Pair of gyrocopters whiz through town
Two Austrian men stepped into a pair of gyrocopters Thursday morning at Springs East Airport in Ellicott and set off on another leg of a cross-country trip that is taking them from Boston to San Diego.
Which leads to the questions: What's a gyrocopter, and why would you want to fly one across the country?
A gyrocopter, also called an autogyro or gyroplane, is not a helicopter, said Chris Kurz, one of the pilots. It's a light aircraft that uses an unpowered rotor instead of wings. The rotor spins freely in the air, providing lift, while a propeller provides the thrust.
"Flying those gyrocopters is like flying a motorcycle in the air," Kurz said. "You have the wind in your face, that's freedom pure."
The pair aren't the first to attempt a transcontinental gyro trip, although only a handful of others have done it and their diagonal route is a first. Kurz and fellow pilot Robert Müntz are taking the trip without a ground crew, relying instead on fellow gyro enthusiasts for support and a place to sleep. They spent Wednesday night with local gyrocopter pilot Todd Rieck.
"To fly a gyro all the way across the United States - there's a lot of people who have the mind-set that it cannot even be done," Rieck said. "These guys coming over from Europe to do this is just really neat."
The gyrocopters fly at about 80 mph, Kurz said, and pilots can manage only four to six hours a day in the cockpit.
"After six hours, your behind tends to get a little numb," he said.
After long hours crossing Missouri and Kansas, arriving at Pikes Peak has been the highlight of the trip so far, Kurz said. "After a couple of days flying over (the prairie), your eyes are longing for something higher to hold onto."
They shipped their flying machines from Austria to Boston and began their trip May 18. If all goes well, they'll arrive in San Diego around June 7. The men are both homeopaths and they are trying to collect an odd collection of materials, including rattlesnake venom and buffalo semen, along the way to try out for use in homeopathic medicines.
They've taken other trips in Europe, Kurz said, but you can't fly very far there before you start crossing national borders. The United States is very different.
"Across Kansas, we were like 10 feet off the ground, skimming the crops and scaring the cows," he said. "That's a great way to travel."
GYROCOPTER TRIP
Learn more about the cross-country trip at www.remedia.at/homeopathy/gyrocopter.html
