a grade of 84% (!) or higher, or we'd be bounced back to being a bus driver again. Everyone sweated bullets to pass those weekly do-or-die exams. Not all pass. One guy in my class broke down in tears when informed he had failed that Friday exam.

Driving a 40' city bus is nerve wracking enough, besides having to deal w/ that segment of society we call the "human cockroaches"...those passengers who do not have control of their tempers, mouths & behavior in public. The vast majority of them I'm sure spend their lives going through the revolving doors of jail & prison. So happy to be retired now!

When I first became aware of PRA Chapter 73 being formed by Chuck Vanek & his son, Jim, in 1988, the chapter monthly meetings were held @ the Scappoose airport, outside a t-hangar the Vaneks leased.
There were usually a half dozen gyros zipping around @ each of the mtgs. They all were all either Air Commands or Vancrafts.

I admit, I made it my business to contact each of those pilots to inquire into their occupations, to find out how they were able to afford to be owning & flying their own magic carpet ride!

All but one were some sort of business owner. They had sufficient cash-flow to afford their machines. A few of them said they wrote their gyros off as a business expense.

The one fellow who not a business owner was a maintenance worker in his field. So, he was an employee. I found out years later, from a chance encounter w/ his mother, several years after that son of hers has passed away at a relatively young age from cancer, that she had bought his gyro for him and that her son never paid her back for doing so. And, he was a heavy chain smoker. Had money for cancer sticks, but not to pay mommy back!

Chapter 73 membership has slowly withered on the vine over the years, for several reasons. They still meet @ Sport Copter's building @ Scappose airport. I stopped being involved in the chapter about 2-1/2 years ago, also for several reasons.

Attendance is now down to two people attending, the chapter president & the chapter secretary. One of them is giving serious thought to not attend anymore, also for several reasons.

 

[scottessex]

Back when gyros were only $7-$10k it was easier, but basically get a job, show up on time, and spend less than you make.

 

[WaspAir]

I bought my first gyroplane, a McCulloch J-2, for $20,000 over 30 years ago (inflation adjusted, about $47,000 today) with a bonus paid to me by a happy client after I saved them a big bundle of bucks. I had already been flying gliders, airplanes, seaplanes, and helicopters before then, and owned a used glider ($10,000 in1984 dollars, about $30k today).

Priorities are a really big factor.

 

[GyrOZprey]

Farmer Jim & I were life-long farmers...from different sides of the world when we teamed up in 1987. After raising 2 great sons, many crops, some cattle (my little herd of 20-30 cow-calf) and in later years lots of premium grass hay for zoo's & horse folks. .... we encountered the gyro world via Jim's very good friends the Downing family brothers Donald,John & Peter ...John being the gyro-fanatic. (live near Jamestown South Australia )...where Jim loved to spend time after our KS fall harvest was done ...helping those guys with their wheat /barley harvest and Road-train trucking!
In 2009 - Jim saw John flying his homebuilt gyro off their dirt runway in the sheep-pasture - just outside their machine-lot! he came home and said he wanted to get back into flying (FW PPL when he was 18-23)_ wanted to fly gyros ...when we were empty-nesters. SO began our flying journey ...first with the "Tiggy-B" fiasco in 2011 ...intended for a trainer & crop-sprayer (Yes it WAS a farm-implement tax -deduction!)
I soon realized after the interminable delays & setbacks ...it was never going to train either of us & we had met Desmon Butts with one of the first MTO's in the USA in 2011 and so we started training with him ...I was instantly hooked and bought my Butterfly single Aurora kit - to build and get my solo hours in.
Funny thing is TWO USA gyro brands (that we considered - back then) have very capable light & medium SINGLE place gyros - but totally FAILED to produce a GOOD 2-place production kit machine! ....and the CRAZY SAGA continues with one of them ....if you KNOW -YOU KNOW!!!
Of the course the Butterfly brand is an orphan now .... after Larry Neal offed himself!

Getting into the TAG Titanium Explorer - for the first machine ...I cashed in a long held whole life-insurance policy - as we had no debt and the boys were through college. Jim FINALLY had a great machine( designed for BIG-TALL GUYS) that he could comfortably finish his add-on training and check-flight in!
Jim & I were both from frugal -saving-minded families ...we owned older cars, & machinery ...paid cash for stuff, saved and did not need "new-stuff" and above all never had DEBT!

 

[Vance]

I own a Software Company (Santa Maria Software) that I started with a friend in 1988. I license proprietary software to run a motorcycle store. I used to drive around the country months at a time selling the software (Counterman) out of the trunk of a rental car while running a motorcycle store in California (Harley Davidson of Santa Maria). I sold the store in 2002 and kept Santa Maria Software. The partner is gone.

I live with my wife (Ed) in a small bungalow in Santa Maria that was built in 1915. After we purchased it we built two rental apartments in the back yard that we rent out to veterans. Ed still works.

I paid $22,000 for The Predator, a one of a kind two place tandem gyroplane designed and built by Mark Givans powered by a 135 horsepower Lycoming O-290. I replaced the O-290 with a 160 horsepower Lycoming IO-320.

Once I learned how to fly a gyroplane I became a gyroplane flight instructor.

I have made a lot of changes to the Predator to make her more suitable for training.

I love being a gyroplane flight instructor and I love sharing my love of flying with remarkable people.

It is nice to cover my gyroplane flying expenses.

 

[rcflier]

I am semi-retired and will be fully retired in about a month from now.
My gyro was at the time a good offer (on FaceBook of all places) and was bought (edit: Using) an inheritance (maybe, it is a bit blurry).

The last two years I've been working seasonally at sea, mainly on our line to Germany, ferrying tourists.
The extra pay together with cheaper ferry tickets made it just possible to earn my license without getting completely broke.

Unfortunately, the semi-retirement pay had a full reduction hour for hour, making the job not very financially giving.
But when I fully retire, I'll be able to keep my retirement pay plus the salary on top.... (go figure)

So I have great plans for this year. And I'll keep doing some work as long as I can.

Cheers
Erik

 

[Doug Riley]

At the time I built my first Bensen, I was a high-school kid. I clerked at the local hardware store, taught guitar, and did odd jobs such as lawn mowing and house painting. Needless to say, I pinched pennies on my gyro, buying used components from other nearby gyronauts, home-brewing as many bits as I could, and building my airframe using Bensen's individual-material packages. These sold for a dozen or two dollars each; for your money, you got pieces of just one or two items of metal stock: 3/4" 6061-T6 angle, or 6063-T5 angle (yup, the Bensen materials specs did call for that), nuts and bolts, etc. My junk 1500 cc VW bus engine cost a mighty $15, bought in a sketchy part of town.

For an investment of maybe $1200 and lots of tedious hand labor (such as hand-hacksawing plates and filing 'em down), I got a VERY plain gyro... that flew.




.

 

[ultracruiser41]

What did you/do you do for a living to fly gyroplanes?​

Work hard…… pay taxes……work hard…..etc…etc

 

[Mayfield]

"The details of my life are quite inconsequential... very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen-year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet." (Dr. Evil to his therapist. International Man of Mystery, (1997))

Vance: this is loosely (very loosely) classed as humor

 

[WaspAir]

Jim - did you invent the question mark? How do you feel about chestnuts?

 

[Sv.grainne]

"The details of my life are quite inconsequential... very well, where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen-year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet." (Dr. Evil to his therapist. International Man of Mystery, (1997))

Vance: this is loosely (very loosely) classed as humor

That explains why we hit it off when we met!

Bobby

 

[Mayfield]

Jim - did you invent the question mark? How do you feel about chestnuts?

No, darn it. But I almost voted for the guy that invented the Internet!

And for the three people on the planet unfamiliar with this genius speech:

"My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds- pretty standard really. At the age of twelve I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum... it's breathtaking- I highly suggest you try it." (Dr. Evil, 1997)

 

[Mayfield]

Sorry to blather on, but it just occurred to me that every person I like and who appears to like me, appreciates this quote! Interesting.

Jim

 

[RogerB]

Bit off topic there with the scrotum shaving and underage prostitute mother quotes there Jim but I’ll take it.
Reading between the lines, though unconventional if one religiously shaves their scrotum they can get a gyro is what I think you’re recommending from what I can deduce.
Checks out

 

[Mayfield]

Bit off topic there with the scrotum shaving and underage prostitute mother quotes there Jim but I’ll take it.
Reading between the lines, though unconventional if one religiously shaves their scrotum they can get a gyro is what I think you’re recommending from what I can deduce.
Checks out

"What we have here is a failure to communicate." (Luke Jackson, 1967)

 

[Aerofoam]

If she weighs the same as a duck.........