Autogyro circumnavigation of the globe

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

And The Adventure Is On Again!

It is with great pleasure that we can announce that Norman, flying ‘Roxy’ his bright yellow autogyro, has departed Laoag and is now on his way to Japan. The flight, mainly over open ocean will take approximately 9 hours and he is expected to arrive at Kadena Air Force Base around 16:00 hrs (Japanese Time – 07:00 GMT/UTC). You too can follow his flight in real time by going to the ‘Spot’ onboard flight tracker.

Norman and Roxy took off at approximately 06:20hrs, Philippines time ( 22:20GMT/UTC) and headed north to clear the Island of Luzon in the Philippines before starting the massive open-water flight to the Island of Okinawa, Japan, and an arrival at the USAF air base at Kadena.

Before departure Norman was able to send us the latest weather report covering his proposed route and everything looks fine, including some much hoped for tailwinds!

For those interested in the tech side of things, here is Norman's departure weather report

We hope everyone enjoys following the flight on Spot and that you all continue supporting Norman as he continues his quest to become the first pilot to fly an Autogyro around the world.

Check back regularly for updates and make sure you keep watching that orange line on the tracker as it snakes it way across the world to Northern Ireland and home.

Tracker Link…Click Here

The Gyrox Team

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For more information go to our website

'Like' us on Facebook

Consider Donating to Norman's Chosen UK Charity: Bowel Cancer UK

Consider Donating to Norman's Chosen North American Charity: Livestrong

Follow Norman and G-YROX (Roxy) live via the onboard tracker

Relive the early stages of the flight at the Timeline website

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The Countdown Begins

We can now announce the departure time for the resumption of the flight. Norman will be departing Laoag International Airport at 06:00 hrs (Philippine time) on the morning of Wednesday 20^th July 2011. This equates to 22:00 hours GMT/UTC tonight, 19^th July 2011.

This very early start means that most fans will be able to at least see Norman’s take-off and probably his arrival at Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa tomorrow. So make sure you have the link to the Spot Tracker bookmarked to make sure you can follow every mile of his flight across the Philippine Sea to his first landing in Japan.

The flight is expected to last a staggering 9 hours and arrival time at Kadena is scheduled for 16:00 hrs Japanese Time.

Hopefully the weather will be kind to Norman and Roxy as they make their way across the open sea and gratefully, Typhoon Ma-on which has been causing problems in Southern Japan has started move out to the east and should be no problem for Norman.

To whet your appetite for the upcoming adventure, we have received some photographs and a small video from Mark Gillet of Norman’s departure from Woodland Air Park yesterday. Mark was amongst the many friends and fans that turned out to see Norman fly out of the airfield that has been home for Roxy for 10 months.

Norman prepares Roxy for departure at Woodland Air Park. (photo, courtesy of Mark Gillet)

Ready to go! (photo, courtesy of Mark Gillet)

A final wave and Norman departs Woodland Air Park (photo, courtesy of Mark Gillet)

Here is the Video, also taken by mark Gillet...

So here it is, after all the waiting the adventure is about to restart. In a few hours Norman will settle into Roxy’s cockpit, start the Rotax engine and fly out of the Philippines, heading north to Japan. We hope you will keep Norman company as he traverses open ocean, mountainous terrain, arctic tundra, ice flows and forests over the next couple of months. Check that you have the tracker ready now by clicking here.

All our best wishes Norman for a safe and trouble free flight,

The Gyrox Team

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(Unless otherwise credited, all images on this blog are the property of GyroxGoesGlobal and may be used with prior permissionfrom gyroxgoesglobal@gmail.com)

For more information go to our website
'Like' us on Facebook
Consider Donating To Norman's Chosen UK Charity: Bowel Cancer UK
Consider Donating to Norman's Chosen North American Charity: Livestrong
Follow us on Twitter
Follow Norman and G-YROX (Roxy) live via the onboard tracker
Relive the early stages of the flight via the Timeline website

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Monday, July 18, 2011

Breaking News! The Journey is About to Resume!

It is with the greatest of pleasure that we can finally announce, after 10 months of bureaucratic wrangling and logistical headaches that the GyroxGoesGlobal Circumnavigation attempt will be resuming on Wednesday the 20^th of July 2011 when Norman departs from Laoag in the Philippines and heads out across the sea to Japan.

Just last week, amidst fears that the flight would have to be called off, the Japanese aviation authorities finally confirmed that they would permit Norman to fly the autogyro across their airspace. This had been a massive stumbling block to Norman’s continuance of the journey because in Japanese aviation rules there is no ruling that allows any aircraft under 500kg in weight to fly further than 3km from their local airfield. Seeing Norman intended to traverse the whole length of the Japanese island chain this meant that months of discussion had to be undertaken to persuade the authorities to make a special case for Norman’s flight, culminating in our recent ‘Embassy Appeal’.

Norman and Roxy have been patiently waiting for this day at Woodland Air park

Patience is a virtue they say, but Norman’s patience and persistence is a lesson for us all. His dream to be the first pilot to fly an autogyro around the world meant too much for him to ever contemplate giving up and today that persistence has paid off.

Norman and Roxy head towards the local volcano, Mt Arayat, during flight testing

Of course, just getting the Japanese authorities to say yes was not the end of the story. A whole new routing through the Japanese Islands had to agreed upon, a route that complied with the ‘special flight’ terms of the permit and then because of the long delays, the original permits to enter Russia had to be renewed, not the simplest of tasks when you are at a remote airfield in the middle of the Philippines.

The agricultural patchwork terrain around Woodland Air park

But Norman returned from the Russian Embassy in Manila at the weekend, new visas in hand and then came the task of uprooting from what had been Roxy’s home for the last 10 months.

Norman waves to the assembled press photographers

Time was of the essence as the permits had arrived a lot later in the year than what Norman was hoping for and the short weather window in the far north of the globe would close again leaving Norman stranded in possibly Siberia or the wilds of Alaska or Canada if he didn’t get away as soon as possible.

So in between packing and shipping things back to the UK (things that Norman had acquired over the months), closing up his accommodation and final checks on the aircraft Norman made himself available to the worlds media for a number of interviews and photo/video shoots. The Al Jazeera interview andvideo is available in the previous blog post.

A final au revoir to friends at Woodland’s and the Angeles City Flying Club saw Norman strap himself into ‘Roxy’ and then depart this morning around 10am local for the 200 miles (324 km/174 nm) flight north to Laoag International Airport near the northern tip of Luzon island in the Philippines.

Norman demonstrates the inbuilt hand's off stability of the autogyro

It is from here on Wednesday morning that he will actually resume the record breaking circumnavigation as this was the furthest place he reached last year before flying Roxy back to Woodland’s to spend the winter in a dry hangar. There will be a large press contingent there to see him off as well as many new friends that Norman has made during his time in the Philippines.

Norman pictured on the apron at Laoag International Airport back in August last year. Little did he know it would be almost a year before he would return there to continue his journey

The first leg of the newly resumed journey may well be the most daunting of the whole journey since Norman left Northern Ireland back in March 2010. From Laoag he has a 730miles flight over the Philippine Sea, notorious for typhoons and thunder storms with just a few small islands dotted along his route. His first stop in Japan will be the Kadena Air Force Base on Okinawa Island. This is the first airport that Norman will reach that has customs facilities and therefore must be the point of entry into Japan.

A map of the proposed routing across Japan. It is of course subject to alterations because of weather and air traffic control demands

Our attention will be on the ‘Spot’ tracker the length of that flight and you can watch it unfold live too by going to the ‘Spot’ tracker webpage where his track unfolds live before your eyes. A quick hint when using the tracker…switch to ‘hybrid’ mode for a Google Earth image with place names and sights superimposed on the screen, and you can use the scroll bar to zoom in or out. With the tracker updating every 10 to 20 minutes you too can be part of the adventure.

Finally, what can we say? It’s been a long time coming and everyone at the Gyrox Team, Norman and his family and friends included, have run the gamut of emotions over the last 10 months but it was all worth it. Our intrepid red suited aviator has taken to the skies again and the bright yellow autogyro is on her way home at last. Fair winds and happy landings to you both.

The Gyrox Team

We will of course be updating the blog daily with news from the journey as it happens.

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(Unless otherwise credited, all images on this blog are the property of GyroxGoesGlobal and may be used with prior permissionfrom gyroxgoesglobal@gmail.com)

For more info visit our website

'Like' us on Facebook

Consider Donating to Norman's chosen UK charity: Bowel Cancer UK

Consider donating to Norman's chosen North American Charity: Livestrong

Relive the early stages of the flight via the Timeline website

Follow Norman and 'Roxy' live via the onboard Tracker

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Norman Appears on Al Jazeera!

With the resumption of the round the world flight looming, the world's news media have become interested in our intrepid adventurer again and it was Al Jazeera, the world famous news channel, that recently visited Norman at Woodland Air Park in the philippines. The results were a great interview and an incredible video with stunning flying shots.

You can check out the Al Jazeera story here

or watch the video below

Thank you Al Jazeera for a great article and video. Now for the big one...

Keep watching the Blog, website, Twitter and Facebook for some breaking news coming very soon.

The Gyrox Team

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For more information check out the website
Follow us on Facebook by clicking 'Like'
Consider donating to Norman's chosen UK charity: Bowel Cancer UK
Consider Donating to Norman's Chosen North American Charity: Livestrong
Follow us on Twitter
Follow Norman live via his onboard tracker
Relive the early stages of the flight through the Timeline website

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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Show your support for Norman and the GyroxGoesGlobal Circumnavigation flight.

Norman is still holding out hope for continued support from the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) and Ministry of Transport (MOT) as the Chinese have now refused him flying permission for one of the two viable routes out of the Philippines. After months of work, persuasion and meetings the Chinese Civil Aviation Authority have refused our intrepid global gyrocopter pilot permission to fly across their country. Norman has also been working hard with the Japanese authorities to try and work out a safe route across their country. This is a particular challenge as such a flight in such an unusual aircraft has never taken place before and therefore needs special permission from the Japanese Authorities.

We are now calling for help from all the loyal supporters out there to help bring this phase of the journey to a satisfactory conclusion for all. Please contact the Japanese authorities / embassy where you are and ask them to continue to support Norman's world record flight by giving him clearance to fly across their great country."

Add your voice to the our global appeal to urge the Japanese aviation authorities to continue their ongoing support alongside the other 23 countries who make up the circumnavigation route. By acting together, they will allow this official FAI World Record attempt by Autogyro to embark on the second half of its circumnavigation journey.

A special exemption to fly for a short period of days through Japanese airspace will allow the flight to continue and to enable the onward route to be flown during the very brief “Arctic Summer” weather window. The onward route would then cross the Far East of Russia, the Bering Sea, North America and finally the North Atlantic to the FAI finish line back in Northern Ireland.

How to assist - if you can (and in your own words), contact your countries Japanese Embassy Press Office and/or Ambassadors Office, to express your support for the flight and highlight its varied objectives /goals (click here for a list of all Japanese embassies and consulates). This Global flight needs global international cooperation between all the participating countries to succeed and now, with the flight in its greatest “hour of need” we are appealing for your active, global support to help achieve it….perhaps even pass on this link...http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000769639636 to your friends who might then also lend their voice to this “Get Gyrox Going appeal!” We appreciate very much your loyal ongoing interest in this very unique real life (and thanks to satellite tracker, online) 21st century adventure.

Now, let’s all try to get that little yellow aircraft, that’s been waiting so patiently en route in the Philippines, back on course and to get the first Autogyro, after 88 years of waiting, to finally, successfully, gloriously achieve a maiden flight around the world.

Many thanks from Norman and all the GYROX Team.

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Worldwide Japanese Embassies: Email them through the 'contact us' pages.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Deluge Delays Departure

Test flying and any hope of Norman flying up to Laoag has been halted this weekend at Woodland Airpark because of Tropical Depression Falcon. This has been a devastating tropical storm and has caused the displacement of 300,000 people in the Philippines.

Norman has managed to send us back some photos of the devastation caused by ‘Falcon’ and as you can see, the only flying possible would have been if ‘Roxy’ came equipped with floats!

The deep end of Woodland's runway...2-3 foot of water!

Luckily, ‘Roxy’ and all the other aircraft at Woodland’s are under cover and Norman is safe and dry too.

The view from the dry, or should I say, less wet clubhouse.

As of Saturday night the rain hadn’t abated but the weather report for the area on Sunday morning shows signs of the storm moving away.

Runway 08! Note the Fuel shed under water!

How long it will take for the airfield to dry out is anyone’s guess but obviously Norman will make sure the ground is safe before taking to the skies again.

It is so wet that the local frogs have come into the clubhouse to get dry!

We will keep you updated as and when we receive further details.

The Gyrox Team

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Follow the adventure on Facebook and click 'Like'
For more information check out our website
Consider Donating to Norman's Chosen Charity: Bowel Cancer UK
Norman now has a chosen North American charity to donate to also: Livestrong
Follow us on Twitter
Follow Norman and 'Roxy' live online via the 'Spot' tracker
Consider joining the Authorised Facebook Fan Page
Relive the adventure so far on the Timeline website

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Monday, June 20, 2011

Looking Good in Luzon!

Preparations for the resumption of the circumnavigation attempt continue apace in the Philippines and we can now give you an update on Norman’s activities over the last couple of weeks.

The second half of the journey will be quite different than the first half, with long open ocean crossings and travel through colder and wetter northern latitudes, which has meant a couple of updates to the gyro, mainly in the form of replacement fuel LED sensors for the unique Turtle-Pac 'in flight' refueling system. Plus the addition of 6 combinations of temporarily attached Camera positions which give tremendous alternative viewpoints around the Gyro, both looking forward and backwards!

Also taking place was a weigh-in exercise where the all-up empty weight of the aircraft (no fuel), pilot (no dinner) and hand luggage were weighed so as to be able to fine tune how much weight of fuel/passenger will be allowed to bring the aircraft up to its maximum take off weight (MTOW) of 500kg.

Norman, with the help of a local tree, weighs all his kit.

But just how do you weigh an autogyro? Not the easiest thing to do but Norman and the guys at Woodland’s came up trumps with a mobile weighing platform and some careful balancing!

So that's how you weigh an autogyro!

Norman has also been continuing with his flight tests in the local area which has included trying out new camera positions. As can be seen from the following images, these give a greatly improved view of the whole Gyrox adventure. Different camera positions are still being tried but we can rest assured that once the journey begins again we are in for some really dramatic images from Norman’s flight.

New camera view of Norman's take-off from Woodland's runway with local volcano, Mt Arayat in the distance.

Dramatic view of Norman as he flies Roxy down the local river.

Norman flies parallel to Woodland's grass runway as an ultralight lands on.

Great view from the new pylon mounted camera as Norman lines up for final approach to runway 08 at Woodland Air Park.

Of course, it’s not all been hard work down in the Philippines. Even Norman gets a day off at times and this allowed him to partake in one of his other favourite pastimes…Scuba Diving!

Vasco's Hotel and Diving Centre.

He and Jay were able to visit Vasco’s Diving Centre and Resort at Olongapo City, on the eastern coast of Subic Bay, about 35 miles south west of Woodland Air Park. The owner of Vasco’s was very nice and even lent Norman some of his dive-school scuba gear, free of charge, so he could dive along with Jay (who had his own gear).

Norman and JC at Subic Bay.

Subic Bay was a major US naval base during World War 2 and after and was the scene of major battles during the war. This has left many wrecks for the accomplished diver to explore. There are even aircraft strewn across the sea bed!

Vasco’s had a lot more than just diving for Norman to enjoy on his days off, including a fine restaurant and bar, a dive shop, accommodation and even a dive museum. Although exchanging his flying helmet for the deep sea diving helmet may have taken the all up weight of the Gyro slightly over the limit!

Norman modelling the latest in Gyro pilot's headgear? Not really, just an old deep sea diving helmet at Vasco's restaurant!

Woodland Air Park is closed every Wednesday and this has given Norman time to take the short journey down to Subic Bay to enjoy these watery distractions, returning refreshed to continue with the preparations for the upcoming flight. He is very closely watching the weather reports as Tropical Storm Egay makes its way across the northern parts of the Philippines. Hopefully this will die out before long and clear skies will see Norman on his way again very soon.

Tropical Storm Egay and it's expected track across the region.

The Gyrox Team

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Follow Norman on our new Facebook Page: Remember to click 'Like'
For More Information go to our Website
Consider Donating to Norman's Chosen UK Charity: Bowel Cancer UK
Or Maybe Consider Donating To Norman's Chosen North American Charity: LiveStrong
Follow us on Twitter
Follow the flight live via the 'Spot' tracker
Consider joining the Authorised Facebook Fan Page
Relive the flight so far on the Timeline Website

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Monday, May 23, 2011

A Week in the Philippines.

Following Norman’s arrival a week ago at Woodland Air Park in the Philippines, people may have been wondering what he has been up to. Obviously, because of the long gap since the circumnavigation was put on hold last year, Norman has been extremely busy with updating flight plans and attaining new permits for flying to modified destinations. Major world events over the last 6 months have necessitated a rethink on the original route, and hopefully new destinations will be confirmed soon and then the journey can resume.

But it hasn’t all been a week of paperwork. The weekend Norman arrived at Woodland’s coincided with the Flying club’s ‘Fly-In’. Norman enjoyed all the flying displays and was even able to give a small demonstration of the agility of the Gyrocopter as well as offering some air-experience flights to friends from the local area.

Norman prepares to put Roxy through her paces as Sheila holds on tightly
(courtesy of Tonet Rivera and Sheila Kristine De Leon)

Local friends, Tonet Rivera and Sheila Kristine De Leon, have graciously allowed us to use their images from the day, which include shots of Sheila’s ‘Gyro Grin’ after her flight with Norman and Roxy.