Gyrate New Zealand Limited

The annual gathering of gyronaughts at Dannevirke took place on Waitangi weekend, a week later than usual to avoid a clash with the Airshow at Tauranga.  The flight down provided an ideal opportunity to spread the wings of our most recently qualified 'Advanced Intermediate'  pilot.  Dieter Dallmeier is currently operating his Calidus from Wairoa, a quiet airfield with a great tarmac runway, on the East Coast of North Island.  He has controlled airspace to contend with for flights either North past Gisborne or to the South at Napier.  Given that he lives on a remote farm and uses his native German language for day to day conversation, air traffic procedures have been a major challenge despite achieving 100% in his radio Exam.   

To make Dieter's journey less stressful I arranged to meet him at Hastings airfield on the Saturday morning and to accompany him on the unknown sector South to Dannevirke.  As the weather forecast was pesimistic I positioned over the hills on the Friday evening having met up with Hub Hall at Taupo.  Hub and I followed the Taupo to Napier road through hostile terrain with a descending cloudbase and were pleased to cross the final pass down to the coastal plain.  Our wives drove over an hour later through mist and rain!  What a bonus to find the club bar at Hastings alive with a Friday night buffet and as warm a welcome as you could ask for.  Make a note, Hastings for a night stop on Fridays is great.

On Saturday Dieter was with us by 11.00, a perfect landing after dealing with the Napier control zone!  So onwards as a threesome to Dannevirke, not a special day with solid cloud around 1500 feet but the journey was uneventful and the fresh wind was both behind us in the cruise and straight down the long 02 runway at NZDV.

On the ground things were quiet but Sybe Haakma had just arrived in his ELA direct from Matamata, a great achievement given the conditions and worthy of the prize for longest flight to the meeting.   'Mich' Michell may have travelled further towing his two-place Dominator;  Paul Scherrer had the shortest journey as he keeps his home built 'Kermit' RKK at Dannevirke.  The only other arrivals by air were, John Rochfort in his Xenon and Mike Ross in his Magni M24.  Turnout this year was very low, interesting to note that of those who flew in all but one had been trained at Gyrate.

On Sunday the AGM of the Rotorcraft association was held and Dieter left us to fly non-stop to Wairoa and back to his farm.  Monday dawned with heavy cloud low to the North and encompassing the hills to the East.  Sybe, Hub and I headed out for the Manawatu gorge hoping to find a clear passage through the hills and up the high desert road.  This turned out to be the case and before long we were descending from a chilly 4500 feet into Taupo where we split up to fly the final legs to our home bases.  The annual pilgimage to Dannevirke is both expensive and time consuming and this may be the cause of the poor turnout, maybe a review of the location and the format is necessary to make it more attractive in the future. 

In Taupo resides another past student who operates a very smart two-tone Xenon which lives in its own individual hangar created from a 40ft shipping container.  This aircraft has been put up for sale and offers a rare opportunity to own a 'pre-loved' enclosed side by side gyroplane for the price of a new Eagle.  Fully equipped with noise cancelling headsets, radio, intercom and mode S transponder this machine is almost new but with resent upgrades to both engine and airframe.  Interested ?, then do contact Jared Thomas or myself for full details. 

Gyrate is a stakeholder in this bi-annual event in three different ways.  Firstly as a full-time operator on the Airfield paying rent, Airways charges and landing fees.  Secondly as a display feature, launching a 'world first' formation of five gyroplanes at a major Airshow.  Thirdly I also find myself part of the Rotary club that is responsible for the trade stands and entertainment items that make for a great family day out. The organising team's input covers months of preparation and days of hard slog to sell trade stands, prepare the site and ensure a smooth running event to entertain and enjoy.  The spin off is a supply of funds for Rotary to distribute to local charities. 
Gyrate was granted a seven minute slot on each day and chose to display a formation of five gyroplanes which required some practice.  On the day we managed to start in unison, taxi in a semblance of order and spin our rotors while holding a pattern on the runway.  Take-off with a cross-wind caused some wobbles but by the time we reached the crowd-line an arrowhead was developing which we held through a close-in circuit at 200ft.  Following the second pass of the crowd the lead three climbed away to circle in line astern at 500 feet while the outer wing men came low past the crowd and into a steep banked 720 degree circle at 100 feet, the break from this was into a steep climb and hover.  Number 2 then broke away to leave room for some more extreme manoeuvres by the Calidus before the  whole team  streamed in to land in the original formation and vacate in sequence.  Amazingly we managed to repeat the whole thing on the Sunday and picked up some really positive feedback!  Well done guys, think about the seven ship next time!

Having achieved in the air we now had an audience to entertain on the ground  and full marks to Brian Murphy and Bruce Watson for talking constantly for hours while people swarmed over the Gyrate stand drooling over the beautiful new Cavalon while discussing the safety features inherent in all modern gyroplanes.  German certification of the Cavalon has created a waiting list of several months although total production at AutoGyro now exceeds 8 machines a week.  This truly is the fastest expanding sector of aviation and a sign of future development.
We have started to issue a regular newsletter alongside the blog articles and so I would commend you to consider returning to our home page where you can scroll down and register to receive news on a monthly basis.  C U There!   

Its that time of year again but not as we know it Jim!  New Zealand starts its summer holiday season with Christmas and New Year and it is traditionally all about sun, sand and aviation.  Well not this year, a tropical Low Pressure Air Mass created torrential rain and mist more typical of Singapore or the Philippines than God's Zone.
No sooner had we returned from North Shore than the Cavalon Demonstrator arrived in Tauranga, This is clearly more than 'Eye Candy'.  A fine piece of engineering with a solid base similar in construction to the well proven Calidus.  A metallic paint finish that would look at home on a quality car encloses comfortable leather upholstery, the panel display is a Garmin Sky View which provides flight and engine instruments combined with GPS  mapping and a pilot's eye view of the terrain ahead.  I flew this model in Germany in August since when it has been certified and the waiting list is growing longer.  The Martian design team have created some graphics to enhance the fine lines of the machine in time for the Tauranga Air Show this coming weekend, do come and take a look.
Talking of signage,  we have upgraded the look of some of the displays around the Airport so finding your way to the Gyrate hangar should be easier, do phone first to ensure we are on hand to greet you.
Just to see how things have moved on, or not, do take a look at this 1938 film and see what was achieved then!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=l8JQZHCM6k0