On August 7, 2006 a Twinstarr registered EI-DJX flew from its homebase Kilrush (EIKH) in Ireland across the Irish Sea to Shipdham Airfield (EGSA) in East Anglia ( UK). Here is an account of this historic flight, which we have dedicated to our belated friend John Potter, one of gyroplane’s pioneers next to Don Farrington, Igor Bensen, Slim Soule, Johnny Miller (thankfully still alive at over 100 years of age) etc. We call it the Potter Memorial Flight.

It all began some time when the idea germinated to actually make a significant flight representative of the Twinstarr’s capabilities. To that effect we studied what flights would be feasible, given the intricacies of the British/Irish weather and its coastal effects in particular, Woody’s and Wim’s availabilities, the payload of the Twinstarr, legal requirements, proper equipment for overwater flying and a suitable occasion.

John Potter.
To whom this name does not ring a bell, I suggest doing an internet search. Suffice it to say he was one of the pioneers in the gyroplane world. He worked shoulder to shoulder with Slim Soule (the first man to execute a real “Jump take-off” in a Pitcairn autogyro), when working in the early days for the Umbaugh Company developing the U-18 gyroplane as it was called. When this company’s assets were sold at a public auction by court order (later won back in US High Court Appeal), Don Farrington bought whatever he could find in terms of equipment, jigs, fixtures, finished parts, castings, special tools etc and set up a gyroplane school/company developing and marketing the fully certified 18-A gyroplane as it was renamed now. While Don was still flying for PanAm, the daily running of the business was left to John Potter and (later) secretary Glenda Whitis. For more info on this, I refer to “Don Farrington’s Legacy” in the Hofstra University Gyroplane International Conference Paper.(1)
For years, Farrington Airpark was the one and only gyroplane training center in the world offering gyroplane (amongst other flying activities) training seven days a week, 364 days a year (they closed only on Christmas Day). John Potter was always there, flying from dusk to dawn and even beyond. He trained the majority of the first “key” instructors that were active in gyroplane instruction throughout the USA (and often even outside the USA borders ; Farrington's was an international outfit).
At one time we found out that over 90% of the active gyroplane instructors in the USA were trained at Farrington’s.
John had more gyroplane flying hours than anyone I recall ; he stopped counting at 20 000 Hrs, he used to say jokingly. He must hold the absolute record number of gyroplane jump take-offs performed by one man, given the 20-plus years of everyday instructing that finer delicate performance act only possible in the 18-A gyroplane at that time.
After Don’s untimely demise in 2000 John moved to Florida, untiringly still smitten by the concept of the free-spinning rotor, to set up a new company and design a new generation of gyroplane, based on the 18-A , but with updated and improved contemporary technology and modern materials. Unfortunately he could not complete that quest: At 21.47 hrs on July 28, 2006 at the age of 83, John Potter’s heart slowed and stopped at Harbor Chase Hospital after a spell of health problems. So died peacefully one of gyroplane’s greatest. Having worked closely with him as my mentor for several years out there, it seemed appropriate to dedicate this flight to him.

The occasion
The biggest annual UK gyroplane gathering known as “Wallis Days” (honouring a perhaps even greater gyroplane pioneer; Ken Wallis) was nearing: August 12/13. This year was Ken’s 90th birthday and something really special had to be done for this momentous occasion. Fergus Kavanagh (part-owner of the machine) and Woody practically simultaneously came up with the idea of flying the Twinstarr to the Wallis Days event. Woody had some days off and it seemed the stars were in line to attempt the crossing of the Irish Sea. This to my knowledge had only been done in a single seat gyroplane by Jim Montgomerie in 1987 (2), but never before in a two-seat gyroplane. This time it would be a two-seat machine: the Kilrush-based Twinstarr. Kilrush Airfield is a very nice little gem of an airfield in the Republic of Ireland from where a group of gyroplane owners/builders operate and train on occasion. Take a look at www.kilrushairfield.com/ . The long term weather forecast looked favourable a couple of days before Wallis Days, and at the first opportunity of a weather window, we would set off for the crossing.

Route
The best routeplan seemed to be : fly Kilrush to Tuskar Rock and across the Irish Sea on to Haverfordwest. From there over Gloucester to Turweston to refuel, then straight to Shipdham Airfield (EGSA). This seemed very feasible. Should we however encounter strong headwinds, this would require a recalculation and a possible alteration of plan.

Flights were booked by commercial airline from Norwich to Dublin on Sunday August 6. My brother Wim had just travelled by car from Belgium, requiring an overnight at the docks the evening before to catch the first available ferry to Dover. With a partially finished fuselage strapped to the roof of his tiny car he arrived after four hours of driving on British soil in Yarmouth. Our local driver took us to Norwich Airport where we arrived to find the terminal building absolutely crowded with travellers trying to check in. We managed to queue through the check-in and security check only just in time to get to our seats in the plane and strap in when the engines were promptly started and we taxied out. Less than an hour later we arrived at Dublin where Fergus Kavanagh was waiting for us. He kindly took us to Kilrush where Ken Reynolds was already in attendance. We had to do some last adjustments on the Twinstarr, load it up and get airborne on a test flight to verify all was ready for the trip prior to setting off for real at the first available opportunity. Given the massive payload of the machine, we were able to pack it prepared for any eventuality with two occupants and full camping gear for two: a tent, two sleeping bags, food, clothes, full fuel, lifejackets, immersion suits, emergency beacon and the Twinstarr still had payload to spare. Not many gyroplanes can take that kind of load, not legally nor (equally important) performance-wise! So fully-suited and equipped we boarded EI-DJX after a very thorough pre-flight inspection for the short test flight. Climbout proved to be no problem at all (as was to be expected : it is a Twinstarr after all), and all checked to be OK. After landing we put our trusty steed away for the night after another thorough postflight check. An obligatory VFR flight plan and Customs Declaration had been prepared beforehand, as well as the mandatory document for Special Branch, who required at least 12 hours notice. These were duly faxed to the relevant people. Together with Ken and Fergus we had a “fast” dinner on the verges of a scenic Irish river teeming with trout before Fergus took us back to spend the night at his home where we checked the weather forecast again and viewed some entertaining gyroplane in-flight video taken by a helmet camera of a friend of his (interesting stuff) before hitting the sack.

The flight

We got up after a refreshing night, had breakfast (courtesy of Mr & Mrs Kavanagh) and headed out to Kilrush where we found Ken again waiting there for us, as well as Derrick Doyle and a professional helicopter flight instructor known as “Helipaddy” who also happens to be a gyroplane enthusiast. They would follow us along in a Piper Cub on the first leg until the coast or so before heading back to Kilrush. Some of the pictures you see here are the result of their skilful flying that day.
We checked the weather and forecast winds, which showed a favourable tailwind component for the first part to Tuskar Rock. So far so good then! The flight plan was checked and confirmed by Shannon and all relevant authorities aware of our intentions. We filled the fuel tank to the brim going by the old philosophy that one of the three most useless things in aviation is the fuel left behind at the airport and by the assumption that refuelling points in the Irish Sea are rather scarce. With my luck they would be closed anyway. The airport manager was able to give us a duty-free fuel price (bonus!!) at the pump by use of a pre-printed form. They really are very switched on at Kilrush!!! A last check confirmed everything was securely fastened to the airframe, since anything coming loose in flight would go through the propeller with all kinds of nasty results, especially if this would happen over water. Some last minute adjustments, and the moment was there to don our immersion suits and lifejackets for an on-time departure as per the filed Flight Plan.
With a click of the starter the Lycoming engine burst into its steady idle and we let it warm up while taxying to the holding point of the active runway. After the usual checks (magnetos and carb heat were checked twice, just to make sure) some required additional items were checked and after a flash prayer the prerotator was engaged and we took off under the watchful eye of everyone present at this historic occasion. The route had been decided on as follows: to leave Kilrush and set course for Tuskar Rock, just of the southeast corner of Ireland. That would take us some 54 nautical Miles, of which 43 over land (which we thought prudent as well as useful if the engine would start to act funny or whatever other problem should show up), before venturing out over the cold waters of the Irish Sea. A suitable diversion (Waterford-EIWF) was nominated as well. From Tuskar Rock we would fly directly across the Irish Sea to South Wales, crossing the FIR boundary 4 nM SW of Slany reporting point, transferring from Shannon to London info. Our point of coasting-in would be St David’s Head, from where we would slightly alter course to Haverfordwest, only 14 nautical Miles further. Total distance of this leg was 106 nM, well within the reach of the Lycoming-powered Twinstarr, which can carry fuel for about three hours.

With a sharpish right turn-out we set course for Tuskar Rock, waved goodbye to our Irish friends on the ground and said our goodbyes over the radio before checking in with Shannon, who activated our Flight Plan and gave us the altimeter setting. We climbed to 2000ft and flew over the beautiful green Irish scenery passing Tullow, Buncloddy and Ferns. The groundspeed was not all that fantastic and those forecast tailwinds were not quite as real as forecast (everything as usual in aviation, then). If this continued I knew it would result in a headwind for the leg over water to Haverfordwest. Shortly thereafter we were indeed joined by Derrick and Helipaddy in the Piper Cub who were taking pictures to document those two intrepid gyronauts in their yellow machine. (See pictures courtesy of D. Doyle). My onboard photographer Wim was returning their shots with some electronic imaging. At about Blackwater they headed back for Kilrush as we were about to coast out. A quick calculation showed that we were still within the fuel requirements. Soon we were over the cold Irish Sea waters and Tuskar Rock came in view. Ahead lay nothing but grey-blue wrinkly sea, 2500 ft beneath us. It was a pleasant day, with good vis and a ceiling of about 3000 ft. Soon Shannon transferred us to London, but we were unable to contact them at first with our ETA for the boundary. A friendly fellow aviator kindly provided a relay for us and passed on the Wessex QNH.
I had hoped we could stay within gliding distance to vessels of some kind or another should the very unlikely happen, but there was not a single ship within range that day (we saw three alltogether). Wim and I went over the ditching drills again in detail, just in case. We turned at Tuskar Rock and quickly it became apparent by looking at the wind direction and waves (after years of offshore helicopter flying I have become used to “read” the wind direction and strength by looking at the wavepatterns) that our groundspeed was a lot lower than what the forecast winds would have allowed. Luckily I had taken this into account and knew we were well within the fuel range of Haverfordwest, despite the stronger headwind component. The mixture was leaned out properly as well, so all was in hand. It is a lonely feeling hanging there above the sea, relying only on the engine to keep on running. All t’s and p’s were in the green though, and the Averso rotors above kept on turning in their supersmooth way. Groundspeed dropped even further as time went by due to increasing headwinds. Still no reason for concern though as a visual check of the tanks confirmed the presence of sufficient “go-juice” for Haverfordwest.
The sea below reminded me of the film “Titanic”, and made me think of the book “The Lonely Sky and the Sea” about (a.o.) crossing the Tasman Sea in a Tiger Moth (albeit on floats) in the earlier days of aviation. No radio nor modern navigation equipment, just a compass and a sextant to take a sunshot (try that from an open cockpit in flight!).The pilots of those days really were some tough pioneers, I came to realise. I soon dispelled these thoughts to concentrate on the navigation part of things. I started a climb to 3000 ft since the ceiling had lifted sufficiently, primarily to increase my radio range and improve communication with London Information. My copilot behind me reported that everything was still strapped securely as it should be, and that he was feeling fine despite the rather nippy temperatures at this altitude. I gave London Info a revised ETA as St David’s Head came into view about 40 minutes later. The Welsh coast looked inviting and I found myself trying to increase the speed to get there quicker, and the Twinstarr continued at its steady pace without missing a beat. A comfortable feeling flying an expertly-designed excellent machine that does deliver the goods, I thought. We coasted in over St David’s Head and took a picture of the beautiful scenery at the sundrenched bay. Lovely place. Shortly thereafter London advised us to change frequency to Haverfordwest, who promptly came back on the radio. Did I detect a little surprise in their voice ? I was about to find out why. We called again 5 miles out and were given joining instructions. There was a northerly wind blowing 25 knots. Not a problem for a gyroplane, but it would require a recalculation of the rest of the route to Shipdham. We complied and soon were lined up on finals. After a textbook landing we congratulated each other on the historic flight across without a glitch and were directed to the visitor aircraft parking. The fuel truck arrived as soon as we had stopped the rotors. I had requested by radio to close my Flight Plan, to which I had received a very puzzling answer: “you better come and see us in the tower since we did neither receive your Flight Plan nor any notification”. Trouble ahead then. We refuelled and went up the tower. It turned out to be that for some reason or another, Shannon had not passed on our details to them. London Info seemed to have been aware though. A scary thought, since if we had ditched, I wondered when, or more likely IF, a Search and Rescue unit would have been advised at all????? I could produce from one of my pockets a copy of the Flight Plan however. The Customs Form and Special Branch notification was another matter, since I had not brought these copies with me. I insisted they checked with Special Branch, to no avail. Shortly thereafter a friendly policeman arrived, wanting to take my details. More useless delays, I thought. As he was taking notes, the police radio advised him that his office had managed to find the faxed documents after all. The previous night-crew had forgotten to pass on the details and had put them in some tray somewhere which could not be located immediately. After lots of calling around the documents were finally found. Situation resolved, we sent a text message to the boys in Ireland, and one to our local gyrofriend John Goldspink. Ken Reynolds sent us one back stating that he was coming over in a fixed wing to Haverfordwest. Good old Ken. John Goldspink showed up later after some other commitments he had to attend to.

Rescheduled remainder of the route
A weather check showed the forecast winds to be stronger than before (which we had already noticed) so we had to re-plan the route. Cliff, a local flight instructor and good friend of John, suggested a small detour via Swansea. This meant the planned route Carmarthen-Gloucester-Turweston-Shipdham would have to be changed into the longer Carmarthen-Swansea-Gloucester-Turweston-Shipdham. So it was decided, but the day was getting on and we had to get our skates (and suits) on if we were to arrive at Shipdham before sunset with this longer route. In the meantime Ken Reynolds had landed from Kilrush in a Morane and we had just enough time to say hello and goodbye. With the Twinstarr already refuelled we set out routing just South of Carmarthen to avoid the active danger areas D117/118 before turning South towards Swansea. The Carmarthen bay was in plain view. Strangely enough the smoke from the Port Talbot industrial area showed a favouring wind, whereas our groundspeed proved to be the opposite due to local effects and the terrain. From there we went on across the beautiful Welch hills, passing by windfarms and hilly picturesque scenery that would do postcards justice, via the BCN VOR to Gloucester, where we asked ATC to call Turweston Airfield for an extension, since we would be arriving after their published normal closing time. Not a problem I thought, since I had phoned the Turweston operator last Friday and had explained them the situation, on which they assured us we could ask for an extension of opening hours for fuel if needed. The answer from ATC was nothing like that however; the Turweston firecrew had a meeting that evening and fuel would NOT be available. More route changes then. ATC advised us that Oxford would still be open for fuel however. In the meantime the headwinds had increased even more despite the fact they were forecast to actually drop as the day went by! We landed at Oxford with a 13 knots crosswind, parked up in between a Citation jet and an arctic exploration aircraft. What bigger contrast to these extremes in aviation. We must have gotten some strange looks from the local flight school pilots. Refuelling was prompt and we set course immediately for Shipdham. Danger area D129 was not active apparently, which was surprising given the good weather, and neither was Bicester gliding site where some parasailing buggies were maneuvering about on the ground. There must have been a glider meeting going on though, judging by the amount of caravans, tents and glider trailers on the field. Avoiding the restricted R214 zone at Milton Keynes we watched a C-172 taking off from Cranfield as we cruised almost overhead.
From there we could clearly see the humongous airship hangars at Bedford, once home to the ill-fated R101 and other famous airships such as its far more successful sistership the R100, designed by our patron’s namesake Wallis (Barnes Wallis this time, who also designed the Wellington bomber which Ken Wallis (unrelated) flew during WW2. Barnes got the idea for geodesic construction from designing the successful R100 airship and used it later on the Wellington. Ken Wallis claimed that the geodesic construction of the Wellington actually saved his life when he flew into a balloon barrage at night on return from a bombing mission over Europe).(3)
The sun was now getting lower and we had still about 57 nautical Miles to go. Routing North of Ely we crossed the very long straight parallel lines of the Old and New Bedford river and squeezed in between the MATZ’s of Mildenhall and Marham, and missing the D208 Danger zone we set course for the last leg to Shipdham. Headwinds had picked up even more and must have been around 20 kts or more by now. The fuel was now beginning to approach the reserve stage but as we saw the familiar sight of Shipdham village we knew we would be able to make it without having to use our reserve. We landed long on runway 02 and taxied up to the hangar where we shut down the engine and rotors for the final time after having accomplished a significant feat that day.
It was a satisfied crew who watched the sunset that evening. We had accomplished a historic flight in honour of our belated friend and mentor John Potter. In less than 8 hours we had flown from Kilrush to Shipdham, covered almost 350 nautical miles and crossed the Irish Sea despite headwinds stronger than forecast for the majority of the route. We could have done it faster probably, but a speed record was not the goal.
The trip did prove however what a splendid and capable machine the Twinstarr-design really is. Carrying that load safely for that distance in all comfort is no mean feat (how many gyroplanes can you name that would carry two crew, camping gear and safety equipment, take full fuel and perform well all-in-one?) and the seacrossing makes it even more interesting.
The Twinstarrlite (4) would even better this performance, since its fuel consumption is a lot lower than the trusty Lycoming engine. The Wallis Days 2006 trophy for the longest flight was strangely enough presented to a crew which had flown in from the Oxford area, our last refuelling stop?

I would like to thank the following persons who have helped make this possible: first and foremost my brother Wim for his never ending support, Fergus Kavanagh and Ken Reynolds and the gang at Kilrush, John Goldspink, Cliff, and the late Don Farrington and John Potter. (Should I have forgotten anyone here, it is not intentional)

Notice/Warning/Caution: Readers should be aware Woody De Saar flies offshore helicopters in (or to put it better: over) the North Sea for a living and hence is used to flying in hostile environments such as over open seas, often at night. In addition offshore pilots have to perform helicopter ditching and dinghy drills on a regular basis in quite realistically simulated conditions: real water, flooded helicopter fuselage under water, turning upside down in the dark, waves, launching dinghies, winching by rescue helicopter etc.
I would NOT recommend to repeat this exercise to anyone without this essential proper overwater preparation/required skills/level of experience/expertise and insurance. This was/is by no means your typical Sunday cross-country navigation exercise flight.

References.

1. Don Farrington’s Legacy.
Hofstra University International Autogyro Conference :
From autogiro to Gyroplane: The Past, Present and Future of an Aviation Industry. April 25-26 2003.

2. Five Countries in a Day by Autogyro
by Jim Montgomerie.
July 3rd 1987

3. The Lives of Ken Wallis
Ian Hancock, 2001
ISBN 0-9541239-0-5

4. Twinstarrlite: A new Block on the Kit- More (f)or Less?
by Woody DE SAAR
Rotorcraft Vol 41 August 2003 pp 4-8