Auto gyro - Cierva would have liked this

Man, trying to fly around world in gyro, to land in Maine

BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) - A man from Northern Ireland trying to fly around the world in an open-cockpit auto gyro aircraft to raise cancer awareness is expected to touch down in Maine.

The Portland Press Herald (http://bit.ly/1LoWJU8 ) reports that 52-year-old Norman Surplus is scheduled to leave northeastern New York on Monday and land in Biddeford later in the day.

Surplus survived bowel cancer in 2004 and us using the trip to raise awareness.

He plans to be back in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in about three weeks. He says if he makes it will be the first time auto-gyro has attempted to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

The gyro's blades are not powered. The craft moves forward using a rear-facing propeller and the blades spin automatically when the plane moves, generating lift.