Improveing the image.

[birdy]

With respect Ken, it depends on your situation.A quiet machine isnt go"n to bluff a stubborn critter till you start shootn. :-All your points are logical, common sence things to consider wenever your flyn over an area where other people live.But, if the gyro lot want to be taken seriously, it has to be demonstrated that gyros can do serious work.Not just putt around weekenders stirrn up the ducks on ol mates pond.

[Ken Watson]

We are on 2 different pages Bird. I accept everything you say, but our public perception is based on where the people are. To convince people of the gyros benefits , we first need to be accepted by the general public . We wont be accepted by GA unless we earn their respect. To do this we need to show them some respect. I fly with these people and their word of mouth will be the gyros saviour . From one cowcocky to another: no one cares what our cows think. So what if we are accepted by another 100 cocky"s. That wont convince the other 20000000 people that these noisy dangerous things are worth considering. You will never get noise or cowboy complaints, but come down here and I guarantee you will be grounded within a week. Thats whats happening here now because thick headed cowboys(city type) dont listen to what their critics are saying. You fellas aren"t causing the problem on your huge properties. I thought our safety problems was the biggest issue, but after talking to the general public it seems its the issues I have mentioned. Ken

[birdy]

You mite be rite Kenny. Recon im getn abit infrunt of meself. :-[We who live in woop woop never have had any sway, coz theres only a hatfull of us ere, and most people wouldnt even know we was ere to start with. ???Just thinkn bout it, thats the way i like it anyway ;D, so ill just shutup n keep it to meself. Everyone, forget i said anythn. :-XThanx for putn me back in me box [ sandhill] Ken, i owe you one

[Ken Watson]

Bird, your input is the most valuable thing on this website. everything you say is true but we just need to remember there are other situations we need to cater for. Down here our cause was set back years by one particular gyro. The introduction of the Sparrowhawk was supposed to give us GA acceptance but it did the reverse. I remember some of the powers that were saying that this would be good for gyros and make them more legitimate: a GA instructor with a safe , well presented gyro. They forgot to mention how noisy it was. It flew circuits at Jaspers for a day and the council and the club got so many complaints it was banned, along with all other gyros. It moved to Albion Park and the same happened with noise and low flying complaints not to mention the cowboy test pilot from the US who decided to chase stock around on a hobby farm. It then moved to Goulburn and crashed. A lot of GA fellas were relieved. Prospective students were turned off by the instructors lack of experience in gyros and a few were scared after their TIFs. He is a GA instructor and did some gyro training in the US and was signed off too early. The US hours should not have been recognised. Good sensible instructors like Ross B were made not welcome at Jaspers or AP and I am now Virtually the only gyro welcome at Jaspers(and Scott H).It still comes down to the noise but. These were the initial complaints and I dont think any other complaint would have happened if it had been quiet. The noise triggered everything. Bit like the cow not chasing you until the calf bellows.The low circuits over houses didn"t help and prolonged circuits on one strip(4hrs) didnt either , but if it wasn"t noisy it might not have been noticed. I offered advice on noise,: but what would a dumb farmer know. Terry Eiland came over to help with it from the US and was more interested in how quiet mine was and took photos intending to try and make his own quieter back home. He said noise was the main complaint in the US too. This is only one issue, but I believe it leads to most of the others. If you dont hear it, you probably wont see it, and I dont think you"ll complain. This is a good motto to live buy in built up areas. I will gladly share what I have learned on how to make them quieter. Ken

[NiqueNaque]

Ken,You have my admiration - good comment.Cheers,nick

[birdy]

Just made me realise why im so glad i live out ere Ken. ;DBTW, i was told by more than one person that my wasa was the quietest 2seater at biggenden last year, and i know it was quiet from the drivers seat.But now iv gon from the quiet 62" Ivo mag to a f%$#n noisy 72"WD.Obviosly the bigger prop is more efficiant, but how can i shut the f^%$# thing up? Its loud as hell in the cab at WOT and cant imagine how loud itd be from the outside.Its not too bad at cruise rpm, [4200], not much louder than the ivo was at 4600, but from bout 4500 up to WOT [5500] its proper angry.Any sugestions? ???[Im thinkn its the dirty airflow into it, which there is buggerall i can do anythn bout] :-

[yoshi]

Oh well here goes with my two cents for what its worth.Public opinion on any matter is usually formed on the information that they receive through the media, unfortunately for ASRA and gyrocopters in general recent publiciity has been less than flattering.I asked a question several months ago about what type of two seat machine I should purchase and the overwhelming response is that it should be a bare bones open place two seater. Whilst I don"t disagree that this is no doubt the best aircraft to learn in, it is not the aircraft that is giong to move this sport forward in the eyes of joe average. The purists amongst us will always have a love of the bare bones open machine because we appreciate them for what they truly are. Whilst the price of the new age machines(ela,magni,mt03) is some what prohibitive for most, it is this type of machine that is going to give us the public acceptance that we are so desperate to achieve. If you disagree with me think of it like this, mum and dad do a Sunday lunch and go for a drive in the country. Whilst on ther trip home dad notices this strange little machine flying overhead and follows it down the road and pulls into the local country airstrip for a quick look. On the ground in front of them are two machines the first is the Owen Dull two place, the other a Rosco open place 2 seater. Without doubt both fantastic machines as we all know, but which machine is going to appeal to the average bloke and more importantly which machine is going to appeal to mum? I think most wives are going to be more accepting of there other half flying something like an Owen, more importantly is if you can get mum to fly then the deal is sealed on the spot.Finally its time to be a little more proactive and take the sport to the public, rather than waiting for them to stumble into us. We have talked about taking the gyro news to the public, how about when we print the next addition of the Gyro News in the new year we print a few extra and talk about striking a deal with Pacific Flyer magazine or alike and have it included as a freebie whith there magazine. I do understand there is a cost involved but sometimes you have to spend a little to reap the benifits.One last suggestion is once again putting the sport in to the public eye, I became interested in gyro"s about 8 years when I first saw one at the 4WD and Outdoor show in Perth, the largest show of its kind in the southern hemisphere. I dare say I was not the only one who took notice of it that year. Another great launch pad would be doing a static display at the RED BULL airace, over 200,000 visitors/specatators this year in Perth alone, let alone the untold TV audience. I hope to be in a positon next year to have an aircraft available that could be used for such purposes, I am more than wiiling to give up my time and money to support these events amongst others if ASRA is willing to chip in and help out also.Just my thoughtsCheersDarren

[Adrian S]

Ken,Great comments and very relevant to the topic. My next door neighbors house is only about 200m away and managing noise around my place is very important as we all have to live together. Prop selection, exhaust design ( making sure the exhaust dumps after the prop if possible) is important. This said the Gyro make very little noise compared to the helicopter!At Bindoon we operate 20+ aircraft with 10 of them gyro"s, although the gyro"s are not the loudest(we have a RV7 with a Mazda rotary that is LOUD), because they tend to spend more time in the circuit and surrounding paddocks they definatly have the worst reputation for noise.Acceptance within the GA community will continue to be a problem due to lack of understanding of our aircrafts charecteristics and the way we tend to fly tight circuits

[birdy]

Finally its time to be a little more proactive and take the sport to the public, Zactly my point Yoshi.Get word out there at a time OTHER than AFTER anatha bingle.

[asra]

Hey Dave,Wots your gearbox ratio? in the wasa.

[Ken Watson]

David, I"m running a 72"warp on a 2.47 Autoflight. I did have a 2.62 Rotax The extra prop speed didn"t make much noise difference at all. Just seem to fly at less revs and less engine

[birdy]

Wot ever the 914 comes with Fred. IOW, buggered if i know. :PBut i dont think its tip speed, coz the noise has a frequency.The same size prop on the 912 isnt as noisy, but its getn cleaner air.Ken, the ferel has a streight through, but the majority of the noise is still prop noise.The wasa has the standard 914 after turbo muffler, and if the prop wasnt onit, you wouldnt hear it run"n.

[tonydenton]

i have also thought of this problem/solution. every one can remember the mad max movie and james bond movie with the gyro segments. so it could cover an even bigger audience if it was in movie.cant be that hard to organise. plenty of movies now made in oz.now to make it appealling to mr movie maker, the cost would ( should) be paid by asra.if asra paid cost to the nominated gyro pilot and machine costs.asra pick up more members and dollars. dont laugh it off, advertising costs big dollars and only gets to people that buy flying mags. watch them in a news paper shop. they go in to buy their model train book, pet magazine etc. no one says ,gee i might buy a fly mag today, wow! here is a free gyro mag inside a fixed wing book, i m glad i picked pacific fjyer instead of the other 8 or 10 books here on the shelf. it should only happen through asra.birdy is right every one only heres about after a crash. the media only want to sell , they dont care, i know! a hand shake agreement means nothing to them.

[yoshi]

Hi All This might sound like really stupid question, but we have been asking each other what we can do to improve the image of gyro"s. But the question still remains, what is ASRA planning on doing to improve our image? Not taking a shot at anyone just chasing feedback and

[asra]

Hi All This might sound like really stupid question, but we have been asking each other what we can do to improve the image of gyro"s. But the question still remains, what is ASRA planning on doing to improve our image? Not taking a shot at anyone just chasing feedback and