Someone gave my dad, Mike Demarco, a gyrocopter. It’s kind of like a chair attached to a propeller that flies as high as some single-engine airplanes. It’s doorless. It has a seatbelt, which in itself is a little terrifying. If you’ve ever been in a single-engine airplane (and you can imagine that experience in a tiny craft without doors), you know what I mean. The turbulence, the speed … a seatbelt? My pops has his pilot’s license and a plane that he keeps in Mountainair, N.M. That’s where he’s building his chicken/wind farm. He’s building a house out of used tires. We went out for Father’s Day and shot guns at old cars. This time, during our Thanksgiving visit, I took photo and video (below) of the gyrocopter. He hasn’t flown it yet, because, in his words, he’s still learning about it. He’s not too keen on lessons, of course.
Gyrocopter
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This joystick is what you use to control the thing on the ground and in the air. It feels like a joystick, too, when you move it.
Marisa Demarco
The terrifying seatbelt, drooping terrifyingly here.
Marisa Demarco
This is the gastank, a 5-gallon plastic bin. That black circle is the gas cap.
Marisa Demarco
The runway, created by a neighbor with a dirt-flattening machine.
Marisa Demarco
The tires Mike will use to build his house.
Marisa Demarco
