PRA in the News!
Tue, 10 Aug '10
Wings and Rotors EVERYWHERE
The Popular Rotorcraft Association's convention wrapped up with an awards banquet Saturday night in Mentone, Indiana, and got a noteworthy commitment from Dr. Bruce Charnov, a professor emeritus from Hofstra University who has richly documented the history of the autogyro dating back to the early development by Juan de la Cierva in the 1920s.
Charnov promised attendees that he will finish his formal history of the Popular Rotorcraft Association in time for the group's 50th annual convention in 2012, and indicated that just the bibliography is already at 400 pages.
The PRA started as a Bensen Gyrocopter type club and dealers organization, but in the first of what Charnov describes as three "revolutions" within PRA, broke free to become a body representing all models within a couple years of its launch.
PRA President Scott Lewis says the convention drew an estimated 70 gyroplanes and helicopters and more than 55 powered paragliders, which made the ideal complement to the rotorcraft with their similar flight envelope and and preference for dawn and dusk flights. ANN's Paul Plack has a two-part chat with PRA VP Tim O'Connor starting with Monday's Aero News Special Feature.
Pod-Cast (Audio) Coverage:
ANN Special Feature: Pt I: PRA VP Tim O'Connor on Mentone 2010 - 08.09.10
ann-special-feature-2010-08-10.mp3
ANN Special Feature: Pt II: PRA VP Tim O'Connor on Mentone 2010 - 08.10.10
ann-special-feature-2010-08-10.mp3
ANN's Paul Plack talks with Tim O'Connor, Vice President of the Popular Rotorcraft Association, about the group's just-ended 48th Annual Convention and Fly-In, and the crisis produced by the FAA's moratorium on new gyroplane trainers.
ANN Special Feature: Ron Herron's Little Wing Autogyro - 08.11.10
ann-special-feature-2010-08-11.mp3
ANN's Paul Plack talks with Ron Herron about his plans-built Little Wing Autogyro, a tractor design which brings back a vintage look with its tube-and-fabric fuselage and Rotec radial engine.
ANN Special Feature: 150 HP Yamaha Engine Conversion - 08.12.10
ann-special-feature-2010-08-12.mp3
ANN's Paul Plack talks with Ernie Boyette of Rotor Flight Dynamics about his two-place Dominator gyroplane with a 150-HP Yamaha four-stroke conversion, and its potential as an alternative to those gold-plated engines from Austria.
ANN Special Feature: Meet Dick & Karol DeGraw - 08.13.10
ann-special-feature-2010-08-13.mp3
ANN's Paul Plack talks with Dick and Karol DeGraw, who wowed crowds at PRA 2010 with synchronized, side-by-side, jump takeoffs in Dick's amazing homebuilt gyroplanes
ANN Special Feature: Chris Burgess, Gyroplane CFI - 08.19.10
ann-special-feature-2010-08-19.mp3
ANN's Paul Plack talks with veteran gyroplane instructor Chris Burgess about the state of the industry, the unique challenges facing gyro instructors, and why he faithfully returns to the PRA Convention in Mentone, Indiana each summer.
FMI: gyrocfi.burgess@gmail.com
ANN Special Feature: Making "The Mac" Reliable
ann-special-feature-2010-08-20.mp3
ANN's Paul Plack talks with Rick Whittridge about what it takes to make the McCulloch two-stroke drone engines reliable enough for use on experimental aircraft.
FMI: 1 - (937) 878-2598
ANN Special Feature: John Snider's Mosquito XE - 08.27.10
ann-special-feature-2010-08-27.mp3
ANN's Paul Plack talks with John Snider, whose Personal Rotorcraft, LLC is a distributor for the Mosquito kit helicopter line, about John's stunning Mosquito XE, and his aggressive demos of the machine at Oshkosh and Mentone.
FMI: www.personal
ANN Special Feature: Brian McCallen on PPCs at PRA - 09.02.10
ann-special-feature-2010-09-02.mp3
ANN's Paul Plack talks with Brian McCallen, airboss for the powered parachutes this summer at the Popular Rotorcraft Association's Convention & Fly-In at Mentone, IN. Brian offers comments on how the PPCs mixed with all the gyroplanes, the challenges facing his sport, and whether his group will return to Mentone in 2011.
ANN Special Feature: The LSA Gyroplane Paradox - 08.04.10
ann-special-feature-2010-08-04.mp3
From the PRA Convention in Mentone, IN, ANN's Paul Plack talks with Greg Gremminger of the ASTM Gyroplane Standards Committee about the obstacles to FAA approval of gyroplanes as Light Sport Aircraft.
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Video Press Coverage
http://www.youtube.com/user/aerotvnetwork#p/u/0/qcVozz6MhBg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=qcVozz6MhBg
http://www.aero-tv.net/index.cfm?videoid=42fc6be5-3e0d-4c04-a913-23325bb0dea4
http://www.aero-tv.net/index.cfm?videoid=60a879a4-8b0e-4b01-bd2c-a67f054839e1
FMI: www.littlewingautogyro.com