My wife, daughter and I flew to Arizona the first week of August to visit my sister and her husband at their new house in Anthem, Arizona. They recently retired and moved from Massachussetts to an upscale Del Webb gated community with not one, but two, country clubs. My wife kept trying to get me interested in looking at houses, but I had other things on my mind.

You see, my mission was twofold: 1) Take a vacation with my family, visit my sister and her husband and see some sights in Arizona, and 2) Go to Rotorway International for a factory tour and demonstration ride in an Exec 162F.

I arrived at Rotorway at 8:00 a.m. on 5 Aug 04. I met with Larry Drullinger in Sales and discussed how long I had been following Rotorway in general (over 20 years), and the 162F in particular. After a nice chat, he introduced me to Bill Orth, Rotorway's Chief Pilot. We talked a bit about my fixed wing experience, and my undocumented flight time in OH-58's. Next, we went out to the helicopter for a pre-flight inspection. After a complete and thorough walk-around, Bill and I strapped in. Bill ran through the start-up procedures, picked it up into a hover, demonstrated some hovering maneuvers (forward, aft, left, right), hover-taxied to the active, and off we went.

I was very impressed with the Rotorway. Up until this point, all of my time had been as a passenger in UH1H, UH1N, AH1S, UH60, OH58, OH6 and CH47. At one point, Bill let me have the controls in forward flight. It was pretty sensitive, compared to my previous experience in OH58's, but it seemed to settle down pretty quick. Bill demonstrated an engine-on autorotation, which I thoroughly enjoyed (hmmm, hope I can do that!!)

We returned to the field and after shut-down, Bill led me back to Larry. Larry and I chatted some more, he answered a few more questions I had, I thanked him and told him I'd get back to him.

Well, we returned from vacation the following Monday and I went back to work. I had trouble sleeping and night, thinking about the 162F, and whether or not I was ready to take the plunge, after all these years.

Well, after a couple of phone calls to Brent Marshall and Larry Drullinger at Rotorway with some follow-up questions, coupled with more sleepless nights, I told them to proceed with the Purchase Agreement. They FAXed it to me on 11 August 04, and I signed and FAXed it back on 12 August 04. After all, the prices were going up on 15 August - I didn't have a choice, right? Talk about pressure! Actually, there was none from Rotorway; they are very good about that.

Now, all I have to do is sit back 3 months and wait, right? Wrong! I have to get my garage/workshop organized, purchase 3 major tools (drill press, band saw, disk/belt sander), and read everything I can to get ready for this project!

Three months have gone by already? Just as promised, the factory has finished their 49% of the 162F, and it's ready to be shipped. Rotorway had scheduled a 19 November completion date, and that's what they hit.

We headed back to Arizona to spend Thanksgiving with my sister and brother-in-law. The girls really put out a great meal.

We took a day trip to Jerome, Arizona. This was once a town that supported a large copper mining operation. Now it's a tourist location, with lots of specialty stores and some great restraunts. The women could have stayed there for days.

There was once a working gold mine about a mile outside of Jerome. Now, it's more like a museum and gift shop. It's called, Ghost King Mine and Ghost Town. As noted on the sign, the Bordello had been closed down. Well, there are lots of other things to look over.

While touring the Gold King Mine and Ghost Town, I stumbled upon one of the first Experimental airplanes. If I hadn't already paid for my Exec 162F, I might have considered buying it and restoring it!

I picked up my Rotorway 162F Kit at Rotorway International, Chandler, AZ on the morning of 29 November 2004.

After reading about a few shipping incidents encountered by other Rotorway owners, coupled with the $1400.00 shipping estimate, I started looking into renting a truck and picking up the kit myself. It turns out that the rental companies are desperately trying to get their trucks back from Arizona; seems that everyone in the country is moving there. I rented the relatively new 25' truck for $270.00, plus diesel fuel. The rental was for 4 days, which gives you lots of time to make the trip and unload.

Jeff (shipping/parts) and a couple of other friendly Rotorway employees quickly and efficiently loaded the kit into the 25' Penske box truck I rented.

I left Chandler at about 10:30 a.m. and arrived home in Milpitas at 10:45 p.m that same night. The truck had a governor on it that limited it to 70 m.p.h., which was exactly what I was doing across the desert into the Los Angeles basin, then up Hwy 5. The road trip went fine, and the precious cargo made it safe and sound.

The next day, my friend, David, and I unloaded the truck. We literally filled the 2-car garage with crates! I spent the rest of the week breaking-down the crates and starting the inventoring process.

Rotorway asks that you complete the inventory in 15 days, while it's still, "fresh in everyone's mind." I finished the inventory on 13 December and called Jeff at Rotorway with just a couple of minor discrepancies. There were a few missing screws; some in my head according to my wife. Jeff said he'd send the screws right out, but couldn't do anything about the ones missing in my head.

A couple of people have asked me questions while signing my guestbook. I just wanted to let you know that I'm not ignoring them. I have actually responded to them, but quite often, they get bounced back as no such email address. I'm not sure what exactly is happening here, but I just wanted to let you know I'm not blowing you off.

-Rich