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G"Day Fellas,Just come home from the better part of the day at Cranbourne airfield.My gyro is hangered there now and ready to go next time out.Elise and Jillian (Airfield owner) helped strap up the blades (Patroney"s) and fit to the rotor head. The blades are heavy but they so much better than the Bensen"s. This is the first time in over two years since I flew off Cranbourne, having only recently re-soled at Lameroo.Interestingly, after setting up and doing the "mother" of all pre-flights, I asked Jillian, what she thought the wind was blowing at...gusting 15-25 knots. I spin the blades up, (Elise was not there, gone to Launie, soon to return) took to the air and flew a circuit, landed, touch and go and off to the training area for some low level comparisons with Lameroo.I had felt that southerly gusting about in the circuit. It was not comming over the Mt"s, so It was was no problem, until.....low in the training area where off to my right a large stand of thick forrested Gum. The wind was comming at 90 degrees, spilling off the trees and causing a good deal of turbulance. I did a down wind turn at 100 feet, kept the power on nose up a little, wow! I was scooting along . Had 50 knots IAS but with that 20 knots up me date...whoosh!! I think I lost 10 feet in the turn.This was my first real experience in blowy conditions. I dived down to 20 feet off the deck and flew S & L for a while but was not experiencing the same level of comfort I was having at Lameroo Sunday afternoon. Jillian"s cattle dead ahead so back on the stick and wop, wop, wop, Butterfly popped up to 300 ft and I joined the circuit at 500.Much better away from the tall green stuff and Mts today. Blustery but bloody beautiful.Lameroo with it"s wind and wide open paddocks, was a very different experience than today, with Mts and small paddocks, powerlines and roads, fences everywhere, dams and creeks BUT....I had geese and ducks for company and spoted one Tassy WedgeTail (endangered species) off in the distance. Nil aircraft. I reckon the Patroney"s are the "duck"s nuts". If the AK"s ( Jeff Henley-Smith"s) are anything like them then I understand why many of the boys recommend them too.There was a Lightwing that had a bad landing yesterday (crashed) and sustained about $10,000 worth of damage.My gyro is hangered along with one other and the bloke is a Pilot and has a gyro...how about that.Thanks to all you blokes for discussing this topic.Revision is priority on my list and I"ll be keeping an eye open for any sneeky Gremlins or other nasties.I enjoyed flying my gyro today because of you blokes who contribute to this and other forums...Thanks Fellas.Oh yeah, I got my Dr to give me the OK to fly and I had no trouble tapping the blades up myself, (mainly because I had 20 knots blowing thru them before I even got going) and kept the disk tilted into the wind whilst taxiing 45 mtrs to the club house. Did the smart thing and let them wind down almost all the way, before reaching up and helping them stop.So the thread on blade management came in very handy too.Gyros....to much fun to be legal!Mitch
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Onya Mitch - a good result after a long wait. I suppose the Gyros still for sale then?
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;d ;d ;d
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MitchFantastic to see you up and going again
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Great to hear you"re into it.
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Dean said, "From what everyone was telling me i should have been going to full power and if i did, it would have been dangerous.
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G"Day Ross,Good to hear from you Mate. I went a re-read what you had posted on the link. All good stuff.I appreciate your concerns, this is good.I have been fully briefed on southerly conditions by Keith and the late Geoff Jamieson. I was also aware of the turbulance to be expected in the training area, thats why I stayed at 100 feet and kept some distance from the tree line to the South and hills to North.Yes I have had a long lay off but have kept as fit as possible considering the two opps and I only flew for one hour.Elise got back to Cranbourne just before 3pm and I had refuelled and was considering going up again. Elise"s look of disapproval and the fact the I had had a big day for an old fart with setting up, adjustments, pre-flights and one hour of adrenaline rush, had left me a little weary, so I decided the next flight could wait for another day......The medications now are basic panadol as
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