Up, up and away.

On the 27th of February an email arrived from Viv saying that he and Tony would be at Little Rissington on Tuesday the 1st of March at least through to Thursday and possibly Friday as well, for training.

This would appear to be my first opportunity at last to get some real hands-on training in handling my gyro. I assume that to start with we'll be doing basic stuff like taxiing and getting the feel of just moving the machine around on the ground, and maybe a few fast runs up the runway to get the feel of how it handles with the rotors turning fast.

So, with a little trepidation I turn up at the hangar on Monday morning and get G-BYJA out and check what I can. Tony's a bit late because of a flat tyre (and he's got a much longer journey than me), but in due course he arrives and we check my machine over very thoroughly and then get in and buckle up.

To my surprise, Tony got in the passenger side, leaving me to get in the pilot's side. I had expected that Tony would be in control to start with, and I'd just be following what he did with the second joystick, but it seemed that I would have control over all the major functionality, in particular the pre-rotator for the main rotors.

After all the relevant cockpit checks I called loudly "CLEAR PROP" and after a pause, started the engine, making sure I had my foot firmly on the brake. With 2.2 litres of Subaru engine (and a big propellor) effectively attached to the back of our seats, the noise level in the cockpit is quite significant. We're wearing the quality headsets that Viv provided with the machine though, so communication through the intercom function of the radio is straightforward.

With the engine warm enough to be running smoothly, Tony said "Off we go then", so with a fair bit of nervousness I took my foot off the brake expecting us to leap forward. We didn't! A bit more throttle produces a lot more noise and we do move forward onto a slight downhill gradient; back off the throttle quickly as there's a 45° bend as we move onto the taxiway up to the runways. Safely round the bend, I'm just about getting the hang of steering with my feet when I discover that the uphill gradient we're now on needs a lot more throttle.

Moving up the gradient I stop at the top to spin the rotors up a bit. In my flights with Viv, he'd described how having the rotors turning at a moderate speed while taxiing over rough ground was very beneficial to the longevity of the rotor bearings as the weight of the rotor blades is largely removed from the bearings thanks to their aerodynamics.

I gently pull in the pre-rotator clutch lever on my joystick to divert a little of the engine's power from turning the prop to turning the rotors. With the 30' (9.14m) diameter rotors fairly whizzing round just above our heads, it's safe to move onto the rough grass taxiway across to the main runways. Soon enough, we get off the rough and onto the smoother, but by no means flat, runway-three-two aiming for runway-zero-four (not oh-four as I keep wrongly referring to it).

Just before the runway junction, Tony suggests that I use the radio to let other fliers know of our imminent presence on the active runway for today, i.e. the one with the wind blowing along it. "Rissington Traffic. Golf Bravo Yankee Juliet Alpha entering and backtracking runway-oh-four" I wrongly announce to anyone who's listening, which fortunately is probably nobody.

I turn us gently onto runway-zero-four, all 150' (45m) width of it and with a following wind, we gently motor over the crest and down to the threshold. Tony shows me how to brake and steer, which is a very necessary skill on this gentle slope with a following wind trying to take us through the fence and onto the road beyond if I don't maintain control. Steering and braking is quite tricky as three different pedals are involved, and with only two feet, there's something of a little dance going on - all this of course while my left hand is controlling the throttle, and my right hand ensuring that the rotor is properly angled to prevent us getting blown over.

If I'm feeling that things are busy just taxiing, what is a takeoff or landing going to be like? To my surprise, I was just about to find out. We turn and line up with the centreline of the runway and firmly push on the brake pedal. Tony shows me how gently build up the rotor speed to nearly 150rpm. We (Tony) apply more power and pull the stick back as we move forwards. I do my best to steer us centrally up the runway, but it's rather a long way from a straight line.

As we accelerate, our forward motion into the wind helps to spin the rotors ever faster and I can release the pre-rotator. From now on, our forward motion is the only thing keeping the rotors turning. As we move faster the rotors spin faster and we start to find the nosewheel lifting off so Tony increases the power and lowers the rotor angle to keep all three wheels on the ground. By now we're moving quite fast, or so it seems to my inexperienced brain, and then Tony pushes the throttle even further down; the engine/propellor roars heartily and we go even faster. Before I'm really aware of what's happening, Tony pulls gently back on the stick and we climb smoothly away from terra firma.

Seconds later we seem to be hundreds of feet (100m or so) above the runway with Tony suggesting that I try to steer using the stick and rudder to keep us over the centreline of the runway. In fact it was probably only about 100' (30m) up, but it felt high enough to me, especially when Tony reduced the power and pointed us down at quite a steep angle towards the rapidly diminishing length of runway. Very hard looking tarmac comes rushing towards us at about 60mph (96.5kph) airspeed. In one smooth movement, Tony pulls gently back on the stick and closes down the throttle and we land beautifully gently, with no forward speed, on the two main wheels, then pushes the stick forward to bring the nosewheel gently down.

There's something really magical about this aspect of gyros. I'd experienced it briefly in the flights with Viv, and Tony had just demonstrated that in the right hands, my machine could do the same as well. From flying at an airspeed of 50-60mph just a few feet off the ground, the gyro can land with no landing run at all (i.e. almost like a helicopter) and yet it doesn't feel as though you're stopping suddenly. It's all very gentle.

We turn around and head back to the start of the runway for another go. This time Tony encourages me to help with various aspects of the flying. After a few repeats, I hadn't realised but I was doing the take-offs on my own. Here's a typical one:

You can tell that it's me flying because as soon as we take off, the torque from the fast spinning prop takes us sideways and I'm very slow to correct it so we drift over to the left edge of the runway. In correcting it, I appear to be aiming straight for Maurizio (single seater gyro) and Viv (car) who are heading back up the wide runway. They don't panic though as they know that Tony won't let me crash, and in fact I control us well enough and aim reasonably accurately for the centre line as instructed, landing well beyond Maurizio.

After an hour of take-offs and landings we go in for a break. It's really hard work holding the stick fully forward in these windy conditions, though Tony I suspect has been doing a lot of the work for me.

After lunch, we go out for another hour's worth of the same thing. Slowly I'm getting the hang of the take-offs, but the landings are still something of a mystery as to how to steer with one hand & both feet, control the engine speed with my left hand, look where we're going and monitor the airspeed, all at the same time. Undoubtedly it will come in time but at the moment it feels very busy during the last few seconds of a landing.

After about six more take-offs we call it a day and taxi back to the hangar. A tiring day but we accomplished a great deal more than I could possibly have expected in my first day's training.