GyroDoug
Active Member
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2005
- Messages
- 3,664
- Location
- Layton, UT.
- Aircraft
- Butterfly Super Sky Cycle
- Total Flight Time
- 15
I just have to tell this story! I hope some of you will enjoy it.
I have long been bitten by the flying bug (all my life really) but that is not true for my wife. She honestly has NO desire to fly in any fashion. She has flown on commercial transports plenty and doesn't hate the experience, but gets no thrill out of it, what so ever. She has also flown multiple times in the smaller turbo prop commuter transports and had a bumpy and less than pleasant experience so she has come to the conclusion that anything smaller than a jumbo jet is smaller than she wants to fly in. Since that concept is so foreign to me and the opposite of my attitude, I have tried for years to try to tempt her into experiences in rotorcraft.
Two years ago at our Rotors Over the Rockies Event I was able to get her a ride in an MD helicopter. It was a beautiful machine and she even got to ride in the co-pilot seat so she could get the best view possible. She came down from that ride saying it was bumpy and scary and she never wanted to go through that again. I just shook my head and couldn't believe she could view this whole flying experience so differently than I did. To her credit, even though she has no interest in flying herself, she knows how important it is to me and has always been very supportive of my efforts to fly. (Thanks hon, I love you) She even attends some of our local chapter events and tries to support me in that or any other way she can.
Well, this year we had our annual Sept. BBQ event down at the Airgyro hangar and she came with me. After a quick meeting we went out to the hangar and started to BBQ some burgers. Once we had all eaten our fill, Brian pulled out his Sparrow Hawk and started giving some rides to those that wanted to. Since I never stop trying to encourage my wife to get more involved in gyro flying, I suggested that she should accept Brian's offer and she should go take a ride in his beautiful machine. She was understandably less than enthused about the idea and declined the offer. Shortly after that I got called away from that conversation by another member and we ended up moving off to the side and discussing another topic. When that conversation was completed I moved back to the table where my wife was and found that some of the other members of our group had taken up the cause and were trying to convince my wife that she should take Bryan up on his offer.
Emboldened by the others efforts, I started in with renewed enthusiasm and started putting some pressure on her to give it a try. Well, not wanting to refuse now with everyone watching we got her to start towards the machine but she wasn't very happy about it. I didn't learn until later just "how unhappy" she had been at that moment but she was honestly afraid of the experience and really didn't want to participate. She told me repeatedly, "Doug, I really have NO DESIRE to do this." To which I responded, "Honey I know you have no desire, but just do it anyway, for me". Well, in an effort to seem supportive of me and with everyone else encouraging her so strongly, she went for it. Later she told me how her hands had started to shake and how uncomfortable she had really been with the whole deal. But being the trooper she was, she overcame her fears and decided to give it a try.
I have pictures of her sitting in the Gyro, emptying her pockets and getting ready to go. Then she looked up at me and there was some serious concern on her face, but I was just so excited that she was finally going to get a ride in a gyroplane that I wasn't being very sensitive to her feelings at the time. She was going up with my CFI instructor "Mike Burton" who was told to take it easy with her as she was very nervous about the whole deal. Mike is an incredible instructor and very good at reading people and understanding what they need. Mary told me later that the way Mike talked to her and explained everything that was happening, made her calm down quickly and before she knew it she was enjoying the experience.
She was amazed at how smooth the flight was in a gyroplane and she didn't feel any of the bouncing around she was expecting to feel in such a small aircraft. She really enjoyed the ride and although she is not ready to start working on becoming a gyro pilot herself or telling me to get a two place machine so I can take her up on a regular basis, she feels totally different about flying in a gyroplane than she did before. My favorite picture of her experience is of her once they have come to a stop back at the hangar. Everyone is going out to meet her and she has that famous "Gyro Flying Grin" on her face. It turned out to be a great experience, she was able to overcome her feeling of fear and have a surprisingly enjoyable ride in a gyroplane.
After that I was feeling so good I just had to go and do the same thing. I didn't get a picture of me getting out of the gyro but I am sure I had that same "Gyro Flying Grin" that she did. Does life really get any better than this?
I have long been bitten by the flying bug (all my life really) but that is not true for my wife. She honestly has NO desire to fly in any fashion. She has flown on commercial transports plenty and doesn't hate the experience, but gets no thrill out of it, what so ever. She has also flown multiple times in the smaller turbo prop commuter transports and had a bumpy and less than pleasant experience so she has come to the conclusion that anything smaller than a jumbo jet is smaller than she wants to fly in. Since that concept is so foreign to me and the opposite of my attitude, I have tried for years to try to tempt her into experiences in rotorcraft.
Two years ago at our Rotors Over the Rockies Event I was able to get her a ride in an MD helicopter. It was a beautiful machine and she even got to ride in the co-pilot seat so she could get the best view possible. She came down from that ride saying it was bumpy and scary and she never wanted to go through that again. I just shook my head and couldn't believe she could view this whole flying experience so differently than I did. To her credit, even though she has no interest in flying herself, she knows how important it is to me and has always been very supportive of my efforts to fly. (Thanks hon, I love you) She even attends some of our local chapter events and tries to support me in that or any other way she can.
Well, this year we had our annual Sept. BBQ event down at the Airgyro hangar and she came with me. After a quick meeting we went out to the hangar and started to BBQ some burgers. Once we had all eaten our fill, Brian pulled out his Sparrow Hawk and started giving some rides to those that wanted to. Since I never stop trying to encourage my wife to get more involved in gyro flying, I suggested that she should accept Brian's offer and she should go take a ride in his beautiful machine. She was understandably less than enthused about the idea and declined the offer. Shortly after that I got called away from that conversation by another member and we ended up moving off to the side and discussing another topic. When that conversation was completed I moved back to the table where my wife was and found that some of the other members of our group had taken up the cause and were trying to convince my wife that she should take Bryan up on his offer.
Emboldened by the others efforts, I started in with renewed enthusiasm and started putting some pressure on her to give it a try. Well, not wanting to refuse now with everyone watching we got her to start towards the machine but she wasn't very happy about it. I didn't learn until later just "how unhappy" she had been at that moment but she was honestly afraid of the experience and really didn't want to participate. She told me repeatedly, "Doug, I really have NO DESIRE to do this." To which I responded, "Honey I know you have no desire, but just do it anyway, for me". Well, in an effort to seem supportive of me and with everyone else encouraging her so strongly, she went for it. Later she told me how her hands had started to shake and how uncomfortable she had really been with the whole deal. But being the trooper she was, she overcame her fears and decided to give it a try.
I have pictures of her sitting in the Gyro, emptying her pockets and getting ready to go. Then she looked up at me and there was some serious concern on her face, but I was just so excited that she was finally going to get a ride in a gyroplane that I wasn't being very sensitive to her feelings at the time. She was going up with my CFI instructor "Mike Burton" who was told to take it easy with her as she was very nervous about the whole deal. Mike is an incredible instructor and very good at reading people and understanding what they need. Mary told me later that the way Mike talked to her and explained everything that was happening, made her calm down quickly and before she knew it she was enjoying the experience.
She was amazed at how smooth the flight was in a gyroplane and she didn't feel any of the bouncing around she was expecting to feel in such a small aircraft. She really enjoyed the ride and although she is not ready to start working on becoming a gyro pilot herself or telling me to get a two place machine so I can take her up on a regular basis, she feels totally different about flying in a gyroplane than she did before. My favorite picture of her experience is of her once they have come to a stop back at the hangar. Everyone is going out to meet her and she has that famous "Gyro Flying Grin" on her face. It turned out to be a great experience, she was able to overcome her feeling of fear and have a surprisingly enjoyable ride in a gyroplane.
After that I was feeling so good I just had to go and do the same thing. I didn't get a picture of me getting out of the gyro but I am sure I had that same "Gyro Flying Grin" that she did. Does life really get any better than this?