Pictures and Stories

- Celebrities flying the CC X-Plane Simulator -

CELEBRITY PILOT LIST

Jay Carter Jnr - CarterCopters LLC - Designer
Scott Tinnesand - Test pilot - Groen Bros Aviation
Hoot Gibson - NASA Astronaut - shuttle program
John Miller - Former Pitcairn Gyro Test Pilot
Stu Fields - Member of the PRA Committee
Mike Solano - Air Command (performed 1st CC loop)

(The above vistors have been placed in our celebrities section because we have the photos of them. There were of course many others who we would have included here but missed catching them on camera).

Jay Carter Jnr :

Our first celebrity to try the X-Plane setup at Oshkosh was of course the designer of the CarterCopter, Jay Carter Jnr. It is worth remembering that the x-plane set-up was only put together a few days before the Oshkosh show so most of the CC team were comparatively new to the device including Jay.

Scott Tinnesand :

The next 'celebrity' was Scott Tinnesand from Groen Bros. Scott is an ex army rotory-wing pilot who has had Apache training. Seen with Scott is Al Rivera of CarterCopters LLC, who professionaly guided so many attendees through the process of flying the CarterCopter.

During some later discussions with Scott where we were talking about quirks in simulators after Doug Marker had attempted to land the CarterCopter on Lake Winnebago (Oshkosh), just to see if the surface would was solid or liquid (it wasn't solid). Scott mentioned that an amusing quirk on the Apache simulator he trained on, was that if they landed near water, they could taxi into it & then fly around under water.

Now this is called 'flying with style' - look at the way Scott holds the joy stick - we were easily able to pick those pilots (& even non-pilots) who are used to controlling sophisticated aircraft/equipment. Almost all the Apache trained pilots had this similar easy grip.

In the background is Stan Clines from CarterCopters LLC Texas.

In the background to the left is Jim Mayfield, chief test pilot for Groen Bros. Later David Groen also dropped by to catch up with the CarterCopters team (see the pictures in the Group Photos section).

Hoot Gibson - NASA Astronaut :

Hoot was at Oshkosh to present a forum paper & was visiting the marquee because of our co-hosts (see Group Photos section of Hoot Gibson with Jim Dunne).

A number of CC team were on hand to witness this particular simulator run.
Oshkosh 2001 :

One of the amusing aspects of this event was that in the speed with which the whole thing occured, no one had time to warn Al Rivera that he was about to be introduced to a former NASA Astronaut (Al is seen advising Hoot on how to fly the CarterCopter).

It was to Al's credit that he so politely went about his instructing process, that it all went very well. Its not every day that we get to tell an Astronaught how to fly.

Rich Kraemer ( A CC team member & one time professor of Aeronautics - helps advise Hoot Gibson on some of the charateristics of the CarterCopter.

Behind Hoot Gibosn in the background, urging Hoot along is CarterCopters LLC General manager Jeff Keaton.

Al guides Hoot down to a perfect earthbound arrival.

Back on the runway after a succesful flight!.

"You did that very well Sir" said Al, "I guess you have a good flying background !"

John Miller - Former Kellet AutoGyro Test Pilot :

Link to background info on Captain John H Miller

Oshkosh 2001 :

The story linked to in the above picture really tells a lot about John. He is (as of 2001) 96 and the oldest registered flying pilot in the US.

I just hope that at age 96 I can be as lucid as John was when he spoke to myself (Doug Marker) and Rich Kraemer, about some of his past and what his interests are today.

Oshkosh 2001 :

An a side note - I was quite taken aback as to how much John understood about China (where I am living at the moment) and the political changes and issues associated with the country. He has a remarkably sound grasp of the finer details - not that many people of a younger age, have such an updated view.

Back to the simulator. The young boy sitting in the background may well be an aspiring young John Miller. His name is Michael Dijak and at 10 years of age was able to take-off and land the CC on the simulator, without any direct assistance other than a few minor pointers.

Stu Fields - PRA :

Oshkosh 2001 :

Rich Kraemer assisting Stu in his first flight of the CC simulator.

Oshkosh 2001 :

Mike Solano - Air Command :

Mike Solano had two moments of glory to mention - just a couple of weeks before Oshkosh he was awarded 'Man & Machine of the Year' at the Mentone fly-in.

The other bit of glory was that with some technical advice from Rich Kraemer, Mike was able to do a clean loop with the CarterCopter on the X-Plane simulator.

Oshkosh 2001 :

Mike was most impressed with the apparent accuracy and behaviour of the X-Plane model. He felt it truly behaved in the way he expected of a gyro based rotary winged craft.

The attempted loop came after John H Miller had explained that he often did loops and rolls in his Cierva Gyro and yet it had rotor blades made from fabric and wood. After John had said that we just had to have a go with the CarterCopter.

Oshkosh 2001 :

CC team members join in with Mike after his record breaking CarterCopter loop. (left-to-right: Doug Marker, Mike Solano, Al Rivera, Rich Kraemer)

(photos courtesy of Doug Marker - Using Sony Cybershot DSC-F505v)

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THIS SITE = www.internetage.com.au/cartercopters/

D.Marker email: dmarker@zeta.org.au
R.Anderson email: cartercopter@casagrande.com