Wing Spinning

Greg's gyro chewing up the sky. Photo by Rob Moorman.

Greg's gyro flying high at Benson Days.

Above pictures of Gremminger's Magni gryo from Italy. Photos by Rob Moorman.

Roy and Greg ready to put the Magni through its paces. Photo by Ken Bricker.

The sophisticated instrumentation of the Magni. Photo by Rob Moorman.

The Magni Gyro at rest. Photo by Rob Moorman.

Greg flying above the Florida countryside. Photo by Rob Moorman.

I actually bought the robot plans. Those plans turned out to be a little less than I expected. The problem with those plans was that some of the technical detail I expected was missing. I was expecting wiring diagrams and sources for servos, artificial-intelligence units, power sources, gearing, indication lights and hopefully weapons. I was planning to build a true "Lost in Space" kind of robot.

Imagine my disappoint-ment when I found out that there wasn’t going to be any room in the robot’s frame for any kind of weapon’s package. That’s because I was supposed to be IN the robot providing the power source, gearing, servos, and "artificial-intelligence." And if "artificial" means "not real" that is exactly how I felt. Not real intelligent.

As it turns out, if I had built the robot I guess I would have had a true "Lost in Space" type robot since there was probably a little man standing in it, too. It is unbelievable what a series of disappointments life can be.

But the bottom line was that I figured if Popular Mechanics couldn’t tell the difference between a robot and a robot costume, there was no way that they could ever get something as glorious and mysterious as personal flight figured out. So I just never pursued the Bensen plans.

Good thing, too. I was only about twelve years old at the time!

Several years later, Popular Mechanics partly made up for the "robot plans con" by reporting on the ultralight movement. Specifically, they put a picture on the cover of the first commercially available powered parachute, the ParaPlane. I had never given up on the idea of hovering, or taking off from my back yard, or any of that. So a personal helicopter was really still on top of the "Toys Roy’d Like To Have" list. But then again Farrah Fawcett Majors was still on top of the "Girls Roy’d Like To Have" list too. A practical man (kind-of), I focused on what was attainable.

So eventually, I ended up with a powered parachute. And that really did change my life. Those of you who fly know exactly what I mean. Those of you that haven’t soloed in a powered parachute need to put this magazine down this very minute and find yourself an instructor. You are missing out on one of the best things you could ever do for yourself.

As I got more comfortable flying my powered parachute, I began building a powered parachute business for myself. So I traveled to this fly-in in Arkansas, set up my little tent, and tried to sell my little parachute machines. (This is back when they were still little).

And that’s when I heard my first negative comment about gyros. An older guy walks up to me, looks at my machine, and comments on how safe it looks. (I like the guy already!) Then he talks about how he and a bunch of his friends all used to fly gyros. Man was the gyro a wild and really dangerous ride! He finishes his story by telling me that he really misses those guys since they are all dead now……

OK, one little downer story. The problem is that as I traveled through aviation circles I hear nothing but one downer story like that after another. I was starting to figure out that there are two kinds of people, those that fly gyros and those that think gyro pilots have some kind of crazy aero death wish.

Luckily for me, I have a couple of friends that I trust a lot. And those friends drive gyros. Specifically KZ Zigaitis and Greg Gremminger.

KZ kind of followed Greg into the gyro world. Greg got into gyros because he likes to fly a lot. As a fixed wing ultralight pilot he saw that there was a lot of time that he could not fly. You know the times. Either it is too thermally to be comfortable or it is just plain too windy.

Greg went to Oshkosh one year and saw gyros chewing up the sky when all the other aircraft were on the ground. He made his decision then to find out more about the machines. And find out more he did!

Greg now flies a two seat Magni gyro from Italy. And if you know Italy, you know all about their rich aviation tradition. Even so, the Magni is one heck of a nice looking machine. Over the last couple of years I’ve gotten several chances to see Greg’s Magni perform because he really enjoys taking people flying. In fact, he flies so many people that I always have declined any opportunity to go up with him since he seems so busy.

Well, turns out Greg took up another friend and powered parachute pilot, Ken Bricker, a year or so ago. That started Ken’s mind to thinking about all the times he could be in the air when he wouldn’t feel comfortable in his powered parachute. Now, I’m not going to call Ken a traitor or anything, but he gets it in his mind that he’s going to buy himself a gyro.

Ken finds one available that he will need to do a little work on. OK, maybe a lot of work since it was crashed. But none of the work involves Ajax Blood Stain Remover since no one was hurt in what turned out to be an engine-out landing on a rough field. But getting the machine flyable does involve a lot of work. That means every time there is a gyro around, Ken makes a beeline to it to take pictures of things that are put together so he will know where all the parts will go on his. (That really sounds so wrong, but he did get plans, too.) So that is what brought me to Shelbyville, IL one fine September day.

The Shelbyville Airport hosts an annual gyro get together that attracts gyros from all over the region. The airport was a little harder to find than I suspected it would be since I was certain that there would be at least one or two thick, black plumes of smoke to guide us. (How’s that for dark aviation humor?)

Arriving there, we quickly find the gyro bunch and they are doing what pilots generally do during the midday. Staying out of the sun and hangar talking. With it being a close-knit community, a lot hinges on who’s there and who’s not there. If I were paid by the word, I could tell you all about it.

But the great thing for me about the event was that Greg didn’t have potential riders flocked all around him like normal. Since this was a gyro fly in, these folks already knew what it was like to be in a gyro. As a matter of fact, so did I. I had taken a flight in one a few years ago. It was OK, but it was very short and I really didn’t have time to figure out what was going on.

When Greg asked if I was ready to go for a flight, I was ready to do it. We get into the aircraft, he warms it up, and we taxi to the main runway. This is a little weird for me already because I never take off of anything but grass. He gets the gyro into the sky and almost immediately asks me if I have ever flown a plane.

I go, "Uh, yes. A little."

He says, "Great, take the stick."

"Uh, Now wait, how does this thing work?"

"Easy, just turn the stick the way you want to go."

"Uh."

"Here, I’ll show you."

"Uh, what about rudder?"

"Don’t need it."

"Uh, OK."

He shows me a gentle turn. Then he shows me a high bank powered parachute type turn (only faster). Greg gives me control and suggests that I just try to hold it straight and level.

Now here is what is the biggest surprise for me out of this whole deal. The thing was easier to control than an airplane. It tracked straight with very little input from me. Now I don’t know if Greg was working like a fiend up in the front seat to compensate for all of my errors, but he said he wasn’t. It was an extremely smooth, easy to fly machine. And this was during the hottest, thermaliest part of the day! Contrast that with all of the horror stories I had heard about how difficult it was to control gyros and this was a very pleasant little epiphany.

After a short period of flying around looking into swimming pools (you never know what you might find), I fly it back to the airport. As we get closer, Greg says, "Let me take you for a little bit of thrill flying."

"Uh, OK."

Man, was it cool! Real hard banks, dives, and 90 mph at 20 feet over the crops. A really fine ride. Greg says it goes faster, and I believe him.

Greg lands and of course everyone is interested in how I liked it. I told them all that it was OK, especially when Greg let me have the controls at the very last so I could practice the high bank turns and low flying.

Bottom line is, now I know why women always flock around Greg. The Magni is a fine machine and if you ever get an opportunity to fly in one, you should take it. And since Popular Mechanics featured Greg on the front cover last year with his Magni, I guess I can completely forgive the magazine for the whole robot plans thing.

Roy Beisswenger is founder of the Easy Flight Powered Parachute Training Center in Greenville, IL. You can reach him at www.easyflight.com.