The joy of gyros

[Coyote]

So I go out to 303 for my lesson this morning and the wind is pumping (windsock is as stiff as a virgin on his honeymoon night) . Not to be deterred I push out my aerie and do the pre-flight. As Joshua arrives (my instructor) I casually enquire about the wind and if we should still fly and Joshua looks at the wind and says – Of Coarse.

We take-off in a very short distance turn downwind and are gone ……
That was the last time I thought about the wind – sure we crabbed a bit at times but apart from that there was very little evidence of the wind. After an hour of amazing flying we returned to the airfield and I was only really reminded of the wind on finals when our touchdown speed was zero. I would never have flown my trike in that wind so VIVA GYROS ………..

[DieselFan]

Not to take glory away from gyro's but

I haven't been fortunate to fly in a gyro, yet today's wind certainly ain't a problem in a trike. Take off and landing was done 90 degree crosswind on purpose, before departing to Rhino to check out the stunning Xenon.

I'm no great pilot but I was once told planes were meant to fly in wind. If it ain't gusting badly there's no problem? I try to avoid flying close to the hangar and drop later, although you might find that sometimes the wind blows so hard it "ramps" over the hangar and after one or two bumps is not bad at all.

My xwind landings aren't elegant at all but it's great fun (you can always abort) and I think good practice like - deadsticks.

[Coyote]

Fair point - I learnt to fly in Port Elizabeth so the wind always blew and we learnt to fly in it. I would not fly in gusty conditions though because It can cause excessive turbulance which wasnt that much of a problem whilst flying but can create surprises that cost money on landing.

[Gyronaut]

I hear Dieslfan but I must add this. In the Cape, the Gyro's come out when the trikes are put away. Fact. Sure it gets a bit bumpy in the valleys to the leeward wide of the mountains sometimes but unless its gale-force the wind is a non-event in a gyro. The runways at Fisantekraal are so wide that you could do a cross-wind approach, turn into wind after round-out and land before running out of runway!

[Coyote]

Now Now JR - whilst I totally agree with you - thats just showing off. Do you want to make all the guys jealous?