ABOVE: Bruce Spence with the wrecked early Bensen-style gyrocopter from the movie Mad Max - 1 Gyrocopters were once seen as dangerous. Modern versions are anything but! Did you know there are many commercial pilots that fly those big A-330's as well as many other 'people carriers' across the globe. Yet on their days off, instead of staying on the ground, they choose to strap into their gyrocopters and have fun blasting around the sky. With the freedom of a gyrocopter, you can fly a little bit lower, it's open cockpit, and you can slow down and have a good look around. It's best described like being on an aerial dirt bike. GBA’s First Gyroplane. Performance specifications are at sea. Pent-up demand was as important to the company’s marketing plans as the opportunity to sell. Gyroplanes Buyer’s Guide 2015. Are free spinning and aren't connected to the engine. Open gyrocopter. Plans for Bensen gyro-copters and gyro-gliders. SPECIFICATIONS OF THE B-8M GYROCOPTER. The cable can be released for the thrill of free and open skies. The best thing about flying the gyroplane is that it's a fun, responsive aircraft and you have a great field of view. Legally (in most countries) you can fly at 300ft, even lower if you have the permission of the landowner. You best get some training on low level flying first though as there is much to consider! Then, it's just the feeling of freedom. It's best described as being like a motor bike. If you want to go touring you buy a touring bike, if you want to go bush bashing and have fun, you buy a dirt bike. That's why the gyrocopter is often described as the 'dirt bike of the air'. The introduction of factory-built gyrocopters has seen an increase in the number of pilots flying these aircraft. Some early home built gyrocopters and kit-built gyrocopters had a chequered safety record mainly due to their construction and design, some modern gyro versions are fully certified in Europe and many are operated by government agencies. Flying a gyro is more like piloting a fixed wing aircraft than a helicopter, though they are capable of landing like a helicopter with the assistance of a bit of headwind though like any aircraft, they have to be flown within their envelope. The flight envelope is fairly narrow so there are some things you just cannot do, but there are also some things you can't do in a plane. For example you shouldn't stall a plane and in a Gyrocopter you never push over and unload the rotor - almost opposites. You also have to be careful at the back of the power curve. If you get slow with a high angle of attack there is a lot of drag from the rotor disk so even with full power unless you can get the nose down and accelerate the rotors, you just wallow into the ground - feeling much like having too much flaps with not enough power for fixed wingers. It's not a fun place to be and can result in eating some dirt! ABOVE: The is one of many new, sleek high performance gyrocopters hitting the market - especially from the European nations! Gyrocopters are nowhere near as hard to fly as a helicopter though and they are definitely cheaper to fly and maintain than a helicopter. The only similarity is that they both have rotor blade systems. Past that they are two completely different beasts to fly. You can be a very good gyro pilot and still not be able to fly a helicopter whereas a fixed wing pilot can transition to a gyro fairly quickly. Flying a plane is definitely a different experience to any gyrocopter. On a typical modern gyroplane, after starting the engine, the pre-rotator engages to spin the blades up. The swishing overhead is a little disconcerting at first then the RPM reaches around 220 smoothing things out, the pre-rotator disengages and take off roll begins. Typically lift-off is around 30-50kts depending on your autogyro and some forward stick is required to accelerate and prevent a high angle of attack situation developing. Rotor RPM varies between 320rpm and 370rpm depending on model and weight. Once airborne, a gyrocopter is incredibly maneuverable, often referred to as an aerial dirt bike because of their sheer fun factor. Landings are another fun part, with steep approaches and almost zero ground speed touchdowns possible, no-where near as nerve racking as any fixed wing touchdown.
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December 2018
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