On 2005-11-11 17:06:20 -0500, boB said:

boB... there are so many Bob's that I spell my name backwards. I
didn't know about Brewton. The IP I called was something like "dolph"
something.


That would be Dofin Fritts. I've flown with him. Like many of the guys
that instruct in standard (i.e. no hstab) RAF2ks he's somewhat
controversial in the industry. He does love and understand gyros,
although he has a blind spot about longitudinal stability, and I think
he'd be a good instructor.

He's based kind of on the FL/AL border. After all the Florida panhandle
is not Florida, it's where Alabama meets the sea!

I wold have to go back through my folder on the gyro. I hope some day
to be flying again. Right now the pain medication I take is so strong I
don't even drive a car any more.

Hope that you recover from what ails you. If I'd known how much it hurt
to grow old I'd have taken even greater risks in my youth. When you're
feeling better, an alternative to the RAF is the AAI Sparrowhawk, made,
oddly enough, by the selfsame Groen Brothers of this thread.

http;//gbagyros.com/

They began by modifying the RAF design to have centreline thrust and
the thing has got a massive cruciform tail, so it "hunts" a lot less in
the air. Their cabin is larger but it's not really a luggage hauler
either. There are a bunch of detail changes, like bucket seats that
adjust normally instead of a fixed seat/tank and adjustable pedals, and
all the patented RAF doo-hickeys like their mast folding arrangement
are not included.

A complete kit is just under $40k, ready to fly about $67k as a light
sport aircraft. It appears to be racking up a better safety record than
RAF -- RAF just lost another experienced CFI in canada, poor fellow --
but "anything that takes you up as high as a stepladder can kill ya."
And of course, there are maybe 70 AAI kits out there, as opposed to at
least 600, maybe more, RAF 2000s.

If you're in P'cola, the nearest AAI dealer to you is probably Terry
Eiland in the Tampa area.

My Toy
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/3...rastrip8lz.jpg

That page made me grin
--
cheers

-=K=-

Rule #1: Don't hit anything big.