AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2022 - 16

LETTERS
Head spinning
The joy of gyro flying
WHAT A GREAT article on gyroplanes in Costa
Rica ( " Head Spinning, " February 2022 AOPA
Pilot). I am very fortunate to divide my time
between the Northeast and Costa Rica. Our
home is a mere 20-minute drive from the
Neierhoffs' operation. Their operation is top
shelf! The flights from Tamarindo head out
over the Pacific Ocean toward the small towns
of Flamingo, Potrero, and Playa Grande. The
scenario is nothing short of spectacular and the
gyroplanes are lots of fun.
Andrew Elwood / AOPA 3704378
Playa Potrero, Costa Rica
Stall talk
THANKS TO BARRY Schiff for his thoughts on the
never-ending problems with stalls ( " Proficient
Pilot: Stall Talk, " January 2022 AOPA Pilot).
Seems to me that the biggest problems occur
when pilots are turning to base and other
" descending " aircraft configurations where
we are not thinking about the stall/spin potential.
We tend to focus on the runway and forget
that we have rudder pedals and enter into uncoordinated
skids close to the ground with fatal
consequence.
A simple solution might be to couple bank
information (anything more than 30 degrees)
with the turn and bank indicator (ball outside
the box) to come up with a stall/spin warning.
On the Garmin G5 this would just be some
software that could issue an auditory warning
when you are skidding into a turn on final. Or
in the case of the older indicators, they could be
modified to activate the old stall warning horn
anytime the ball is outside the box and the airplane
is turning into a skid. Thanks for all the
great articles.
Jeff Fitzsimmons / AOPA 1042381
Gainesville, Florida
Gus Grissom
GR E AT AR T I CLE BY Dennis K. Johnson in
February 2022 AOPA Pilot on the Gus Grissom
Airport (BFR) ( " Airports: Virgil I. Grissom
Municipal Airport, Bedford, Indiana " ).
For 20 years I was a Civil Air Patrol
search pilot, squadron commander, and cadet
16
AOPA PILOT / April 2022
orientation pilot. We flew both high school age
CAP cadets and college U.S. Air Force ROTC
cadets. I expected a bit more of the ROTC cadets
and when flying Indiana University cadets that I
would pick up at the Bloomington, Indiana, airport,
I would test them: Who was the U.S. Air
Force veteran who was both from Indiana and
was one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts?
You could have heard pins drop, which in a noisy
CAP Cessna 172 is saying something.
I would then fly directly to, and circle over,
Gus' museum that is snuggled in Spring Mill State
Park and chide them for their lack of historical
awareness of this famous Hoosier. I assigned
their learning opportunity follow-up to: 1. Go
to their commander and confess their deplorable
Indiana Air Force knowledge, and 2. Go on
their own, drive to the museum, and spend the
required time to be fully versed on the history
of Lt. Col. Grissom and the credit he brought to
Indiana and the nation-notwithstanding his
(and my) Purdue University alma mater.
Mark C. Smith / AOPA 932790
Indianapolis, Indiana
Good old days
GOOD PO I NTS, THOMAS B. Haines, on pulling
circuit breakers to verify what you really
have when components fail in integrated glass
( " Waypoints: The 'Good Old Days' Weren't So
Good, " February 2022 AOPA Pilot). My concern
with glass dependency is when the standalone
backup is not self-powered, is minimal, and/or
not practiced with in conditions similar to normal
operations. While glass installs can bring
incredible reliability and redundancy, they are
As an American Ranger
1 gyroplane builder and
500-hour sport pilot I
thoroughly enjoyed Ian J.
Twombly's fine article.
One minor technical
correction: The
statement that takeoff
occurs at " 5,400 rpm
on the propeller " should
have said 5,400 rpm on
the engine (after gear
reduction the prop is
spinning at less than
half the engine rpm).
I also would have
added to the list of
kit manufacturers
SilverLight Aviation in
Zephyrhills, Florida,
and it would have been
helpful to indicate
gyroplane training is
readily available in the
United States.
John M. Peterson /
AOPA 2095022
Chesapeake, Virginia
AOPA Pilot Magazine - April 2022

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