Wed, Jul 06, 2011
The Popular Rotorcraft Association (PRA), started in 1962 as a
type club for owners of the original Bensen Gyrocopter, has
achieved a distinction most larger aviation organizations have not
- it owns its own airport. The Mentone, Indiana Airport (C92) is
home to PRA's annual convention, typically scheduled the week after
EAA AirVenture, and provides opportunities to fly homebuilt
gyroplanes and helicopters without the distractions, tight time
restrictions and crowded airspace of Oshkosh.
Among the Mentone traditions which would be impractical at a
bigger event are the morning cross-country breakfast flights to
Fulton County Airport in Rochester, 7 nm to the southwest, where
home-cooked food awaits at Tweedle D's Diner.
The restaurant is about a half-mile walk from the apron in
Rochester, the food and conversation are great, and there's
something magical about an air-to-air perspective when watching the
slowly spinning rotors of other gyroplanes. It's also great fun to
drop in on the regulars at Rochester with these unusual looking
machines.
The typical gyroplane cruise profile for a flight like this is
around 50 knots at 1,500' AGL for the completely open machines, a
little faster in enclosed models, so group flights really work best
when flying with other gyros. Such opportunities are rare except in
a few gyro hotspots around the US, which makes these flights
special each summer.
Gyroplane CFI and PRA Vice President Tim O'Connor saved the back
seat in his Farrington Twinstarr for Aero-TV's Nathan Cremisino on
a flight at the 2010 convention, and Nathan saved room for
breakfast.
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