Anyone there yet?
Pics pics and pics please

How's it going guys? Have a blast and fly safely.
Pics would be appreciated.

X2...

I suspect we are gonna have to swallow our pride and visit 'over there' to see pics early on.

nothing to see there folks, move along, move along. already looked that place is dying a fast death.
there is a few pics on facebook.

Cannot say I am surprised... however it is always sad when things peter out... even if it is because of stubborn stupidity...

Its very typical not to have pictures from Mentone during the event. Tim O'Connor typically would be the main poster, but his work schedule conflicted this year and he is not here

We are all having a ball...lots of flying going on. Today we are having the figure 8 pylon race which I am looking forward to entering, then a spot landing contest and the Cluster Cluck egg drop.

I wish you southerners could experience Mentone . Though not as many people as previous years, the line up of gyros is very impressive. There is constant flying up here, and total flying hours would be very hard to top. Though there have been mire machines in the past when the economy was better, the pattern usually has several flying. Many wait for a lull in the flying, and as soon as it gets down to everyone on the ground, that silence in the air causes gyros on the ground to start up.

Mentone is lacking in the late evening bon fire atmosphere that Bensen Days can't be beat at, but air hours are hands down in Mentones favor.


Kerocooked hotdogs is happening today....but that's all on the home cooked menu!


I wish more southerners would make the trip up here like the northerners go south!

Thank you for the update Stan! Fly safely

I would love to make it up there, I still have family in Indy, but summer is our busiest time here at work, plus my busiest time here taking care of the property, Hopefully next year I can make it, it would be fun to fly around some of the areas where I grew up.

Sadly... Summer is my busy season also.

Atlanta is an AC market (not much need for heat)... folks down here are kinda like farmers... we make our hay while the sun shines.

As Elwood said... maybe next year... or the next...

Now pictures please...

saw a video on facebook, Stans cooking up the hot dogs... have a great time Stan.

Cool. It takes time for pics to show up on the forums. They are busy flying and if there is no reliable internet it takes probably weeks. The main thing is that they are having a great time and the event goes down safely.

Mentone is over and what a blast we all had.

Greg Spicola won furthest flown to Mentone award. He also won man and machine award.

Greg won 2nd in the pylon race. Craig Mcpherson won by just a slim margin.. I came in just a smidgeon behind Greg.

Congratulations Greg....you are my hero!

I went to check on P.M.s on the RWF and read into posts about Mentone. Seems to me by all accounts that there must be a change in direction for the organization if they want to survive. Even people who are not in the know point out the obvious. I feel really sorry for the guys who put their lives on hold for the event. It is a thankless job but boy to me it looks as if the market turned bearish and they have long positions. Do you watch your capital disappear or do you take your loss and go short? PRA is watching and waiting for the market to turn because they think the market is wrong. Ha!

Have there been any announcements about the board of directors election or is it a secret?

Interesting analogy of markets... I agree that the mainstream indices of the US markets are peaky and due for a correction (more than we have seen so far). I wrote a bunch of covered calls about 3 weeks ago... so far am up nicely.

Have not gone to RWF to read up on Mentone yet... will probably do so next week. Locally, our annual convention of GACarry.org (local 2nd amend organization) is this weekend.
www.GaCarry.org

.

I liked the PRA when they sent a magazine ... I could pass it around to other people to promote the sport .... cant do that with an electronic version

I think Dennis Fetters had it right .... every gyro he sold he also gave them a free 1 year subscription , I bet most of them renewed the next year , that is how you build a club

If PRA wants to expand , all they have to do is get modern gyro dealers to do the same ... but then again they would have to go back to the paper version

Plus they would have to get involved with the European Dealers , that is where the action is now ,

Just some thoughts from an old marketing guy


,,

How many of the new "euro gyro" crowd have even heard of the PRA?
Used to be that you built your own gyro, or bought and rebuilt a used machine, go training and worked your way up, gaining knowledge all the while,
Now all you need is a checkbook, and a couple weeks of training and now you are a gyro guy...with a brand new shiney high dollar euro gyro, if that's where the market is, we are in bad shape.

Scott- Exactly. Store bought gyro people....I get a kick out of their "build" threads. They comment working 12 hours doing inventory of parts....next week with assistance it's almost flying, and they are tired!.

No doubt they are nicely built, but myself personally, I only get out of something according to how much effort I put into it.

That being said, I received a lot of satisfaction building my Helicycle, but had I also designed and cut everything from scratch like Don and his RotorMouse or Gabor and his Behemoth.....the satisfaction would have been exponentially greater.

The trend is letting your wallet buy you into this sport, but you can't buy passion....and that I feel is one of the reasons for the decline in our sport.

You have to have zeal and passion for whatever you get into.

Just that it reminds me of the "Biker" hype of the 1990's, all of a sudden you could be a "biker" and be a bad-ass if you bought a Harley! The Real bikers, the ones who rode in all weather, wrenched on thier own bikes, fabed their own parts etc, were kicked to the curb by the New breed of store bought biker. Never mind half of these imbeciles that spent $25k on a Custom boutique bike, didn't even know when to use the front brake...Nothing about counter steering, just wanted to wear thier leather jackets, and goatees and sunglasess, and be a bad ass on the weekend.....I hope that the gyros don't go the same way.
The "Factory" did not even give a crap about you unless you were spending money on new stuff. Like paying the dealer to install gold encrusted "live to ride" eagles on your new bike....then you could pick it up at the dealer and put it back on the trailer.....

You are correct Stan, you cannot buy the passion, or the satisfaction.

All good points. At the same time a gyro put together in 6 days is visible and flying. A gyro being put together in the garage for 8 years does no good for the sport.