In another life....while learning to fly a Bensen Gyrocopter...using a pickup truck and platform....with a tethered aircraft.....slung a rotor system and made it into the newspaper...fortunately not on page three! From that time on...I have held grave reservations about gyrocopters....and still shudder when I think of the event.
It would be interesting to know what accident rates, causes, and percentage of fatalities occur as a result of gyrocopter accidents. Are they as dangerous as perceived?
I know that as a rotorcraft CFI....I avoid even discussing anything to do with gyrocopters with owners....pilots....for fear of legal involvement should something evil happen to them. Might be an unfair position....but that is the reality of the situation.