Anyone ever come across autogyros for commercial use or are they just regarded as 'fun' machines with no real commercial use
I have a handful of hours in an Air & Space 18A. Not a stellar performing aircraft.
Although it had jump capability, about all it was good was to jump you over a small bush, because the subsequent shallow takeoff angle wouldn't clear any kind of massive obstacle. A Cessna 172 climbs out more steeply than the one I was flying.
Also, not having a collective seems to be a big safety problem. If you got yourself into a situation where you are mushing towards the ground there's no way to pull collective just before impact to cushion the landing.
Also, while you'll see people say that they're safer than a helicopter because they're always in autorotation, the CFI that was flying with me said they actually have a pretty bad safety record.
All in all, I came away with the impression that an autogyro/gyrocopter is all the worst bits of an airplane bolted to all the worst bits of a helicopter. Seriously.
Also, it was loud. We were getting tons of noise complaints whenever we flew (fairly loud engine & prop, coupled to the slow rate of climb meant we were overflying houses down low when we were in the pattern).