Classic Aero-TV: PRA's Annual Rotor Round-Up -- Gyros, Helis, and PPCs... Oh My! | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-05.06.24

Airborne-NextGen-04.30.24

Airborne-Unlimited-05.01.24 Airborne-AffordableFlyers--05.02.24

Airborne-Unlimited-05.03.24

Tue, Dec 21, 2010

Classic Aero-TV: PRA's Annual Rotor Round-Up -- Gyros, Helis, and PPCs... Oh My!

Rotors and Wings Buzz Through The Skies Over Mentone, IN!

E-I-C Note: The Aero-TV Team -- Jim, Tom, Nathan, Paul, The 'Other' Jim, Ashley, Birgit, Wes, Klyde, Anjin, and the rest of the aero-gnomes -- want to wish you Happy Holidays while we all pursue our own various and sundry holiday diversions. Our regular daily webcasting schedule will resume promptly on Monday, January 3rd, 2011. In the meantime, please enjoy this 'classic' episode of Aero-TV from the past year as we all recover from our various and sundry Christmas celebrations...

Every year, the most dedicated fans of sport rotorcraft journey to a sleepy little airport in a small town in Indiana, by the name of Mentone. The town hosts a pretty neat little airport that, among it many claims to fame, is the home of the Popular Rotorcraft Association and a dynamite yearly rotorcraft gathering that gets its buzz on right after Oshkosh.

The PRA was founded by the man who created the sport rotorcraft industry, Dr. Igor Bensen as, essentially, a type club for builder/pilots of his Bensen Gyrocopter. When Dr. Bensen found himself older and in declining health, legendary gyro and homebuilt-plane pioneer Ken Brock, a friend and admirer of Bensen, took over the helm of PRA.

Nowadays it is run from rural Mentone, Indiana by an elected board, with a very small staff. Like EAA, but on a smaller scale, PRA organizes a rotorcraft fly-in at Mentone every summer. Many rotorcraft manufacturers use it as a chance to hit a narrowly targeted audience and tune up their sales pitch on the way back from Oshkosh.

Experimental rotorcraft have come a long way since Dr. Bensen and BJ Schramm sold their pioneering gyros and helicopters, the Gyrocopter and Scorpion, respectively, from small ads in the back pages of magazines.

Thousands of sport rotorcraft are registered in the US and hundreds more on the Canadian registry -- while more are operated as ultralights. Dozens of companies make kits and components, and more instructors are certified every year.

Though, like the rest of aviation, sport rotorcraft are not exactly cheap, thousands of pilots find ways to keep their rotors turning year after year --and many show up to prove it at Mentone. Of particular interest for 2010, though, was the invitation to the Powered Parachute community to come to Indiana and join their rotary-winged brethren... and as this year plainly proved, they all had a ball. Come join Aero-TV and see what we mean...

FMI:  www.pra.org, www.aero-tv.net, www.youtube.com/aerotvnetwork, http://twitter.com/AeroNews

Advertisement

More News

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (05.05.24): Omnidirectional Approach Lighting System

Omnidirectional Approach Lighting System ODALS consists of seven omnidirectional flashing lights located in the approach area of a nonprecision runway. Five lights are located on t>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (05.05.24)

"Polaris Dawn, the first of the program’s three human spaceflight missions, is targeted to launch to orbit no earlier than summer 2024. During the five-day mission, the crew >[...]

Airborne 05.06.24: Gone West-Dick Rutan, ICON BK Update, SpaceX EVA Suit

Also: 1800th E-Jet, Uncle Sam Sues For Landing Gear, Embraer Ag Plane, Textron Parts A friend of the family reported that Lt. Col. (Ret.) Richard Glenn Rutan flew west on Friday, M>[...]

Airborne 05.03.24: Advanced Powerplant Solutions, PRA Runway Woes, Drone Racing

Also: Virgin Galactic, B-29 Doc to Allentown, Erickson Fire-Fighters Bought, FAA Reauthorization After dealing with a big letdown after the unexpected decision by Skyreach to disco>[...]

Aero-News: Quote of the Day (05.06xx.24)

“Our aircrews are trained and capable of rapidly shifting from operational missions to humanitarian roles. We planned to demonstrate how we, and our BORSTAR partners, respond>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2024 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC