INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE ROTORS OVER CAROLINA 1997 FLYIN:
(These facts were checked over by comparing the two sets of registrations, written notes and looking at videotapes)

285 visitors/participants:
South Carolina: 190
Georgia: 51
North Carolina: 13
Florida: 8
Russia: 4
Tennessee: 3
Pennsylvania: 3
Indiana: 2
Ohio: 2
Alabama: 1
Iowa: 1
Virginia: 1
BLANK addresses: 6

AIRCRAFT: 35

Helicopters: 2
Powered Parachutes: 2
Fixed wing: 5
Ultralights: 4
Gyroplanes: 22
Bensens: 10
Dominators: 3
Brocks: 3
Others: 6

Of the gyros, 9 had N-numbers and are registered aircraft.

About the Fly-in

(written by Jamie Bodie, past webmaster)

Though it did not have the charm of the mountains of the past Mountain City fly-ins, the first Rotors Over Carolina Fly-In held at the Barnwell airport in west-central South Carolina had the advantage of flat fields and perfect weather. Green fields interspersed with only a few wooded areas spread out as far as the eye could see, most of them suitable for emergency landings, though none were needed. Originally scheduled for October 3rd through 5th, there were early arrivals on Thursday. Carl Schneider drove all the way from Iowa towing his greatly modified Bensen B8M and had the honor of being the first non-member of Chapter 13 on the field. By the end of the gathering, over 270 visitors and participants had signed in at the registration table. At its peak there were 35 aircraft on the field.

PRA Chapter 13, the Georgia-Carolina Rotorcraft Club, had the ambitious project of sponsoring a fly-in to replace the Mountain City Fly-In, which had been held each year in October. Last year Cindy Hardee said that because of the tragic death of her husband, LeRoy, in April, 1996, the October, 1996, Mountain City Fly-in would be the last. George Hammack, an avid gyronaut nicknamed "Dr. Gyro," had long wanted to form a PRA chapter and hold a South Carolina fly-in. There had not been one there for many years. George spearheaded the organization of a new PRA chapter, the Georgia-Carolina Rotorcraft Club, Chapter 13, with an initial meeting in January 1997, with five founding members present. The first project the club decided to accomplish was a fly-in. Even though the membership grew to a respectable fifteen, this was a daunting task.

With a great deal of work and perseverance the initial "Rotors Over Carolina" was a great success far exceeding the expectations of the club members. The South Carolina gathering of gyros attracted twenty-four gyros, two helicopters, two powered parachutes, four ultralights and four conventional fixed-wing aircraft.

Led by fly-in Safety Officer Rusty Nance, the well-being of the pilots and visitors was secured. There was only one entry gate and every visitor and participant had to sign a waiver there. Club Secretary/Treasurer John Magnan remembered that his flight instructor, Steve McGowan, said that there should be rotor "start" and "stop" signs and made sure that those signs were made and in place at both taxiway entrances/exits. A four-wheeler was used as a radio/flag vehicle to keep track of fixed-wing traffic coming in on the two active runways at Barnwell and to put up the appropriate flag to warn the gyronauts of air traffic. The result of the emphasis on safety is that there are no "incidents" to report about the fly-in.

Throughout the three days of the fly-in the registration table was "manned" by Nita Price and Diane Nance, with help from Club President George Hammack, Vice-president Mark Slone, Secretary/Treasurer John Magnan, members Hugh Grey and James McIntosh as well as other club members. Club member Mike Gibson brought a sound system. Member David Burley took ideas from George Hammack and John Magnan, as well as his own, and produced many fancy laminated signs for every aspect of the fly-in. Large wooden fly-in signs were manufactured by Mark Slone and John Magnan to direct people driving in to the fly-in location. All the club members helped spread the word about the fly-in during the months preceding it. The same club members spent much time talking with visitors and fly-in participants making sure that everyone had a personal welcome and explaining rotorcraft to visitors who had never seen that type of aircraft. On Sunday, as the last of the motorhomes were leaving, the same club members cleaned up the fields and took up the barriers and signs to leave the airport property pristine clean.

Many old-timers participated in the fly-in. Ernie Boyette was there with both his two-place Dominator and his Dominator Ultra with its two model plane electric motors acting as a prerotator similar to the gasoline powered model plane motors used by Ralph Taggart. The two electric motors were fed electricity through a brush and commutator system.

Maxie Wildes was there with his "Mad Max" gyro. Steve McGowan and Ed Alderfer introduced many to the thrill of gyro flying and made quite a few converts. Besides Steve, Ed, Ernie, Maxie and the first arrival, Carl Schneider, others who frequent gyro fly-ins were Ora Cook, Floyd "Brownie" Brown, Dennis King and Dan Leslie of Videogram Productions.

To make sure that the fly-in was not just a drive-in, Maxie Wildes and Robert Smith flew in from Maxie's Briar Patch airstrip near Savannah. Rick Abercrombie flew in from around Atlanta with his VW powered Bensen.

Chapter 13 cross-country champion Lloyd Sells led a group of five on a cross-country odyssey around the farm fields of South Carolina. The five on the cross-country were Lloyd, Carl Schneider, Floyd "Brownie" Brown, Rusty Nance and Guy Johnson in his Cobra ultralight.

One of the highlights of the fly-in occurred on Friday when the largest rotorcraft on the field, an Apache helicopter courtesy of the South Carolina National Guard, made its thundering entrance. It was piloted by John Miller and Kent Puffenbarger who also happened to be buddies of Club member Rusty Nance, whose day job, among other things, is flying the Apache for the National Guard. John and Kent also knew some of the other fly-in participants and stayed all day gladly showing off their aircraft.

Since the first Rotors Over Carolina fly-in had to be operated on a "shoestring" with nine of the members putting up personal funds to offset some of the expenses, a raffle was held on Saturday for an Eagle GPS (donated by member Rusty Nance). The lucky winner was D. Randall Berry who now is also a new member of PRA Chapter 13.

On Saturday evening there was an impromptu potluck buffet at which most of the fly-in participants supped on food provided by Club members, the Boyettes, Alderfers and others. Another treat for the participants was the visit by four Russian aviators led by Victor Shumeiko, the Director and Flight Test Engineer of a budding Russian aviation company Astra Aero. The other Russians with him were Alex Vankov, Alex Vasin and Andrew Shlikov. At the fly-in the Russian guests were presented with some catalogs and certificates by Dan Leslie of Videogram Productions and they in turn presented Chapter President George Hammack and PRA Chapter 13 with some special mementoes.

As the participants left the Rotors Over Carolina fly-in Saturday evening and Sunday morning many remarked that they would be back next year. Though the perfect weather with calm winds and not-too-hot air cannot be positively guaranteed for next year, the PRA Chapter 13 members vowed that the second Rotors Over Carolina fly-in would be better than the first and that, like the first, the goal would not be to have planned events and special shows but to allow the gyronauts the freedom to fly from dawn to dusk over the luscious green fields of South Carolina.