Helil Ice (from other thread on gyrocopter blades):
Do you guys on here like to share your experience with autogyros?
I am trying to figure out which one of those machines I should aim for buying when I grow older and have the money to do more stupid things...
and would like to hear what you think about different types of autogyros.
We share our hangar with a guy who deals in the RAF gyro. It's been around for a long time now, and is a proven, safe product. It uses a variety of Subaru engines which seem to be durable enough given that they operate at around 5,500 rpm nearly all the time.
However, these RAF's use an engine of 135 - 150 horsepower to move two people (and *no* bags) along at about 60 mph. You're not going anywhere quickly. Nobody in their right mind would use a gyroplane for any kind of cross-country flying. And in fact, in my area nobody does.
Gyros are just "fun flyers," used for messing around in the vicinity of the airport.
Gyros are pretty safe, although you wouldn't know it from their accident rates. But the reason for this is the way they are used. It's no fun flying up high in most gyros (in fact it can be downright scary in an open cockpit machine), so gyros are generally flown low. Really low, like what we helo guys would call mild NOE. Around the airport you'll often see them buzzing around quite low, both upwind and down. And this is where pilots get into trouble...those low-altitude turns near the ground. Happens to so-called "experienced" pilots and newbies alike.
The gyro rotor is tilted pretty far back in cruise flight - maybe ten degrees "nose up" or more. If the engine were to quit, the rotor *must* come to a level attitude for the machine to achieve autorotation - just like any helicopter from a Robbie to a S-92. But because of the way all gyros are built, with the rotor attitude level the cabin is at about a ten degree (or more) nose-down attitude. Thus, if/when the engine quits, many pilots are reluctant to put the nose down far enough to get the disk level. And if you think 10 degrees nose-down looks drastic in a JetRanger (and it does), try it in an open cockpit ship with a little pod-type instrument panel! Yee-ikes! It's like you're staring straight down at the ground. With the rotor rpm low, you just don't have any flare power to arrest the descent. And if you happen to be downwind, rotsa ruck!
Thus, YouTube has various crash videos including one in which - I believe - Ken Wallis's brother crashes "Little Nell" when the engine quits and he doesn't get the nose down far enough.
The guy who shares our hangar is a good pilot and he builds quite nice machines. But I've seen him fly, and it just makes me uncomfortable. I know they can turn into the wind from very low altitudes without power, and I know they can do run-on landings safely with the wheeled gear. But to me, I would just feel too anxious and nervous flying a rotorcraft the way gyros routinely are.
I used to be "big into" gyros some years ago (mid-1990's) when I fantasized about building/flying one. Not so much anymore. Check out
www.pra.org for the best poop.
Gyros themselves aren't stupid - it's what people do with them that is.
I love rotorcraft (11,000+ hours proves that). But for my money, I think I'd rather buy a homebuilt kit like a SeaRey. That way I'd be able to take along another person, something more than a box of Kleenex, and
go somewhere.
You know what they say about your mileage...