Gyroplanes

[RotorRambler]

One of the things that intrigues me about the type is the relatively high wing loading that allows them to be less effected by choppy conditions. On the other hand, the consequences of unloading the disc are a little concerning. Everything's a compromise.

Apparently there is a dealer just south of the DFW area (also provides LSA and Rotax maintenance). Looks like he has an MTO Sport and has several videos on his site: http://www.blueskiesppc.com/

Interesting how stable the Gyro looks in 30mph gusty winds: http://youtu.be/BwWGQBRGGJg

The dealer south of DFW is Craig McPhearson. Here'a a nice feature about Craig and the MTO Sport.
http://light-sportgyroplanes.com/featur ... herson.php

Also, here's a short clip of an ELA gyroplane flying in extremely windy conditions. As they say on TV, "Kids, don't try this at home". This gyroplane pilot has lots of experience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FBoRIsDvuw

And here's a clip featuring Vance Breese who has posted in this thread. Vance is an accomplished gyroplane pilot and I think you'll find his story remarkable.
http://light-sportgyroplanes.com/featur ... Breese.php

Ira

[Edgefly]

Paul,

You are at least one up on me there. I haven't met one yet. We do have a fairly substantial Amish population here in Northern Pa. And Southern NY and frequently encounter one another on the other types of roadways in both states. Apparently, I assumed some imaginary highway regulations relative to interstate highway operations in NY and PA. My point was that practices of the past shouldn't unduly influence our thinking about the possibilities for the future of Aviation.

Dstclair & Merlinspop,


I agree the energy storage in the active rotor plane must provide some real challenges in learning to handle a Gyroplane and probably makes the instructional path more interesting as well. I hope to arrange an introductory flight somewhere in the East this year. I'm sure that I missed a great opportunity while at SEBRING last year. I won't be making the show this year but if you have any feeling about a "better" place/person etc to do this, please let me know.


Merry Christmas to all! May Christmas Day be full of satisfaction to you and yours.

Dale

[Vance Breese]

Hi Vance,

As previously mentioned I have one flight in the Cavalon which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was wondering if you could share with us your thought process on your selection of the side-by-side model vs the tandem model and what you see as the advantages and disadvantages of both. Thank you in advance.

I have an open two place one of a kind tandem with a Lycoming IO-320 in it and I have a Cavalon on loan from Air Gyro in Spanish Fork, Utah that is a two place enclosed side by side.
I am working to become a gyroplane CFI and the side by side seems to work well for that because I can better communicate with the student.
My wife found that watching the flight instruments when I flew helps her understand what she should see when she takes the aircraft controls.
A fixed wing pilot can easily manage most of the maneuvers in a gyroplane with very little transition training.
There are two areas where a fixed wing pilot gets into trouble. Rotor management and the takeoff sequence.
If you follow the pilot’s operating handbook it is pretty simple.
It is my observation that a fixed wing pilots tends to initiate a rotation at some indicated airspeed.
The procedure in the Cavalon is to pre-rotate to around 180 rotor RPM with the disk flat, go full back with the disk and leave the power in (around 3,500 rpm) and release the brake. At about 220 rotor RPM smoothly advance the throttle and soon the front wheel will lift. Begin moving the cyclic forward to balance on the mains and she will waddle into the air on her on at some combination of indicated air speed and rotor RPM.
As soon as I touch down in a gyroplane the rotor will begin to slow down. If I rush a touch and go I may flap the blades (stall a blade) and this can cause anything from a shaking in the cyclic to the rotor hitting the empennage. This is not a problem above 220 rotor RPM (flight rotor RPM is a little under 400). I feel it is better to wait till the rotor starts to accelerate again so I do stop and goes rather than touch and goes.
I flew the Cavalon in the Thunder over the Valley air show doing some very aggressive turns, climbs and descents. I could not find any indication of the edge of the envelop.
I had a G meter on her and I saw from .55 positive to just over 2 positive Gs.
I have been practicing teaching and the winds came up (18kts gusting to 30kts) and my student did fine with less than an hour of flight experience.
In my opinion a gyroplane is very easy to fly but I have very little fixed wing experience and less than 25 hours in a helicopter so I may be confused.

[Vance Breese]

Vance,

Does your Cavalon have "jump-start" capability ? Have you found it useful in your use ? Are you based at a controlled airport ? What dimensional space (minimum) do you feel is necessary for you to make a safe landing ? Or, do you feel a normal airport pattern/runway space is required for it.

Thank you for your responses on this thread. Thus far, I believe you are unique in that you are the only responder who is a real user of a Gyroplane.

Dale

The Cavalon I fly does not have jump takeoff capability. I fly out of KSMX which has an 8,000 foot runway and the shortest runway I use is Oceano (L52) is over 2,000 feet long so I don't have much use for Jump takeoff.
The Cavalon lifts off in around 350 feet and solo climbs out at 1,100 feet per minute at 55kts.
I have won several spot landing contests and I am usually banned because I can touch down and be stopped in less than five feet.
When I practice engine out landings I can easily touch down within 15 feet of my target.

[designrs]

I had the opportunity to see and fly in a Xenon gyroplane at Sebring 2015 with midwestgyroplane.
http://www.midwestgyroplane.com/sales/
As a fixed wing LSA pilot previously knowing nothing about gyroplanes here are my impressions:

Background:
My initial attraction to aviation was helicopters. That idea was then set aside when I leaned of the cost, operational requirements, and found some cool fixed wing aircraft. Around the time that I was a solo fixed wing student pilot, I had the opportunity to go for a ride in an Robinson R44 helicopter, which was cool.

Xenon Ground Display and Impressions:
The enclosed side-by-side gyroplane caught my attention. It's very cool, very roomy and very nicely laid out. This one even had heated electric seats. Thus began the Q&A about gyroplanes. How does it fly and operate etc.? I was quite excited as there was no collective (essentially it just "autorotates" aside from the powered rotor engagement prior to takeoff. Accordingly I expected it to fly more like a fixed wing aircraft, but have the ability of very slow flight and short takeoff and landing. (I was told 300 foot takeoffs, with 1000 feet of runway available for safety. Landings are very short (about 50 feet possible?) depending upon the skill level of the pilot. I was so smitten by the product that I considered the idea of transitioning to gyroplanes.

Flying Impressions:
The rotor engagement for takeoff was about as expected. Although I did not actively do any flying myself due to time constraints and other issues, the gyroplane appeared to fly and feel very much like a helicopter. It felt as foreign to me as my first introductory ride in a small fixed wing aircraft. There is no collective to operate but it is very much an auto-rotating helicopter... thus the extended hours of transition training that would be required of a current fixed wing LSA pilot.

Operator Licensing:
A current fixed wing LSA pilot would require an average of 20 hours transition training. You must fly with second CFI for a final "checkride", but there is no formal DPE requirement.

Summary:
The autogyro experience is very similar to a helicopter, but somewhat easier to operate. Personally, I would have to do some training in the gyroplane to decide if that was something that I wanted to continue with.

Photo to follow.

[Wm.Ince]

I had the opportunity to see and fly in a Xenon gyroplane at Sebring 2015 with midwestgyroplane.
http://www.midwestgyroplane.com/sales/
As a fixed wing LSA pilot previously knowing nothing about gyroplanes here are my impressions:

Background:
My initial attraction to aviation was helicopters. That idea was then set aside when I leaned of the cost, operational requirements, and found some cool fixed wing aircraft. Around the time that I was a solo fixed wing student pilot, I had the opportunity to go for a ride in an Robinson R44 helicopter, which was cool.

Xenon Ground Display and Impressions:
The enclosed side-by-side gyroplane caught my attention. It's very cool, very roomy and very nicely laid out. This one even had heated electric seats. Thus began the Q&A about gyroplanes. How does it fly and operate etc.? I was quite excited as there was no collective (essentially it just "autorotates" aside from the powered rotor engagement prior to takeoff. Accordingly I expected it to fly more like a fixed wing aircraft, but have the ability of very slow flight and short takeoff and landing. (I was told 300 foot takeoffs, with 1000 feet of runway available for safety. Landings are very short (about 50 feet possible?) depending upon the skill level of the pilot. I was so smitten by the product that I considered the idea of transitioning to gyroplanes.

Flying Impressions:
The rotor engagement for takeoff was about as expected. Although I did not actively do any flying myself due to time constraints and other issues, the gyroplane appeared to fly and feel very much like a helicopter. It felt as foreign to me as my first introductory ride in a small fixed wing aircraft. There is no collective to operate but it is very much an auto-rotating helicopter... thus the extended hours of transition training that would be required of a current fixed wing LSA pilot.

Operator Licensing:
A current fixed wing LSA pilot would require an average of 20 hours transition training. You must fly with second CFI for a final "checkride", but there is no formal DPE requirement.

Summary:
The autogyro experience is very similar to a helicopter, but somewhat easier to operate. Personally, I would have to do some training in the gyroplane to decide if that was something that I wanted to continue with.

Photo to follow.

Thank you.

[RotorRambler]

Summary:
The autogyro experience is very similar to a helicopter, but somewhat easier to operate. Personally, I would have to do some training in the gyroplane to decide if that was something that I wanted to continue with.

Thanks for sharing your impressions, and when you pursue the training, I'd like to hear about your experiences with that.

Ira

[zaitcev]

The post by Mr. designrs reminded me about this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxVM2a7OFQo

Dan Johnson takes a first ride in Calidus, and the narration is rather elucidating about the way a gyro flies in general (moreso than other numerous gyro videos).

BTW, I don't expect to ever fly something as spiffy as Xenon, but perhaps SportCopter Lightning may be within range.

[c162pilot]

Quick question to those who may know the answer: Why are side-by-side Auto Gyros like the Cavalon and Xenon flown from the right seat instead of the left seat?

[designrs]

Quick question to those who may know the answer: Why are side-by-side Auto Gyros like the Cavalon and Xenon flown from the right seat instead of the left seat?

My demo pilot flew from the left seat in the Xenon. By all appearances that is where the PIC sits (except for very active instruction of course). The wide console is a handful in the right hand... which manipulates two wide leavers for the throttle and pre-rotator simultaneously during takeoff.

[Vance Breese]

Most rotorcraft are flown solo from the right seat.
The Cavalon I fly is placarded that solo is from the right seat.
I have been told that in many early USA built helicopters (anticlockwise rotor as viewed from above) turning right takes the least amount of power so the pilot has the best view for emergencies from the right seat. I have been told this is what established the tradition.
Some helicopters are flown solo from the left seat.
There is no antitorque in a gyroplane so the Cavalon may just be following a rotorcraft tradition.
If I was training someone I would sit in the left seat so they learned from the right seat.

[Edgefly]

designers,

Thanks for your report on sampling the Xenon. Were other mfrs. present at the show ? Did Xenon say anything about planning to be at Sun'nfun ? Did you get to have any STOL characteristics shown on your ride ? If not, were they doing any demonstration flights of these ? One last- you talked about being pleased with the flight but, I thought also a little reserved about future participation w/ gyros. Are there some kind of negative items you would share with us?

Dale