Who is looking forward to Oshkosh 2011? We are too! Make sure you come visit us if you are going. We will be in booth 9. Once you go in the main gates, turn left and we are one of the first booths on the left side. We should have some cool aircraft in our booth. Unfortunately we probably won’t have any wireless headsets there because I am going to be holding down the fort back at Airgyro. We are working really hard to get our improved second version finished and tested. I really wish we could have them at Oshkosh but the timing just was not there. We are making good progress and look forward to showing you what we have done soon.
I hear that there are going to be Gyro Demo-Flights at Oshkosh. Make sure you ask Mike or Nate about that. They are hard to get these days so don’t pass up the opportunity if you are there!
I have been out here in Lakeland Florida for the Sun ‘n Fun Airshow. We have a booth inside Hangar E where we are selling the Mach 5 Wireless Aviation Headset. I say we, but I (Jake) came out alone this time since we have a lot to do at Airgyro. So far the weather hasn’t been very conducive for an airshow. We have had BAD weather. Especially today! I feel very lucky that we are set up in a hangar and don’t have an outside booth. My heart goes out to the people and businesses who own the aircrafts that were damaged today.
There was a severe thunderstorm that came through the Airport here at Sun ‘n Fun. The severe part passed through fairly quick, but left behind a lot of damage. According to the news there have been at least 4 confirmed Tornado sightings in the area.
I have never been through weather anywhere close to this. I thought that the micro-bursts that we have every couple of years in Utah were really bad, but they won’t seem so bad after experiencing this storm. It was raining some this morning when I drove from East Tampa where my hotel is to Lakeland to get set up for the day. I had heard that there was a Tornado watch the night before and that there would be one for some of the day today. But it really didn’t look like it was going to be that bad of weather so I didn’t pay much attention to it.
A little before Noon things got pretty weird with the weather. I was pretty busy talking to prospective Mach 5 Headset buyers and didn’t notice until things outside the hangar doors got super dark. It looked like it was the middle of the night outside. I couldn’t believe how dark it was. Real soon after that the rain started to come down. HARD. The wind started to pick up fast. We had to close all the hangar doors because it started to get real bad. From there it was just sounds and a little shaking. Luckily we were in a steel beamed hangar that is supposed to withstand hurricanes so there wasn’t much reason to worry, but there were some kids and girls crying that were scared. The rain/hail/thunder was really loud. The lights flickered some, then went out. It was fairly dark, but there are sky/storm windows in the ceiling so we could still see all right. It lasted for less than 15 minutes but it felt like a lot longer. When things died down we took a look outside and were pretty surprised at what we saw.
Hangar E is pretty far away from the other hangars and aircraft displays, but there were some big trees around us that had blown over, one on a van. The large display tents were all collapsed. But the real damage was out where all the airplanes were displayed. Unfortunately it wasn’t spread out evenly but a few businesses had several aircraft destroyed or damaged really bad. Aviat Aircraft (they make the Husky Airplane) got hit really hard. There was a Husky on Floats that was upside down. Three Air Cams were either destroyed or damaged really bad. In total the reports say there are over 40 aircraft that were damaged or destroyed. I have a couple crappy pictures that I posted on the Airgyro Facebook page and the Airgyro Twitter page. I posted a news video below that gives you a lot better idea of the scene soon after the storm hit.
There were reports at that point that another storm cell as big as the one that just hit was going to come through in half an hour to 45 minutes. So we headed back to the hangar and hung out for a while longer. Luckily that one seemed to pass around us and we just got a little more rain a wind, but nothing like what had just hit. After that there was just a lot of rain.
Here is that video:
The good news is that the Sun ‘n Fun Airshow will go on. They are opening back up tomorrow bright and early. The Volunteers have been working really hard and cleaning things up for tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be nice for the weekend so hopefully we can have a good show for the rest of the time.
Yesterday heath came down to show off his new Sky Arrow Airplane. He was nice enough to take Mike and then me on flights. I have to say I had a really good time and really like that airplane. You can go really slow and the visibility is amazing. I could see using that for great Aerial Photography pictures. The airplane is a pretty slow flyer, closer to our LSA Outback airplane, rather than most certified airplanes which will cruse a little faster, but I think the visibility makes it a more enjoyable airplane to fly.
Here is a video I took with my Android phone:
Congrats on your purchase and thanks for the flight, hope to be able to fly in it again.
The amazing Sparrowhawk Gyroplane that we have had listed on our website has been sold! We are really excited for its new owner. He has already been out taking some lessons in it and is really enjoying this new venture. Two cool things about the new owner…He put a deposit on it and came out to purchase it before ever flying in a Gyro, and He is a Hot Air Balloon Pilot.
We do have a very nice white Gyro for sale and are still in the process of building a gold gyro that will be super nice. Let us know if you are interested.
So I am here in Florida getting ready for the Sebring US Sport Aviation Expo starting tomorrow. I am excited to introduce the Mach 5 Wireless Aviation Headset to the Market! We had some info on the headsets up on our Airgyro website, but recently launched the Mach 5 Wireless Headset website. Check it out at www.Mach5headset.com. I had a long flight on the commercial airlines to get here and was really glad I was able to get some good use out of my Mach 5 Wireless headset.
If any one is down here in Florida for this show, make sure you stop by and say hi.
I have been doing some work on making our Facebook Page better. I have also been trying to integrate all the Social Media stuff together so that I can keep everyone better updated on what is going on here. We have some really cool projects and I hope to be able to keep you better updated on them. To keep updated, please follow Airgyro on Facebook and/or Twitter. To make this easier, there is a Facebook box and a Twitter one on the side of our blog. Click on the Like button for the Facebook one, and click on AirgyroAviation or Join the Conversation in the Twitter box, then once you are at the twitter page click follow (you may need to login first).
I just wanted to do a quick post to make sure everyone knows about Rotors over the Rockies. It is the Utah Rotorcraft Association’s fly-in / annual event for this year. It is going to be at the Brigham City Airport . It will be a good time for any who can come. Mike Burton our Cheif Pilot and Gyro CFI will be doing some forum presentations and most our crew will be there for the majority of the time. I hope that we are at a point that we can at least bring the SparrowHawk that we are building. I don’t think we will have it flying by then, but should be pretty close.
For anybody looking at buying a top of the line two seater gyroplane….we have one for you. This is pretty much the nicest Sparrowhawk Gyroplane that has been built! If anyone doesn’t agree with this, then send me some pictures of a nicer one and I will retract that statement.
To get information on this incredible gyro, visit Airgyro Aviation’s website and click on the For Immediate Sale link……or just click HERE.
So we have been without a Gyro of our own to train in for a couple months now. We sold our last Sparrowhawk. We have been trying to decide what to do. A couple weeks ago we decided to buy a SparrowHawk kit that was not completed. Well, it actually only had some of the frame together. So we are in the process of constructing a SparowHawk Gyroplane. We are excited to have this to work on for the next couple of months. When it is completed we will be giving instruction in it, but it will also be for sale. So if you are interested in either receiving instruction or buying a newly completed SparowHawk Gyroplane, give us a call.
I will try to post some construction pictures from time to time. Mike Burton is doing most of the building with the help of Nate here and there. It will be a very well built machine when it is done!
Finally some good news….We are sending Mike to go pick up our Da-20 Eclipse (Katana) airplane tomorrow (Thursday). We should be back in business on Monday of next week. So those that have been waiting for this plane to return, to either finish your private license, start or work towards your instrument or just to rent and have some fun, give me a call. We are excited to have it back in service.
On another note, the Outback 2 Light Sport Airplane is down for it’s annual inspection. That might take a week or two.
We have a lot going on here at Airgyro Aviation. Some people come here for flight training and want to be updated on what aircraft are available and what ones are down for maintenance. Some may be interested in the products we are or have developed like our new Mach 5 Wireless Aviation Headset. Some people just love aviation and like what we are trying to accomplish. So we hope to be able to have better communication and customer participation through this blog.
