www.PSFmagazine.com | March-April 2020 | 27 26 | March-April 2020 | Powered Sport Flying FOOTHILL SPORT AVIATION Cameron Park CALIFORNIA WOODS AVIATION Watts Woodland Airport CALIFORNIA LONE STAR MAGNIGYRO Taylor Municipal Airport TEXAS MAGNI FLIGHT LLC Jack Edwards Airport (KJKA) Alabama CAPE COPTERS Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport MISSOURI MAGNI GYRO U.S.A. Perryville Municipal Airport MISSOURI MAKERS OF EXPERIENCE U.S.A. high-quality Italian products, likeMagni gyroplanes, in ITALIAN FLYING TECHNOLOGY MAGNI GYRO s.r.l. - Tel. +39 0331 274816 - Fax+39 0331 274817 - www.magnigyro.com- info@magnigyro.com by Stephanie Gremminger Support Our Advertisers the excursion resumed. They had a quick lunch at the airport there and then flew down to Eleuthera and landed at Governor’s Island. A little extra fuel and they were taxiing out to fly to their destination: Cape Santa Maria Beach Resort on the Bahama’s Long Island. Unfortunately, John’s nosewheel decided to deflate again. John and Karen decided to stay and take care of it the next day and decided they would extend their stay in the Bahamas a few days longer, so the group parted ways. Tom and Gerald proceeded on to reach their destination before the mandatory sunset shut down. “The resort was very accommodating and it ’s a great getaway to just relax and Gyroplane Adventure From record-breaking flights to exciting cross-country trips, the gyroplane has proven itself to be a worthy aviation competitor, shedding its outdated reputation of just being an ‘around the patch’ flying machine. Tom Delaney can now add his 2019 spring adventure to the list—a trip to the Bahamas in his Magni M24 Orion Plus. Tom had read about this type of trip for years and had always wanted to do it, although he thought he would be flying a fixed-wing if and when he did, given his years of fixed-wing and helicopter experience. But thanks to Dayton Dabbs and his adventures flying a Magni across the country, into Cuba, and a planned trip to the Bahamas, Tom was all in. Dayton had posted plans for the Bahama trip on his gyrotrips.com website. Tom followed the planning process and emailed Dayton back and forth. “They had the experience and since I hadn’ t done anything like this before, I thought I’d follow along,” said Tom. The plan was for the group to rendezvous in Fort Pearce, Florida. Tom and his friend Gerald flew from St. Louis, Missouri to Atlanta, Georgia, spent the night in Atlanta and were on their way to Ft. Pearce when they found out that Dayton was having maintenance issues with his Rotax, which forced him to back out. “We continued on to Ft. Pearce and met up with John and Karen Drummond who were flying their Eclipse gyroplane,” said Tom. “They had a lot of experience flying and had been on a number of flying adventures of their own and were still up for the Bahamas excursion.” The only unplanned element was the fact that Tom intended to follow the group, not lead it, but he had enough flying experience that he was confident in his skills to navigate the process. “I was pretty ready, but never having done it, there’s a lot going through your head: the frequencies, customs, all that,” he said. He gives credit to aopa’s Bahamas cheat sheet, which fortunately he had followed before he left St. Louis, and is a handy reference guide covering the legal requirements (U.S. and Bahamian) and procedures to follow for flying to the Bahamas. It lists all the forms you need, and you can download most of them beforehand. The foursome left Ft. Pearce and headed south along the coast of Florida towards Palm Beach; that way they’d fly straight across to the Port of Entry, which was Freeport. “It was an interesting feeling as you made that 90-degree turn to the east,” said Delaney. “The air controllers, as busy as they are, were all very efficient and nice.” Tom was happy to report that his one hour and 15-minute flight over water to Freeport was non-eventful—just what you want when any forced landing option will get you very wet. The customs process was very quick and efficient, and in short order, the flight of two was preparing to fly to Marsh Harbour. A nosewheel flat on John’s Eclipse added a slight delay, but that was quickly repaired, and Bahama Gyro Flight Checks Bucket List
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