I had 27 at my home this morning....

Thankfully this is the only morning of the weekend for a freeze... by Saturday it will be in the 60's in the afternoon.

I will come out when it gets above 60, I didn't move to florida to be cold..lol

You're a woose Animal you just have to put socks on with your flip flops and you will be warm enough

when i lived in N.C. and was younger I rode my harley when it was 19 outside. got frost bite, now I am older and in Florida and well my warm bed with Cindi beside me, was so much nicer them going out when it was 43. yes I was up at 8 a.m. looked at the temp and said screw it,I will wait for it to warm up more. may go out in a bit since it's up to 54 now and getting warmer.

Enough of this Florida talk. If you want to stay warm you
need to move to North Central Arkansas Here is our current
weather
http://classic.wunderground.com/cgi-bin ... ATHER&MR=1
Yep the weather is a bit odd this year.

A brief outing this morning - at least Gabor got to take the next step with good brakes.
Then I did a few crosswind T&G's with Gordon

OUTSTANDING!!!!!

The Behemoth is reborn (again)... and will soon be ion the air, carrying Gabor to new experiences.

She felt really good. Just perfect.
The new brakes are fantastic.
I did some full length balancing with no effort.
Challenging gusting winds.
At one time I was going less than 10 M/H and my nose wheel was in the air!!!
9 KTS gusting to 12 variable from 290-340
I am a pussy and froze to death.
It was 49 degrees and I could not take much of this shit.
WOLVERINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like you are ready for the next step ... some long low lops ... fly-the-runway! When balance is effortless with gusting & variable crossy-winds ... you got the feel of the rotor!

As soon as you shake orf those icicles ... onwards ... UPWARDS!!!! WHOOOHOOO

Good work bro

NOW I'm curious ... Lofty ..... what did Chris Burgess have to say in his PM ... anything helpful you'd be willing to share here ... not so sure i'd ask @ the other place ... given the crap - rain that usually occurs there ... stifling any brave souls who dare to let it all hang out!

I'm sure many can learn from seeing - & relating! I know my video efforts have been a GREAT learning tool for me ... even if only from onboard ... as no one has taken any from ground-view!!

I can hear Vance ... already ... "work into your new wind limits crosswinds & gust spread" ... VERY slowly!!!

Yes, helpful comments. On a plane right now, off to Peru for a week. I will copy and paste his comments when I get to my laptop later

Chris Burgess's 2 responses to me - quite reasonable I thought
'Hey, Chris Burgess GYRO-CFI here. Just my observation here, only want to "suggest". Both landings you posted looked like the aircraft was not aligned well on touchdown. I suggest you carry power in any crosswind, especially in that wind. Looked like you had a right yaw on landing. Most gyros don't like to be landed cocked..!!! Carry power in ANY crosswind. Land with a little more shallow approach. Align the aircraft in the approach perfectly to the runway, do not wait to "kick out" the yaw. Align it and keep drift under control with rotor into the wind in the approach. This way there is no surprise when the aircraft touches down prematurely. As the aircraft slows down, rudder control will need to increase because it becomes less effective and the crosswind starts to hit the rudder from the side. This is when you get turned sideways if you haven't been paying attention. So, no idle engine landings in such a crosswind. You need that power over the rudders to keep you straight, the crosswind will be doing its best to turn the aircraft. It particularly likes to do that right at touchdown. And if all else fails, land across the runway directly into the crosswind. The landing roll in a gyro is short enough to allow that. Who needs a runway. Take care my friend.'

'Anyway. Those winglets on the rudder don't help you in crosswind. They want to make it crab/yaw. So you are fighting the crab the winglets want with the rudder as well. I've flown several RAF's with winglets and the Magni M-16 a lot. They all do not like a lot of crosswind. Sportcopter II made all three verticals to move in unison. That is the right way but makes things a bit more complicated mechanically. Your cabin also does not want to be in a slip (required for crosswind landings). In fact I strongly caution cabin gyro "guys" about coordinated flight. Very important in flight. They don't like "out of trim". So in landing, it becomes an issue because the cabin wants to cause yaw also. Just keep in power on all crosswind approaches and landings, even minor crosswind. Power off is for when you have a direct headwind only. If you have an engine failure, into the wind is very important then. But if you have a working/running engine, use power to assure you have good directional control. A lot of gyro roll-overs are a result of pilots not respecting the things I have told you. I don't want anyone to get hurt so just passing along my thoughts. Enjoy and stay safe.'

Loftus- I think you are flying way above average. Chris Burgess is a class act and I feel he is very tactful with his observations.


I enjoy seeing you and others having so much fun flying, and then sharing it.

It seems strange that I continue to enjoy my past that had lots of flying in it, yet equally look forward to my future which has no flying planned...

Thanks for that Lofty, and great comments from Chris.... not saying that you were doing anything 'wrong' as such, just could be a little 'righter'

Great advice, and well done to you, like Stan said

I think flying will always be a part of your life... regardless of whether you have 'the stick' in your hand or not.

IMO it is one of those bugs... that when it has bit and been scratched... the spot never heals...

On the 13th I'd like to test fly the Behemoth. Greg what are you doing that day?

you going to test it at Deland,or take it to Z-hills ?

DeLand

cool what time, would love to see ya fly.