Only recently did we hear of the passing of AutoGyro pioneer Johnny Miller aged over 100, Wing Commander Ken Wallis is still flying gyros at 93 and even the flexwing inventor made 97. Now tell me again why we can’t get insurance!
Aviation pioneer Johnny Miller dies at 102
By Nathan A. Ferguson
A pilot who was almost as old as powered aviation itself has died. John M. Miller was 102.
Miller, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., died of natural causes on June 23. Miller was born on Dec. 15, 1905, and witnessed some of aviation’s most pivotal events such as when Charles A. Lindbergh took off for Paris on his historic Atlantic crossing. Miller counted Amelia Earhart as one of his acquaintances.
He uttered his last words to his nephew. “I guess my flying days are over,” reported thePoughkeepsie Journal.
Miller started flying when he was 18 and continued until he was 101. He was known as the oldest active pilot in the United States. Miller flew for the airlines, served as a test pilot for Kellett Autogiro Company, and was the founding director of the American Bonanza Society.
One of his most interesting jobs was flying the airmail off the roof of the downtown Philadelphia post office in an autogiro. Three of the airplanes Miller flew are on exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum.
Besides aviation, Miller was known for his healthy lifestyle. He never smoked or drank alcohol and maintained the same weight and blood pressure as when he was 18. For exercise, he took brisk walks up and down hills.
The Davis-Monthan Aviation Field Register has posted a detailed biography of Miller’s life along with videos of the autogiro.
Obituary:
Francis Rogallo, an aeronautical engineer who was considered the father of modern hang gliding and other
recreational sports for inventing a flexible wing in 1948, which revolutionised nonpowered flight, died at the
age of 97 on 1 September of natural causes at his home in Southern Shores, North Carolina said Carol
Sparks, his daughter. “He was a researcher at what is now the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration who dreamed of coming up with an affordable way for people to fly,” his daughter said.
At first, the agency was not interested in the idea, so Rogallo developed the lightweight wing at his Virginia
home with his wife, Gertrude, a former schoolteacher and expert seamstress. They cut the first prototype
from their old kitchen curtains and later tested models in makeshift wind tunnels in their basement. By 1951,
they had patented a flexible wing with fabric that spread into a fan shape with help from wind pressure.
“Such a flexible wing does not exist in nature,” Rogallo told Invention & Technology magazine in 1998.
“Even birds’ wings have bones and a rigid shape.”
With further development by others, the Rogallo wing transformed personal flight, beginning in the 1960s.
“People were building their own wings from pictures in magazines. They were teaching themselves to fly,”
said Mike Meier, president of the Hang Glider Manufacturers’ Assn. and a principal at Wills Wing Inc., a
hang glider manufacturer in Orange. “Suddenly, here was this idea that people had dreamed about for
thousands of years — to be able to fly like a bird with a personal set of wings,” Meier said. “All of a sudden,
with a very simple apparatus, this was possible. It was rofound.” Rogallo’s kite-like apparatus led not only to
hang gliding, but to paragliding, ultralight flight and kite boarding, amongst other pursuits, according to the
Rogallo Foundation, a non-profit organisation founded in 1992. “Without his invention, we may not have had
personal flight for several more generations,” said John Harris, president of the foundation. “It made
inexpensive flight possible for many, many people.”
Francis Melvin Rogallo, the second of four sons of Mathieu and Marie Rogallo, was born 27 January 1912,
in Sanger, then a frontier town near Fresno. His Polish immigrant father ran a hotel there, but died when
Francis was about 12.
Rogallo had been captivated by flight since he was seven and saw his first plane, a barnstormer, fly over his
town. Years later, he tried to join the military to become a pilot, but was rejected because he had lost part of
a foot in a childhood accident.
Instead, he attended Stanford University and studied mechanical engineering and aeronautics, graduating in
1935. A year later, he joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in Virginia, the precursor to
NASA.
He oversaw aerodynamic research and airplane development and managed research for a low-speed air
tunnel. Rogallo also held patents on about 25 devices, which included wing controls, airfoils and target kites.
For nearly a decade, Rogallo tried to interest the government and military aircraft builders in his wing design
“but no one would seriously consider it as a man-carrying aircraft,” he told the Washington Post in 1978. A
diminutive version of the wing made it to market in the 1950s in the form of a kite manufactured by a
Connecticut company.
After the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite in 1957, the space race was on and NASA became
interested in the Rogallo wing as a potential tool for bringing satellites back to Earth. The Rogallos released
their patent to the U.S. government so that it could be used for public good, according to the foundation and
never profited from the wing’s future uses.
NASA began a series of experiments and by 1960 made the first test flights of the ‘Fleep,’ conceived as a
flying Jeep, powered by a small engine and the Rogallo wing for lift. In a 1965 test, a Gemini capsule landed
softly using the flexible wing, but NASA abandoned the approach in favour of standard parachutes and
ocean recoveries. Pioneers on at least two continents had seen pictures of the Rogallo wing and started
putting together hang gliders despite admonitions, such as one in a 1961 issue of Popular Mechanics that
warned: “Do not try to design or build one yourself.”
Rogallo retired in 1970 and chose to move near Kitty Hawk, N.C., where the Wright brothers pioneered
powered, manned flight. He had once met Orville Wright, in 1939.
About once a month, until his 80th birthday, Rogallo would drive five miles to Jockey’s Ridge State Park and
fly his red-and-white hang glider. The only time he was ever hurt hang gliding, he later recalled, was when
someone else crashed into him.
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Well I wanted to show some shots of the Microlight fly-in at Popham last weekend but due to the wonders of modern science they were lost in the exchange from camera to computer. So I have been delaying further blogging until I had some more interesting pics. Today I received a couple of pics that got my attention and so I was inspired enough to start typing. Formation flying takes a lot of practice and can have unforeseen consequences. Those air intakes are meant to accept air being forced back to mix with fuel in the correct ratio to drive the jet turbine engines. Shielded by the back of the C130 the intakes may well be starved of air causing the mixture to become too rich and without a clever engine management system the EGTs on those turbines would go over
limits – expensive and engine trouble is not called for in flight critical situations! Following my return from Germany the UK weather has been foul, just the sort of summer I use
d to hate when I was hanging around airfields skydiving, totally unreliable with heavy rain showers interspersed with spells of drying wind and sunshine. You just think its coming good and another trough of low pressure drags half the Atlantic ocean into the heavens and drops it over Somerset.
I had booked a PA28 Piper Cherokee for Saturday afternoon to fly into the show at Popham, this event is one of the significant marks on the UK microlight calender and I would have normally taken the VPM gyro if the paperwork had been in order. Typical of the rare occasion that I get round to forward planning I found my aircraft booking canceled by the club due to lack of hours available before scheduled maintenance. As it turned out the tropical storm over Southwest England last Saturday made surface transport a sensible option for travel and I was much happier to accept a two hour drive rather than staring through a steamed up canopy in a ground groping cloud dodging attempt to aviate ‘visually’. Popham was blessed with an afternoon spell of sunshine following a downpour in the morning, the turnout of modern gyros was suficiently significant to establish this as the fastest growing sector of light aviation in the UK. Watch this mushroom in the years ahead, economy and versatility are attracting serious flyers to factory made gyroplanes and established microlight schools are adding this type of rotorcraft to their fleets. Great to see and a real reward for those of us who have been banging this drum for years. The stalls were rewarding and I came away withsome of those things that you don’t see anywhere else, not big things but some plastic map holders so useful in an open cockpit. The rest of the week has centered around organising my VPM permit renewal, critical to this was a visit from my engineer to sign off an annual inspection prior to a CAA visit scheduled for this Monday. Well that’s all done although I now realise I am still short of a scribble in a couple of crucial places. The airfield looks tidy due to some hurried mowing between showers and the Hangar/container is swept and respectable. Watch this space!
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Way back in 2007 just after displaying at the Masterton Airshow, Wings over Wairapa, I approached the organisers of the more established Warbirds over Wanaka to see if they would be interested in a gyro demonstration for Easter 2008. I was a amazed that they seemed keen but reports from Masterton were positive and for once gyroplanes were welcome and seen as an attraction for the thousands of spectators expected over the long weekend.
I left the detail of travel fairly late and eventually the option of combining a training flight for Phil Chalmers with my need to take an Eagle to Wanaka became a win win solution. 
Phil had recently acquired a turbocharged Eagle but due to his working overseas in six week spells had only received spasmodic training by the time this trip started. Two weeks and some forty hours flying later he was fully qualified for an advanced national certificate! We were blessed with some of the best flying weather of the year and with an early start from Tauranga staged in easy legs through Taupo to Foxpine before crossing a millpond calm Cook Strait to Omarka.
We watched in horror here while an aircraft landed perfectly on the newly seeded runway and sank nose wheel first into the soft soil. 
The main runway 03/21 was closed with marker crosses, as a consequence all runways which bisected the main runway were also closed, a temporary 03/21 had been established alongside the main strip and was marked by coloured tyres. All this was on NOTAM but the situation was not made clear by the controllers at Woodbourne who directed everyone to land on 03/21 without mention that there was a displaced temporary runway.
In the 15/20 knot crosswinds that existed many light aircraft would have been better off opting for half an into wind runway rather than accepting the temporary strip. 
As we departed we heard another victim come unstuck or should that be stuck in the soft soil with a damaged prop and ego to match.
We had lunched and felt uplifted having crossed the ‘ditch’ without incident and pressed on towards Kaikoura taking a short cut over some fierce terrain which involved climbing to 6500ft; maybe not the smartest decision of the day but I took some comfort from the new PLB with GPS positioning that was tucked beneath my lifejacket.
The 914 Rotax purred along and as we were only consuming around 20 litres per hour we made Rangiora as the evening air began to cool hinting that the infamous Christchurch mist would form overnight. The day was beginning to feel long enough to me although Phil had been doing all the flying; with two hours before dark he was still keen to push on South. 
Passing over Rangitata Island airfield we were called from the ether by some tempting Siren voice inviting us to drop in but we were now set on a mission to make Timaru that day. What a welcome, evening sun and wall to wall blue sky, calm winds and a selection of large runways but no-one in sight, deserted! Phil scratched around and eventually found a friendly group of aviators packing machines in a hangar, thanks guys for storing the gyro, the lift into town and the guide to the easy eater. Really appreciated and hope we can reciprocate sometime.
The next day was a New Zealand record temperature of 35 degrees Celsius at Timaru, fortunately I had climbed into my open cockpit South Island flying gear of ski suit and thermals and departed inland and upward before the heat wave struck.
What a beautiful flight up over the lakes to gliding heaven at Omarama. Coffee at the Kahu café demanded a souvenir mug for the Kahu gyro team back at Tauranga and then on to the daunting Lindis pass and Wanaka. I found it noticeable that the more challenging the terrain the less I took photographs, maybe it was searching in vain for potential landing sites that occupied my time!
We were of course a very small cog in the well oiled machine that is the Warbirds event, none the less we had a trade stand, supported by our ground crew from Tauranga, and a display slot, timed for the lunch interval but well received by the crowd. Even the usual biased commentator had come round to wanting an Eagle after seeing it deal so well with three seasons weather in as many days. Day four in Wanaka was taken up with trial flights for prospective gyronaughts and an excursion to Cromwell to give Phil some circuit training. Great was our surprise to find another gyro with purpose built hangar on this quite grass field, shame that it was suffering a puncture which prevented some joined up flying.
Without respite the next day we headed to the West coast and North to Franz Joseph airfield. This has to be the most memorable sector and the camera was working well. Early morning mist had lifted and formed a thin layer of broken cloud that sat about 1200 feet above the valley floor as we headed through the Haast pass. As we could see down through the layer we were able to fly in clear skies above a carpet of white mist surrounded by mountain peaks in a surreal world that should have been silent but was, I’m pleased to say, pierced by the constant steady sound of the Rotax behind me.
Without incident we wondered at the majesty of the high Alps and the rugged Western coastline all the way up to the sealed runway and modern mini terminal that lies in the shadow of the Frans Joseph Glacier.
Only as you look out away from the hill do you realise the sharp fall that the ice field makes heading for the valley below. Phil flew me in on the second sortie which must be a unique qualifying cross country! In clear skies we maintained four thousand feet and followed the coast over-flying Hokitika and on to Greymouth to refuel. I held both Shell and BP fuel cards but this was one of several fields where a Mobil card was the only currency accepted, fortunately help was at hand but we will know better next time.On again following the scenic coast we overflew the tourist buses at pancake rocks before heading inland through the Buller gorge towards our destination Marsterton. On rounding the last turn in the river valley I expanded the GPS picture to maximum and still struggled to identify the particular paddock that is Masterton Airfield. A gyro gathering was scheduled for the weekend but we were early and the grass had yet to be cut, the lone areo modeller with car that occupied mid field clearly believed that use of the field was on a first come basis!
We were welcomed by the airfield manager who lived nearby and informed that there was no hangar and airfield rabbit shooting was the local night-time sport. Phil decided to sleep in a car beside his machine!Although we were keen to meet up with local flyers the forecast was not good and with no protection for the aircraft we decided to press on North. The overcast skies were threatening as we tracked, via the Nelson Lakes, seeking out the long Wairau valley running down towards Blenheim and the coast. Our plan was to avoid controlled airspace and to slip through the hills to Picton Airfield. Dark rain clouds hung around the high ridge to our left and at one time Omarka looked a likely diversion, however
Woodbourne allowed us to transit the Northern side of their zone and the Picton valley opened up between the showers. On landing at Picton we were reminded why we had left this airfield out of our southbound flight plan; there is no fuel available and the landing fee is inflated to keep out strays. We were lucky enough to be offered Mogas normally reserved for lawn mowers which helped minimise anxiety on the next leg across the water to Foxpine. The weather improved and again the Cook Strait was calm and innocuous, familiar landmarks fell into place and before long we had been made welcome at friendly Foxpine and departed with full tanks north to Taupo.
With ease we transited corridors and made the desert road without a hitch but as we climbed we became aware of a dark horizon and a squall awaited us on the summit. Down the northern face we slid with the rain clouds forming a descending ceiling matching exactly the fall of the land below. Through damp murk we followed the road down to Lake Taupo and along the shore to the airfield. A night stop was inevitable. A keen gyro enthusiast runs a helicopter school at Taupo and it was a relief to find Bruce Harvey on hand offering hangar space alongside his R22 and a lift into town. Thanks Bruce your beer was welcome too.
Next day the weather was poor all around but Taupo was clear, the airfield was quiet and so we made the most of calm conditions and Phil did his first solo flying! Not the usual syllabus but we had covered a lot of ground and offered some unique experiences on the way. Later in the day we squeezed through the Rotaroa Lakeland and back to Tauranga which welcomed us with a breathtaking sunset and the fabulous vistas for which the Bay of Plenty is rightly famous. As a footnote let me say that over the next week or so Phil Chalmers completed solo cross country to Advanced National level and jumped from novice in one step, saves on paperwork!
The Eagle just purred along wherever we wanted to go, put in fuel set the revs and check the GPS, who would have thought Tauranga to Timaru in a day with an encore up a glacier! Gyros have just got a whole load better! Tony Unwin.
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The major difference between helicopters and gyroplanes is expense! It is said that gyroplanes has 90% of the helicopter’s capability for 10% of the cost. This may be an exaggeration as a gyro is unable to hover, unless the wind is very strong, and it is unable to lift loads the way a helicopter does, however the price of purchase and ongoing operation are very significantly different.
Gyroplanes were invented in the 1920s, almost 20 years before Helicopters, they proved very effective in carrying mail around the USA landing in very small spaces including the top of the Pan Am skyscraper in New York and the White House lawn in Washington.
The major difference is that the rotors of a gyroplane in flight are not driven by the engine but by the wind. A Helicopter blade is used to force air downwards, hold onto your hat if the rotors are turning, a gyroplane rotor blade creates lift from the air passing over it just like a fixed wing aircraft; there is no downdraught. There must be a wind or the aircraft must move forward to keep the blades turning.
Should a helicopter have an engine failure the pilot must quickly change the angle of the rotor blades to turn the machine into a gyroplane and glide to a landing; the angle is quite steep due to the heavier weight of the aircraft compared with a gyroplane.
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Tauranga Harbour
25°
