22 | February-March 2017 | Powered Sport Flying Gyroplane Adventure our ground speed was only around 60 mph even with the airspeed close to 100 mph. We continued on into New Mexico and all signs of human habitation just faded into nothing. The amazing scenery served to remind us just how big the usa really is. We passed what looked like multiple extinct volcanoes (well, we were hoping they were extinct) and found an enormous crater that appeared to have been caused by some long-ago meteorite strike. We headed towards Deming, and I saw that there was another range of mountains to cross. We spotted a gap and I headed for that, as it was pretty cold already at 6,000 feet and without the gap we’d need to be even higher. But although gyros do very well in turbulence, I should have known better than to head into what was really a wind tunnel. As we got closer, our ground speed went down and down until, although the airspeed was still 100 mph, the ground speed was less than 30 mph. We decided that, with it getting bumpier too, we’d better find another way, so I peeled off, but immediately got sucked into a significant downdraft. Even at full power, we were going down fast. Dayton took over at this point (every aircraft really should have an emergency Dayton), and got us out of it quickly. He got us over the mountains and we landed at Deming. The wind was so strong that he said we could land at zero airspeed, but in fact he over-cooked it a little and we ended up going slightly backwards as we touched down–not something I ever expected to experience. The airport manager told us afterwards that they have had four planes go down in the lee of those mountains on windy days, including a Cessna 182. So I guess gyros do pretty well considering. Leg 6–127 mi to Wilcox: After some muchappreciated (and in my case, much-needed) coffee and a check that the weather at least wasn’t predicted to get even worse, we headed due west to Wilcox and Cochise County in Arizona. The scenery was equally dramatic in Arizona, with scattered cumulus adding to the scenic views, dappling the landscape with constantly changing light. We could feel the lifting effects of the sun when in the patches of sunlight, and overall it was rather like riding a boat on the sea. Keeping the gyro straight and level was hard to do and it was simpler to imagine we were in a kind of boat, riding the swell in the sky and not worrying about the lift and sink we were constantly going through. The average was OK. It was remarkable to think that no-one ever sees the country like this. People are generally either at road level (though in many of the places we flew over there were no roads) or they’re at 35,000ft and unable to see anything in detail. Even light planes are a poor second since you have to be cooped up inside. We landed at Cochise County and
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