Experimental Gyro/Helicopter Group Improves Design,
Performance
The Popular Rotorcraft
Association, a membership organization that promotes gyroplanes and
experimental helicopters, has relaunched its website with a new,
modern look and a promise of more content and more frequent
updates.
The old website was professionally designed, but it was getting
long in the tooth and updating it was an arduous process. The new
one, developed by volunteers from the PRA ranks, takes advantage of
trends in technology without using gimmicks for gimmicks' sake.
The site contains a photo album, information about upcoming
events, lists of helicopter and gyro CFIs (if you are one, and not
listed, send your information to prahq@medt.com for
inclusion), a list of books (and where to buy them), and, of
course, an FAQ. The photos in this article are from the PRA
album.
One of the areas that is most likely to interest newcomers to
the sport, after the photo album, is the section of Tributes, which
includes biographical information about rotorcraft and PRA figures
who have gone west, including Igor Bensen, Ken Brock, and several
others of whom you might not have heard (but where's BJ
Schramm?)
And the PRA has been able to count many rotorcraft luminaries in
its ranks. The PRA was founded by Dr Igor Bensen as, essentially, a
type club for builder/pilots of his Bensen Gyrocopter. When Dr
Bensen found himself older and in declining health, legendary gyro
and homebuilt-plane pioneer Ken Brock, a friend and admirer of
Bensen, took over the helm of PRA. Now it is run from rural
Mentone, Indiana by an elected board, with a very small staff. Like
EAA, but on a smaller scale, PRA organizes a rotorcraft fly-in at
Mentone every July, just before Airventure. Many rotorcraft
manufacturers use it as a chance to hit a narrowly targeted
audience and tune up their sales pitch on the way to Oshkosh.
The organization also publishes Rotorcraft magazine.
Experimental rotorcraft have come a long way since Dr Bensen and
BJ Schramme sold their pioneering gyro and helicopter, the
Gyrocopter and Scorpion, respectively, from small ads in the back
pages of magazines. Thousands of sport rotorcraft are on the US and
hundreds on the Canadian registry, and more are operated as
ultralights. Dozens of companies make kits and components, and more
instructors are certified every year.
The PRA has struggled in recent years, with angry board quarrels
breaking out in public, and -- a much more serious problem
--stagnant membership figures. Nevertheless, all parties to the
disagreements can agree that sport rotorcraft, which have always
been fun, will continue to prove themselves safe and practical as
well. The PRA can help people get into the sport -- in a safe and
practical way.