Gyrate is back at full strength as Sue arrived at the end of September, my potential additional instructor has run off to Perth until Christmas but we will be drumming up work for him in the meantime!  Colin and Saul Alexander of Solo Wings have done great work preparing another Eagle with a 912s engine for the return of Mark Humbke in mid October.   I spoke to Richard Main today and he is clocking up hours on his Sportcopter which is now based on his own farm strip, I think the Bantam is feeling a bit deserted!  I have been asked to reserve a place on the around NZ Safari for another pilot who is keen to join in but is currently just at solo stage, great to be looking ahead but we have a few bridges to cross before March!  We will overcome.

Steve Holmes and Sibie Haakma have been enjoying flying together out of Matamata with their single place Dominators, they made it through the gap to Waihi Beach where the cafe has reopened under new management.  Really nice people and the food is just as good.  Caution if you head that way as the ground is still wet and groundwork is in progress.  Likewise caution at Pauanui as improvements to the surface have closed that strip for weeks past.

It looks like we will have at least one new Eagle coming here in the container with Calidus, this should arrive in February and Calidus will be up and flying in the Safari in March.  Otmar Birkner, the head of Auto Gyro, will be piloting it and has rejected a copilot for the trip!

Please note that Tauranga City Airport are staging a major Airshow first weekend in February, as well as demonstrating gyros I am involved, through my Rotary Club, with organising the event.  Anyone wanting a stand should get in touch or visit the Tauranga Airshow website.  See you there we have stands 74/75 and it should be good.

The pictures here are taken by John Rochfort from and of his Xenon.  John has moved from Dannevirke to Otaki airfield and reports that his access to his machine is much improved and he his progressing well.  Great to see John enjoying his flying after all the hurdles of distance and time that he has overcome.   The Calidus pictue is from the UK magazine ‘Flyer’ that has just done an airtest report for those who might be interested.

The blog has been on a back burner for a wee while due to domestic issues and the need to write items for the upcoming Kiwi Flyer.  Normal service should return from here on so I hope to be back in print again very soon.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 4th, 2009 at 8:47 pm and is filed under Gyrate Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.