Here's the ship I made the trip in, heading to the taxiway. The pilot is Bob Martian (Hope I got that right). He was selling rides around the pattern for $25. He is apparently the last pilot to be taught by the legendary Steve Graves before he retired from the teaching biz. You can see Steve holding the rotor on the right. Another interesting point is that this Marchetti once belonged to Steve as well. I guess he's having second thoughts about letting it go! :)

Here's the takeoff roll. The Marchetti is nice, you can tell its Lycoming engine has lots of power to spare. It doesn't whine like a Rotax, it growls!

Up we go... The flying lawn chair analogy is accurate. A single fabric seatbelt is all that prevents you from leaning over and meeting certain death... Is it on tight enough? My feet dangle from a shining piece of 2X2 aluminum tubing as my overloaded brain struggles to take in everything at once... Airspeed, scenery, gauges, the wind pumping into my nostrils, attitude, altitude, the airport, and is my girlfriend getting all of this???

At an angle of descent that would be far too steep for a fixed-wing aircraft, we touch down like there's a parachute above us and a pillow below. The Gyro doesn't seem to want to land, but eventually the rotor blades loose their stored-up energy and we touch down.

While Bob applies the rotor brake in the taxiway, I give the classic thumbs up, just as a two-place Air Command machine(I think) touches down.

Bob Martian and Steve Graves.

Bob and Steve talk in front of their baby.