Autogyro Musings

[Trevor Lyons]

Having been very impressed at Sywell by the display of RotorCraft's "Calidus" autogyro (aka gyrocopter or gyroplane), I am tempted to have a go at some time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AutoGyro_Calidus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotorsport_UK_MT-03

The Calidus has a fully enclosed cockpit and can cruise at 100mph burning only 10lph, so it seems the best of all worlds: almost as versatile as a helicopter, with the simplicity and cheapness of a microlight, almost as easy to fly as a 3-axis 'plane, impossible to stall, complete protection from the elements, fantastic visibility, a seven-hour endurance, easy storage or hangarage, and no need for a long runway, since they take off in 60 metres or less and land on a sixpence!
(When I say "cheapness", I mean cheap to run, not purchase price: a new Calidus would cost around £75,000!)

But there appear to be some obstacles for would-be autogyro flyers:
** Please correct any of the below, if I'm in error **.
(i) Because of the paucity of instructors, instruction fees seem to be higher than standard PPL fees;
(ii) Even if you have a PPL(A) licence, you still have to do 40 hours autogyro training.
(iii) Once you have an autogyro licence, it is impossible/illegal to hire an autogyro, so you must have your own (or else give up altogether).
(iv) The CAA, not the LAA, retain control over newly purchased autogyros like the Calidus.
(v) The CAA deal with annual renewals, but it seems they may wish to palm this off onto the BMAA or LAA.
(vi) There don't seem to be any autogyro kits. Or are there?

I couldn't afford a Calidus in the forseeable future, so if anyone could let me know if autogyro kits do exist, I would be delighted to hear fom them.
Any and all autogyro information is welcome!

[Ian Melville]

(i) Because of the paucity of instructors, instruction fees seem to be higher than standard PPL fees;

I suspect they are more in line with Microlight instruction fees. PPL fees are held low by hour builders and the fact that realistic fees plus high fuel costs would scare all the trade away. I suspect that will change.

(iii) Once you have an autogyro licence, it is impossible/illegal to hire an autogyro, so you must have your own (or else give up altogether).

That used to be the same with microlights, IIRC single seat was an exception?

[Nigel Hitchman]

Trevor,

I think a lot of what you say is correct, have not heard of any gyros for hire, except during instruction. They arent cheap either, seem very expensive to me. You could buy a top of the range, well equiped kitplane for less money, not just a microlight!
There are kits available, the RAF 2000 is one, not sure if you can still buy the Magni VPM-16 as a kit as well. or whether any of the Bensen/Cricket varients are supplied in kit form or not.
The cheapest form of autogyroing must be the single seat Bensen types. You should go and visit one of the main gyro places and have a look
Kirkbride, near Carlisle
Rufforth near York
Little Rissington near Chippenham
Old Sarum, Salisbury
and Im sure there are more.

The guys there will be able to tell you more about it, or come to the Rally in Sept there are sure to be some there.

[Trevor Lyons]

I see that August's "Pilot" (page 10) reports that the CAA have just announced that ab initio flight training on autogyros is to be be restricted to type-approved versions only.
(The CAA had previously allowed flying training to be conducted on amateur-built autogyros).
Ho hum!

[paulbh]

Trevor,

Go to http://www.gyrocopterexperience.com/ and all your questions on gyrocopters will be answered.

I learnt to fly gyro's with Phil at the school in Rufforth York and you will be hard pressed to see as many gyros from different manufactures in the UK outside of a fly-in.

Kati runs a great cafe on Rufforth airfield which is worth a a stop over if you are flying past, or just want to call into the city of York as all aircraft are welcome.


Cheers Paul