Where I live

[Georgi]

Found among my old pics. The fastest human at any gyro fly-ins . Guess who?

 

[Capt'n Gator]

The "SJ" resident 4 FW fly F-15E Strike Eagles - twin engine twin tail noisy beasts rather than the single engine single fin smaller F-16.

Had some of your "LN" 48 FW F-15s over my house earlier too - calling as CARD 31 Flight and ARIES 11 Flight, great noise.

I stand corrected F-15E Strike Eagles at SJAFB, you know, one of those fixed wing loud thingies, what do I know I'm just a rotorhead......

 

[MikeBoyette]

Found among my old pics. The fastest human at any gyro fly-ins . Guess who?

View attachment 1157836

That’s awesome. Thank you. That was a very very long time ago. I wish I could tell him so many things.

 

[okikuma]

Found among my old pics. The fastest human at any gyro fly-ins . Guess who?

View attachment 1157843

Interesting to see two Marchetti Avenger gyroplanes on either side of you Mike. I also notice that both gyroplanes have rotor blades that are not Skywheels.

Wayne

 

[MikeBoyette]

Interesting to see two Marchetti Avenger gyroplanes on either side of you Mike. I also notice that both gyroplanes have rotor blades that are not Skywheels.

Wayne

Yeah they both belonged to Steve Graves. Dad convinced him to put Dragon Wings on them. One of the sets paid for my training and ticket. The one with the Tall Tail flew very well and is what I trained on. The one with twin tails sucked. It was so unstable. He made me do my exam in the twin tail one. The first time dad and he test flew the twin tail one with Dragon Wings on it Steve was so used to only flying 45 mph max because of the Sky Wheels ballooning problem he almost had a stroke when dad pushed it to over 90mph. It was funny

 

[Mayfield]

So very true Mike. I pray

That was a very very long time ago. I wish I could tell him so many things.

So true Mike. I pray that the things I do now can, in a small way, make up for some of the things I did then

 

[Georgi]

Steve Graves was my first gyro instructor ( at El Mirage and then in Florida). To my shame, I've never heard, to this day, anything about him after his retirement party, where I bought his T-shirt (which is still a brand new)
On the left - a gyro instructor's money collector, on the right - some guy, trying to ignite a gyro movement in Russia.

 

[MikeBoyette]

Last I heard he was living in Missouri and is a kept man. His life partner is very wealthy, and she owns either a winery or a brewery or both. Last I heard his health wasn’t too good. I’ve been meaning to get his phone number from my dad. When I was younger, he was an awesome mentor. He always reminded me of a shaved down ape that somebody put in the Marine Corps.

 

[MikeBoyette]

Steve Graves was my first gyro instructor ( at El Mirage and then in Florida). To my shame, I've never heard, to this day, anything about him after his retirement party, where I bought his T-shirt (which is still a brand new)
On the left - a gyro instructor's money collector, on the right - some guy, trying to ignite a gyro movement in Russia.
View attachment 1157845
View attachment 1157848

I just looked at the shirt. I remember that. Did you ever hear that machine when he was running the 5 bladed Warp Drive. It sounded horrible. Like a Hoover vacuum was being raped by McCulloch chainsaw.

I truly miss Steve he was one of a kind. He was hard to like at first. He came to Florida and pissed everyone off with his stance that he was going to tame US Sunstate outlaws. Most of us had no formal training or even a log book. Up until he worked with FAA and got things changed the only way you could log training was to fly with Farrington in the 18a.

When he was done his eyesight was going and he told us all it was time to hang up his spurs. Which in it self was funny to hear coming from someone with a New England accent. Then I remembered he used to be a deputy in Montana. He said that when you start flying God gives you a bag of marbles. The marbles are taken one at a time everytime you mess up and don’t get killed. He handed Dad a bag with a few marbles in it and said here you can have the rest of mine. I’m quitting before I run out and he takes me.

 

[WaspAir]

If memory serves, he used to flat track a KR Harley.

 

[okikuma]

So very true Mike. I pray

So true Mike. I pray that the things I do now can, in a small way, make up for some of the things I did then

Yeah they both belonged to Steve Graves. Dad convinced him to put Dragon Wings on them. One of the sets paid for my training and ticket. The one with the Tall Tail flew very well and is what I trained on. The one with twin tails sucked. It was so unstable. He made me do my exam in the twin tail one. The first time dad and he test flew the twin tail one with Dragon Wings on it Steve was so used to only flying 45 mph max because of the Sky Wheels ballooning problem he almost had a stroke when dad pushed it to over 90mph. It was funny

Was Steve also a DPE gyroplane, correct? I recall some years ago seeing a video of Steve giving ground and then some fight instruction in the Marchetti at the old Farmington airstrip in Paducah, KY. At the end of the video, Steve hands the student a temporary Commercial Rotorcraft, Gyroplane certificate. Granted the video was edited, but it made it appear that the chain of events transpired in a very short amount of time.

Wayne

 

[MikeBoyette]

If memory serves, he used to flat track a KR Harley.

I did not know that of him. The first time I remember meeting him he showed up with the very first tandem Air Command. I was 17 and would save my money up during the year. I would buy rides during the fly-in because my dad was always too busy giving rides to fly me. I decided to fly with Steve. He didn’t know me then and had no idea I had been flying with my dad since I was four. We flew around and he asked if I would like to give it a try. Once I took the controls he had me do some maneuvers and realized I wasn’t the average passenger. He basically gave me a 1/2 lesson. I did three takeoff and landings. When we taxied up and got out. He told me to stick around. He started asking me questions to figure out if I was just a natural or had some kind of training. I told him who I was and he then asked why I wasn’t flying my own machine by now. I told him all of my training was from my dad and he wasn’t CFI. He followed me over to Dad and told my dad that I was good pilot and he would have no problem signing me off to Solo. Dad said please don’t tell him that. He already has a big head. He then told Steve that I had natural skill but lacked goo judgment and he would not let fly until that improved dramatically. I didn’t solo until I got out of the Army. I was 24. Later that Fly-in Steve ended up having a power failure on the upside down 582 and had off field landing that resulted in the machine turning over and laying on its side.

 

[MikeBoyette]

Was Steve also a DPE gyroplane, correct? I recall some years ago seeing a video of Steve giving ground and then some fight instruction in the Marchetti at the old Farmington airstrip in Paducah, KY. At the end of the video, Steve hands the student a temporary Commercial Rotorcraft, Gyroplane certificate. Granted the video was edited, but it made it appear that the chain of events transpired in a very short amount of time.

Wayne

Yes at one time he was one of only two in the US. He and Don Farrington. He was an Awesome instructor very laid back and nice. After I got referred back to him by another instructor to take my check ride that changed. It turned out Examiner Steve was a hard ass. The first thing he did was tell me to go preflight the machine. I went to the one I had been taking my instruction in. The one with the tall tail. He said nope that one is too easy. We are flying that one with the twin tails and no HS for the test. I hated that machine. It was unstable and was constantly trying to porpoise. He put me through my paces.

 

[okikuma]

Yes at one time he was one of only two in the US. He and Don Farrington. He was an Awesome instructor very laid back and nice. After I got referred back to him by another instructor to take my check ride that changed. It turned out Examiner Steve was a hard ass. The first thing he did was tell me to go preflight the machine. I went to the one I had been taking my instruction in. The one with the tall tail. He said nope that one is too easy. We are flying that one with the twin tails and no HS for the test. I hated that machine. It was unstable and was constantly trying to porpoise. He put me through my paces.

Obviously you are still around because of the excellent training you received from Steve, and for the strict but fair check ride.

Wayne

 

[GyroChuck]

Got my gyroplane PPL add on from Steve in 1994 at Shelbyville, IL flyin.

 

[WaspAir]

I flew his twin-rudder Avenger at Paducah back about 1990, and saw pictures of him on his KR Harley on his office wall (he was pleased that I could identify the model). He described much of his client base as unconventional (for aviation) types who wanted to jump directly "off the Harley and into the skies", as contrasted to Farrington's typical licensed pilot add-on rating seekers. I had recently added comm/cfi gyro with Don in the 18A at the time.

 

[Mayfield]

I got my gyroplane commercial from Steve and my gyro cfi from Don sometime in 1990 or 1991.

I also flew with John Potter to get a little night experience in the 18A.

Jim

 

[Mayfield]

I got my gyroplane commercial from Steve and my gyro cfi from Don sometime in 1990 or 1991.

I also flew with John Potter to get a little night experience in the 18A.

Jim

I should probably add that these were add on ratings. I already held the other ratings I have.

Jim

 

[MikeBoyette]

What length were the skywheels Mike?

They were 29 feet. The issue presents itself in lengths greater than 27 feet.