www.PSFmagazine.com | March-April 2018 | 31 30 | March-April 2018 | Powered Sport Flying P +61 2 4944 9199 E fly@airborne.com.au airborne.com.au ADVENTURES ARE MADE EVERYDAY WITH AIRBORNE! Prices starting under $35,000 Airborne’s new M3 Sport, more comfort, excellent stability, 3 wing options. Dealer inquiries from established flight schools welcome. Pictured: XT-582 Ezy (front) , XT-582 Outback (back) Support Our Advertisers Gyro Adventures decide my GO/NO GO decision to fly my open-cockpit Titanium Explorer gyro vfr from Newton, Kansas to Sebring, Florida. My multiple goals were to visit friends in Florida who I would miss seeing at the annual gyroplane gathering at Bensen Days in April, attend my refresher Rotax engine service course at Lockwood, and, IF it all worked out, fly into Sebring for the Light Sport Aviation Expo, in order to exhibit my comfortable, long cross-country flying, Titanium Explorer gyroplane! The weather co-operated magnificently. All but one night – spent at the lovely historic Allison house bed and breakfast in Quincy, Florida–on the week-long journey, was spent with friends, club members/gyro club bunkrooms, and new friends. The gyro covered the ground faster than the traffic traveling below on I10 and we could cut the corners, going a more direct path. It was a totally magic experience viewing the terrain from 2000 feet above, down and across seven states! I filed vfr flight plans and utilized flight-following atc services to keep me separated from the large, fast users of the complex military airspaces that inhabited much of my route. After the Sebring Expo and Lockwood’s Rotax engine school I was invited to visit my Facebook friends at Southerland airpark near Geneva, so I plotted a course around the MacDill afb auxiliary Restricted Zone and under the Orlando Bravo airspace shelf. The biggest challenge for me was to locate a small grass strip in the forested area at the edge of Lake Harney from the lowish altitude of under 1300 feet, which was the Orlando Sanford Charlie airspace ceiling in that area! Next morning we flew into Titusville for the well-attended eaa Chapter 866 Saturday pancake breakfast. The flight of two gyros attracted much attention from the fixed-wing crowd! Then I enjoyed the brilliant Superbowl party at the unique Danville hangar/village with my hosts Joe and Laura. The next flying adventure was to return to Wauchula with a fuel stop in Sebring for some of that good Swift mogas, then down to Arcadia where I met up with fellow Titanium owner Danny. We had a grand day’s adventure flying over some of the everglades, stopping for lunch with Jake in Everglades City, and inspecting one of Danny’s marine-construction work sites. We awaited a band of rain showers to pass out of our path then flew up the Gulf Coast past Naples and over the islands to return for the night at the magnificent Oak Park Inn bed and breakfast in Arcadia. I flew back to Southerland for another fun few days with Joe and Laura. The highlight was a Saturday morning flight over to Merritt Island for a low flight along the Space shuttle runway and great view of the resident space shuttle parked by the tower. Next we flew around the restricted area R-2934 across Mosquito Lagoon, then along the beach on the Atlantic coast towards New Smyrna. We then cut inland and tracked along the main road and followed more open areas back to Southerland field. At Southerland Airstrip, some take to the air while others take to the water.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUwNDI3MA==