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Return To L.A. - Day 2... Lincoln, NE to Laramie, WY...
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- Опубліковано 29 жов 2023
- Oshkosh 2022 Adventure (9) - Returning home - Day 2
The day started a bit slow. I did make it to the airport early as usual, but my destination airport was under Marginal VFR, so I decided to wait until things clear out. When you think about it, the Marginal VFR, by itself, is not a big deal, but some other airports in the area were in IFR condition, so I had to be cautious, especially since I am not familiar with the area and its local climate.
Around 7:30 AM Kearney, my destination airport, turned to VFR, so I decided to launch. Pulled the gyro out of the hangar, completed my preflight procedure and strapped in. Since Lincoln Airport is a Charlie facility, I had to contact Clearance Delivery before calling Ground and proceeding with my taxi, so I was pleasantly surprised when the same person was manning both frequencies. I was given Rwy. 35 for departure, and in typical Charlie fashion, I was given a heading to maintain until I was out of the airspace.
Nebraska is flat, so I settled in cruise mode, couple of thousand feet above the ground, just below the scattered layer of clouds. Marveling the green fields all around, I did not notice when it was time to prepare for landing at Kearney Airport.
Kearney itself is a very nice airport with large hangar for transient aircraft, and I was told it was fairly easy to make it to the local hotels.
The cycle of “Fuel, Bathroom, Go” started here, and was to be repeated at every airport I stopped that day. After departing from Kearney Airport, I followed the Platte River to North Platte Regional Airport some hour and a half away. It is interesting to notice that although Nebraska is flat the terrain climbs steadily from East to West. That same feature, in reverse was so welcome on my trip to Oshkosh, and now I was slowly but surely reminded that with every passing mile I am venturing deeper and deeper into high density territory.
North Platte is another outstanding airport with a friendly and welcoming FBO.
During the next leg I started noticing that the green fields were giving way to brownish grass land. Not all at once, but you can start seeing how the green fields were now restricted around sources of water like rivers, and lakes… and the sea of gently rolling hills was surrendered to the grass and the cows that graze on it.
My next stop was at Sidney Municipal Airport that boasted a respectable 4,314 feet of elevation.
During this stop I had to make a decision to stop at Cheyenne and wait for cooler air in the morning so I can get easily above 10,000 feet on my way to the West, or push to Laramie, which would leave the heist point behind me. Well, seeing how Hummingbird performed all day, I was confident that reaching Laramie would not be a problem. Yes, it was hot, but once in the air and at altitude, the temps came down to “normal”. Also, there was plenty of daylight ahead, and if push comes to shove, I could always divert to Cheyenne.
OK, Laramie it is then… That required a fuel stop at a small airport called Pine Bluffs Municipal (did not see any pines in the area, to be honest). As it turned out the events around that airport were to most exciting part of the flying day.
As I was approaching Pine Bluffs, I noticed a heavy rain cell to the north of my path, and as I was landing, I also noticed a somewhat unorganized rain cell no more than 10 miles to the North-West of the airport. By the time I finished my ground routine, that unorganized cell was becoming a monster, and was slowly moving to the East. Its slow easterly movement gave me enough time to take off and then set myself on course to pass to the south of it. It was a bizarre sight. The heavy rain was creating a water column coming out of the black cloud. What was very surprising though, was that there was almost no turbulence while I was skirting the storm, and once I was passed it, the headwinds returned.
Once I was West of the rain, my next goal was to climb to above 9,500 feet so I can get over the ridge between Cheyenne and Laramie. That ridge itself does not look like much, but that is because all the terrain around is already high. Hummingbird did not disappoint in her performance and right on que we hit the 10,000-foot mark and stayed there until we were over Laramie.
This was my second visit to Laramie, so I knew my way around the ramp. I asked for fuels, hangar for the aircraft, and a way to get to the local hotels. The fuel truck was there in no time, then I dragged the gyro to their hangar… and for the hotels, they gave me suggestions and a courtesy car for overnight. I call this a “fantastic service”.
As I was driving toward the city, I noticed the billowing thunderstorm clouds close to the area I just came from, so I was grateful they were not there when I passed earlier. With that thought in mind, I was satisfied with the day’s progress. Now, let’s recharge the batteries, and do it again tomorrow.
WANT! Thank You for recording, time editing and posting. Very enjoyable. Wishing you fair skies. Best Regards and Best Wishes!
Thank you for the kind words… and thank you for watching…
It does take a long time to process these videos, but it is rewarding when viewers enjoy them, and allows me to relive the experience multiple times…
Great Video... Jerry
Thank you for watching...
I am really enjoying your cross country video diaries. The view from that Gyroplane is absolutely stunning. I was wondering if you have Autopilot in your gyro, and what exactly does autopilot do in a gyro. Keep up the Great work.
Thank you for watching.
No autopilot on this machine. There are very few high-end machines sporting autopilots, and, I have not talked to a serious gyro flyer yet who sees any benefit from having one.
My airport-to-airport legs are fairly short, and flown in good weather conditions, so there is no task saturation to worry about, like some pilots experiemce when shooting instrument procedures... besides, I love flying, and controlling the aircraft. Also if your stick is properly trimmed, you only need two fingers to control it, which eliminates fatigue as a factor in wanting an autopilot.
To answer you other question about what an autopilot does in a gyro... exactly the same things it does in any other machine - it mimics the human controls based on inputs from various sensors and avionics devices.
Thank you so much for your detailed answer. I have taken one flight in a gyroplane so far (a Cavalon) and absolutely loved it. I really think I would enjoy the front/rear seating arrangement you have in the Callithea however, with the extra ordinary views. I just wish the Gyroplanes were a little more affordable.@@lagyro
I hear you about the prices... 30-40 years ago a middle class family could efford a standard airplane, and those today are close to a million bucks. Aviation is not cheap... not cheap to research, to build, test, certify, sell aircraft. Hopefully flying clubs and partner owners can help...
When it comes to the tandem seating configuration, I am reminded that there is a reason why fighter jets are configured the same way... ;)
I missed day 1. Thanks for taking me along with you on your trip.
Day 1 and the days going East are available on my Channel... take a look and let me know what you think...
Hello Jerry from Florida whats the name of the NAV software I heard saying Approaching Rwy 35 3500 feet remaining or so please thanks
This looks very relaxing. I'm curious...what is the speed of takeoff and landing, and about how fast do you fly at cruising speed?
Most modern gyroplanes have similar speeds. Climb out and approach speed is 55 knots (65 MPH). Cruise speed is between 65 and 80 knots.
On this trip I found myself often cruising at close to 90 knots…
When it comes to the camera, it is a 360 degree camera that captures the world all around. Then, in post production i use a software to flatten the video by pointing to the stuff i want shown.
So, to the viewer it looks like someone is moving the camera.
Is there a standard height for gyros doing cross-country trips like yours ?
Do you mean standard altitude to fly cross country in a gyroplane? There are no specific altitudes prescribed for gyro flying, but there are some consideration that I take into account on my trips. In general, I, personally, am OK with flying at any altitude from couple fo hundred feet above the ground to few thousend feet, as long as the local conditions call for it. Wind at various altitudes would be taken into consideration, local terrain, controlled airspace, gliding to dry land when crossing bodies of water, etc.
Of course, safety is the number one consideration as far as I am concerned.
It looks as if your stick has a good amount of vibration. Does that get tiring? I think that would bother me.
Rotorcraft, in general, deal with a fair amount of vibrations, and balancing the rotor system is important in order to attempt to reduce some of these vibrations. That being said, my videos are not a good example of the actual vibrations because there are many factors that contribute to the visual appearance.
Bad vibrations would probably be annoying on a long flight, but I don't rememebr a case when I landed with an ache caused by the vibrations. My grip on the stick is never firm, so most of the vibrations are easy to ignore.
I would recommend taking a demo flight from a local gyro instructor, so you can see yourself the extend of the stick vibrations, and determone if those can be a factor in keeping away from enjoying a fantastic flight on, what I call, a "magic carpet"... ;)
Can a gyro do IFR? I know you are allowed night with the right equipment and training, just don't about IFR and IMC.
Gyros are not suitable for IFR according to the FAA.
From personal experience, you can tell you that the ability to fly slow allows gyros to get away with flying in marginal weather conditions, but that is taking a big risk, and it is done at one’s own risk…
LOVE THE VIDEOS, BUT? Where are day 3 and day 4 of the return trip?
I am still working on these two days...
It takes a great effort to prpoduce these videos, and this is not my day job, belive it or not... ;)
The raw 360 degree footage takes the longer to convert to useful material, then the assembly of the intial video. Then the editing, trying to make it entertaining to the non-pilot crowd, while retaing the value for the pilots who understant the matter from personal knowledge. Cutting the video to manageable length, while keeping all key moments in the storyline is a balancing act...
I am fully committed to publish the entire trip, so stand by for more adventures - two excitment packed days are coming up... ;)