Gyrocopters and Gyrocopter Kits

If you are looking for a unique flying experience, look no further than a gyrocopter. Gyrocopter kits are available so you can built your own plane!

Gyrocopters are crazy looking aircrafts and are also are called gyroplanes and autogyros, and although they look somewhat like a helicopter they actually fly more like an airplane.  Although the name may suggest similarities to a helicopter, they do not perform the precise vertical landing and takeoff that a helicopter is capable of. On the plus side, however, they can generally fly a bit faster. Unlike an ultralight airplane, gyrocopters can land on a shorter landing field.

One big difference between a gyrocopter and a helicopter is their price tag. While some helicopters will set you back more than a million dollars, there are gyrocopter kits for sale at a fraction of that – most under $50,000. One source for a variety of gyrocopter kits is the website of the Lone Star Rotorcraft Club that is in Houston, Texas (www.gyrosaway.com/buyers-guide.php).  You can also look into used gyrocopters for sale if you do not want to take the time to build one yourself. One company that lists gyros for sale is Vortech.

Generally speaking gyrocopters are relatively safe to fly. Their simple design and operation makes them more stable than other ultralights. The most important thing about flying a gyrocopter is to get sufficient training before attempting to fly one. Most accidents are straight out pilot error and many accidents are fatalities.  It is also important to consider weather conditions. Although a gyrocopter can fly on windier days than other ultralights, it is still not something that should be attempted without experience.

The same is obviously true for Gyrocopter kits. Don’t try to build one if you don’t have all the neccesary training. It doesn’t bare thinking what could go wrong!

One of the nice features of a gyrocopter is that they cannot stall. When an ultralight or other aircraft goes too slow it can experience loss of lift, meaning it stalls. With a gyrocopter the spinning rotor acts somewhat like a parachute and thus slowly sinks through the air.

The main danger of a gyrocopter is the mistakes that an improperly trained pilot can make, such as climbing too steeply to let air flows provide the proper lift. By reacting incorrectly by quickly pushing the stick forward, the aircraft will lurch forward and then plunge to the ground.

There are two different configurations for gyrocopters. The most common is the pusher configuration in which the propeller and engine are behind the pilot. The other is the tractor configuration in which the propeller and engine are at the front of the gyro.

It may seem that gyrocopters are a new thing, especially with the publicity they are receiving, but in reality they have been around for quite awhile.  In 1923, Juan de la Cierva developed the Autogiro in answer to a desire to have an aircraft that could safely fly at low speed.  In 1931, Amelia Earhart set a women’s world altitude record of 18,415 in the Pitcairn PCA-2 Autogyro.  And interestingly Germany used a gyroglider for aerial surveillance during World War II.

If you are debating on whether to get involved with gyrocopters, start by going to a training school – chances are when you take that first flight you will be convinced!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 at 2:04 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.