New World Records

It has been a while since we have been able to post any news to this blog page but rest assured, Norman has not let the grass grow beneath his feet and has been very busy with preparations for the resumption of the flight next spring.

Norman has also been busy compiling some blog posts that will be run over the Christmas and holiday period, but first we are excited to announce that the F.A.I. (Federation Aeronautique Internationale) has awarded Norman with four new World Records for Autogyro flying.

The records awarded are…

Claim number: 16277 Course/location: Laoag (Philippines) - Okinawa (Japan)
Performance : 127.9 km/h
Date :20.07.2011

Claim number: 16278 Course/location: Okinawa (Japan) - Goto (Japan)
Performance : 111.2 km/h
Date :21.07.2011

Claim number: 16281 Course/location: Goto (Japan) - Oki (Japan)
Performance : 116.1 km/h
Date :22.07.2011

Claim number: 16280 Course/location: Larne, NI (UK) - Oki (Japan)
Performance : 0.79 km/h
Date :22.07.2011

'FAI congratulates the Pilot on these splendid achievements.'

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Obviously some of the speeds may appear to be very slow but this is because the record includes time spent on the ground. Even so, Norman has been breaking and creating records for autogyro flying for nearly two years now and we are sure there are many more to follow, including the main one…First Flight Around the World by an Autogyro.

The F.A.I. World Record Attempt logo on the nose of Roxy.

Everyone at the GyroxGoesGlobal team congratulates Norman on his record breaking achievements and look forward to writing about the next awards. Until then we can look forward to some entertaining and descriptive blog posts from Norman himself coming very soon.

The Gyrox Team

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Norman Arrives Back at Laoag

Norman has arrived back at Laoag following his 2 day sojourn in the Philippine capital of Manila. This followed yet another 10 hour overnight bus journey to the northern end of Luzon Island.


Norman described the trip as...
“Not too bad, I was able to curl up on a double seat and get some shuteye, but there were no facilities on the bus and when it did stop to pick up more passengers you had very little time to use the rest stop facilities before the driver was sounding his horn, which meant you had one minute to get back on the bus before he drove off, no questions asked!”

Norman is now waiting for final clearances to fly on and is hoping this will be very soon.

In the meantime he has been able to send some photos for inclusion here of his arrival at Laoag and subsequent storage of G-YROX in the airport fire station!

Photo one shows the typical greeting he has when arriving in far flung airports. People appear from nowhere and although complete strangers, take Norman and his ‘funny little aeroplane’ to heart. In fact it is hard to see G-YROX with all the well-wishers surrounding Norman.

Norman with Well-Wishers

Photo two shows G-YROX being positioned in the Airport Fire Station with two firemen happy to have a new resident. One even dressed in matching uniform to G-YROX’s paint scheme!

G-YROX Fits in nicely in her temporary new home

The third photo shows Norman with two of the firemen who are obviously ready for anything. Norman looks quite under-dressed for the occasion.

Norman looks quite under-dressed for the occasion.

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Norman Arrives at Laoag and Recalls The South China Sea.

Norman safely arrived at Laoag International Airport (RPLI) in the north of Luzon Island in the Philippines at about 13.00 local time. This followed a flight from Woodland Air Park of about 200 mile (321 Km). He was met by people from local media and local contacts who are looking after him whilst he is there. He has sent an update to his flight with a description of crossing the South China Sea which is related below...

From Norman

I am in Laoag ok. Pleasant flight up here with an increasing tailwind all the way - my top recorded speed over the ground (3 days ago) was 137 miles an hour over the ground for a given airspeed of about 98 miles an hour! My fastest speed ever...Some tailwind that was...

Flying has been technically challenging over the past few days with many cloud formations and heavy rainfall to negotiate around. This task is greatly helped by the excellent manoeuvrability of the Gyro in flight. It is easy for example to stop mid air, vertically descend say 500 feet to duck under a small “growler” cloud (with apology to icebergs, from which this terminology is borrowed...) climbing back up again afterwards to go over the next one or jink left or right through the towering gaps in the fluffy columns that occupied a layer around 3-4,000 feet. I found myself dodging around in these constantly moving cliff faces for sport, whilst crossing the South China Sea several days ago. It was like a snow white playground in the sky about 150 miles out above the ocean. Very reminiscent of the floating mountains that feature in the recent movie AVATAR.

Mid-air photo taken from G-YROX of weather system

The formations lasted for about 40 miles so I had half an hour of weaving through them maintaining an approximate heading of where I needed to go. Once they finally petered out to reveal the next 50 miles as clear skies, it was time to break out the chocolate and have a an aerial picnic reflecting on how bizarre it was to be having this much fun, so remote from anyone else. Occasionally, much later in the flight huge walls of solid rain would flank my path (see photo) - these had to be monitored closely to establish they would not converge together before I made it safely through the middle to the brighter skies beyond. Like some challenge to nip into a lift before the doors shut, you had to time your run through the gap just right to avoid the heavy rain closing encroaching in on both sides. Success would see you blasting triumphantly out into the clear skies on the far side with barely a speck of rain on the windshield, while a watery curtain closed across behind you.

Norman


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Norman has expressed doubts as to any flying tomorrow as entry permission for Taiwan is still to be finalised.

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