So, anyone active on here flying one? I’ve had a couple of trial flight/initial lessons over the years and whenever I see one the urge to learn comes back.
Is there a reason why they don’t seem all that popular? I thought there would be a big market for them (or maybe there is and I just don’t see them much)..
Or it could be the historic safety record still putting people off, although from what I’ve read the training and newer models appear to have improved the safety?
One thing holding me back is concern over switching from fixed wing flying with my fairly recent (early 23) IR to a gyro and back. I guess my fear is that I end up a mediocre pilot at both rather than improving my skills and competence at one.
Discussion welcome!
There are quite a lot of autogyros in France.
The problem is that they are treated as a class of ULM here and flown on a ULM licence. That makes it impossible, due to MTOW to fly some of the really nice German designs. There doesn’t appear to be an autogyro section under EASA.
I have not flown one but have flown in one and they really are fun in good hands.
I see, in the UK I understand there is a PPL(G) license and from my (limited) research the Magni and AutoGyro (Cavalon/Calidus) are options here, perhaps there are more.
I’ve had a flight in the M16 open cockpit and M24 enclosed cockpit and preferred the latter. The Cavalon looks like a decent machine too.
I have a couple of autogyro flights, both in the Magni M-16. I have a friend in the US who is very keen on them, or was anyway – he seems not to be flying much lately.
They’re loads of fun to fly, as long as you don’t confuse them with a means of transportation. I don’t think they’re any more dangerous than any other type of aircraft – there are a few things to avoid absolutely. The Cavalon has a nasty misfeature with the nosegear arrangement, which makes it a bit too easy to roll over on landing (so says my friend).
Never flown one myself, and all the guys I personally know having done so have stopped.
Guess the inherent limitations of what is a flying toy kill the joy and the interest pretty quick 
Flown one as well, open cockpit, Spanish brand ELA. Their open cockpit is indeed fun for bimbling around but not for going places. Their closed canopy version and the brands mentioned above are somewhat better for traveling but not great, I guess. What annoyed me a little was the vibration in the stick that became a bit tiresome after a while. Direct mechanical coupling to the rotor hub mechanism instead of hydraulic like in a R44, makes quite a difference. After proper training and when not doing silly things the current generation is very safe I think. Amazing how you can land on a postal stamp, with or without power available.
Highland Aviation at EGPE Inverness have a very busy Gyro training section, and were training Kenya Government people at Inverness for game warden patrol use – one of the owners went to Kenya to do ⁹instructing.
I see othing wrong with gyros from the start, or for a young, low hours fixed wing pilot, but I started my “stick forward” reaction 65 years ago on gliders, and do not think now when doing it. I’d be lethal trying to fly a gyro, even with an instructor.
From ANN, 29/1/2024, no mention of what school is involved. There is also a Gyro school at Perth.
“ARC Aerosystems has reported to ANN that it has finalized a transaction for the sale of five Pegasus aircraft to a Scottish investor to lease to a pilot training school and an aerial service operator, with ARC committed to delivering all units by the first quarter of 2026. The Pegasus is reportedly the first Non-helicopter VTOL aircraft to receive FAA certification.”
Thanks all for the recent posts.
Dan, do you mean the people that stopped got a bit bored of just flying short local flights?
I got my PPL then soon realised I preferred going places as opposed to flying local legs and hence got my IR for longer touring.
That being said, the idea of flying lower and slower with fewer safety concerns (not requiring the glide range of a fixed wing) does appeal. I would think the ‘local exploring’ would be more fun actually being lower down and being able to see more and fly much slower and whilst these machines are VFR – I presume dispatch rate is fairly good given they fly lower so can fly with lower cloudbase than fixed wing VFR and have less wind constraints. Obviously not really comparable given I have an IR but that’s a different type of mission.
Al_Kee wrote:
do you mean the people that stopped got a bit bored of just flying short local flights?
Not sure what the motives were, but I guess that for some the novelty faded quickly… I might add that the ones I know of who stopped were still flying fixed wings and continued flying them after the rotating experience. Also I’m not talking about hundreds of people, but short of 10 I know personally.
https://youtu.be/TmwEbjzLtDo?si=RJu2TBfFg9Npsge1
This looks fun!
