Gyrocopters and Aerial Work

[Moneyshot]

Does anyone have any thoughts on this matter? My understanding is that the only aerial work allowed on Gyrocopters (I still prefer Autogiro) is flying instruction and air displays. As a professional licence holder (although not qualified on giros), I think it would be a great idea to use them for aerial photography, taxi work, searches and several other things. Has anyone in the UK done this recently?
I understand that this is getting into the realms of a full air transport category deal, but it is a great pity that the full potential of these machines was never realised and we prefer to do it all more expensively with helicopters.

[Hingeless Rotor]

Moneyshot,

Just remind us again what their potential is..........;)

[tacpot]

I would say we are a long way off achieving the certification regime required for commercial operations. As I understand the situation in the UK all gyros are certified by the PFA (who only have seven or eight on their 'approved' list - some of which are antiques, some which have less than ideal handling characteristics and some of which are both :eek: ). PFA certification also prohibits flight over built up areas, crowds etc.

Until the CAA gets involved with certifying a gyro built by a well capitalised development company, there seems little prospect of the class ever acheiving it's potential. There is no obvious company on the horizon.

As a fan of gyro's, I would say it's a classic Betamax vs VHS scenario, better technology ousted by better marketing.

Ok that's probably not fair. I'm not an aerodynamics expert, but I believe that the gyro's flight mechanism is inherently inefficient at high forward speeds and so the helicopter is the logical choice for 'high' speed operation. Commercial imperative often dictate that any form of transport must be fast, for it to be commercially successful.

But a safe, certified gyro could have commercial potential for low speed or loitering applications.

[twistair]

We use to carry cameramen in our Dominator tandem. They are apparently enjoyed both visibility and low vibrations. As for maneuverability, Dominator makes some things possible which are dangerous for helo.

This time we are going to install sprayers onto it to see how it works.

Cheers,

Alex

http://twistairclub.narod.ru - Rotorcraft in Russia

[Moneyshot]

Thanks that's a good start.
My own thoughts (being a helicopter person) are that Gyroplanes/Gyrocopters/Autogiros could do anything that a helicopter could do that did not involve actual hovering. It is possible, I suppose, That the big helicopter manufacturers got together with the politicians to stifle any real development of the gyro as a realistic work platform once the helicopter had been invented and developed beyond a certain point. Hence we're stuck with a very 'expensive to operate' machine with no realistic alternative. More comments welcome.

[twistair]

I believe that the main reasons for diverting the world to helicopters from autogyros was that there are problems making gyro a) big and b) with enclosed cockpit. Since most of aviation development and progress is practically paid for by govermnments and military - they simply didn't need these little whirling things which cannot carry even one plutong nor Sherman tank.
Thus gyro - thanks to Bensen - has found it's place at least in recreation. I believe it will find it's place in some aerial applications too - next decade. Actually some problems of light gyro were solved last few years only and some are to be solved yet.
As for our experience, there are real advantages in gyros for at least some aerial applications such as traffic control or carrying cameramen.
We flew our Dominators with videooperator aboard for some car rallies, ski races, yachting races etc. As I mentioned above, videomen were really excited with visibility and low vibrations. Once we flew it in 15 through 18 m/sec (yes!) wind (and it was winter, -15 C OAT. The gyro lets show it's possibilities in such wind even better than in no wind condition: it can even hover. And it has no tail-wind fear like helos have.
Another special thing is that it is easy to drive autogyro at low (and very low) AGLs having different speeds - which is dangerous for both any helo and fixed wing.

Just my 2c.

Cheers,

Alex

http://twistairclub.narod.ru - Rotorcraft in Russia