Utah Rotorcraft Association

PRA Chapter 2 - Serving Utah and the Intermountain West

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Upcoming Rotorcraft Meetings

The following rotorcraft organizations are known to be active in our region and holding regular meetings.

Utah Rotorcraft Association (PRA 2, Spanish Fork, UT)

Apr 10, 2010, 10am, Airgyro Aviation, Spanish Fork, UT.
Business meeting, update on plans for ROTR 2010.

Ken Brock Rotorcraft Association (PRA 1, El Mirage, CA)

Regular meetings are held second Saturday each month at 11am at Teddy Udala's ranch in El Mirage.
(Updates, directions here.)

Great Northwest Sport Rotorcraft Association (PRA 73, Scappoose, OR)

Regular meetings are held second Saturday each month. Locations vary. See www.pra73.net.

Arizona Rotorcraft Club (PRA 15, San Manuel, AZ)

Third Saturday of each month October – May, (no summer meetings due to heat,) locations vary. No website. E-mail ARC President Brita Penca to receive notices.

Upcoming Rotorcraft Events

Note – The focus of this list is events catering to rotorcraft enthusiasts, hosted by rotorcraft organizations, in the western US, with a few exceptions. Dates which are tentative or unconfirmed are marked with an asterisk.

April 17 – 18, 2010 – San Manuel Fly-In
San Manuel Airport, Arizona

The Arizona Rotorcraft Association's (PRA15) first San Manuel Fly-In. Camping, (but not hook-ups,) rest rooms and water are available on the field. A hot dog & apple pie cookout is planned for Saturday night, and attendees are encouraged to bring both flying aircraft and incomplete projects. For more information and pre-registration, e-mail [email protected], or call (520) 840-0186.

Apr 21 – 25, 2010 - Bensen Days
Wauchula Airport, Florida

This heritage regional even focuses on gyroplanes, but welcomes aircraft of all types to the Wauchula Municipal Airport in South Central Florida. Bensen Days is hosted by the Sunstate Wing & Rotor Club, which has a new official event website. Get a general feel for the event in this photo thread from the Rotary Wing Forum.

Apr 30 – May 2, 2010 - Central Sierra Helicopter Meet
Groveland, California

This helicopter-only meet will be in its fifth year in 2010, and is an informal event held on a private ranch. The Pine Mountain Lake Airport is nearby. Check the event website for video of previous events and 2010 details as they're announced.

Jun 10 – 12, 2010 – Rotors Over The Rockies
Brigham City Airport, Utah

URA's own annual meet moves this year to Brigham City Airport, immediately east of (and visible from) I-15 at Utah exit 365, and outside the Salt Lake City Class B airspace and Mode C veil. The city has agreed to let us camp on the airport, nearby restaurants and motels are plentiful, and it's 90 minutes closer to Portland and Boise, 30 minutes closer to Denver, and only about an hour farther from southern California.

On our last official event day, Saturday, is also the date for the Brigham City Heritage Arts Festival, and the city is also holding an airport open house, guaranteeing significant exposure for our sport. See experimental rotorcraft owned by URA members and visiting pilots fly, and get introductory lessons from Certified Flight Instructors in both helicopters and gyroplanes.

Watch our newsletters for tips to visiting pilots, and up-to-date details and event news will be featured on the home page of this website as the date draws near. View or download a PDF format event poster here.

Jun 19, 2010 – Hiller Vertical Challenge
San Carlos Airport, California

The Hiller Aviation Museum hosts this annual event, and describes it thus: “'Vertical Challenge' Helicopter Air Show is a unique event that allows visitors to see first hand helicopter operations. The show is devoted to demonstrating to the public of how helicopters affect our daily lives from traffic and news reports to its unique life saving ability, to the National Defense of our Country.”

Jul 22 – 24, 2010* – Homer Bell Helicopter Fly-In
Homer Bell Farm, Hillsboro, Ohio

This is a very informal event held at the farm of Rotorway guru Homer Bell, usually the week before EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. It reportedly drew nearly 60 helicopters in 2009. There's no runway for gyroplanes, and no hosting organization, but we'll share details as they become available for 2010.

Aug 3 – 7, 2010 – PRA Convention
PRA Mentone Airport, Indiana

The Popular Rotorcraft Association now owns its own airport, which is taken over by this event each summer during the week after EAA AirVenture. Menton is about 300 miles by road from Oshkosh, or about 200 nm by air. PRA grew out of the Bensen Gyrocopter owners group back in the 1960s, and gyroplanes of all sorts are featured. There is a renewed effort to attract more helicopters to this event, and two Helicycles made it in 2009.

Sep 24 – 26, 2010 - Ken Brock Freedom Fly-In
El Mirage Dry Lake OHV Recreation Area, California

This event is hosted by the Ken Brock Rotorcraft Association / PRA Chapter 1 in honor of the late Ken Brock, an early Bensen dealer, developer of the KB series gyroplanes, and founder of this, the first of PRA's local chapters. Enthusiasts gather each fall on the El Mirage Dry Lake, near Edwards AFB in the Mohave Desert. This large, roughly 6-x-2-mile oval of flat, level, hard-packed clay and silt sits at 2,840 feet MSL, and is “resurfaced” by natural runoff each year, creating a unique environment for experimental aircraft. Expect to see everything from ultralight trikes to Chinooks in the air, and a wide assortment of experimental helicopters and gyroplanes.

Self-contained camping is allowed on the lakebed, and porta-potties are provided starting Thursday. Official days are Thu/Fri/Sat, but early birds usually start arriving by Tuesday each year, and the flying lasts into Sunday. Traditionally, attendees are invited to a Saturday night BBQ at the Brock Ranch adjacent to the lakebed, and Chapter 1 may offer a Friday meal at the campsite on the lake.