#3: So you got some training, now what?

Most students go into flight training with the expectation that they will fly in gyros afterwards. But how do you do that? Many people are surprised to learn that it’s not possible to rent time in a gyroplane in the USA. After all, flight schools rent out Cessnas by the hour, why not gyroplanes?

One reason is economics. There aren’t that many gyros in the USA; far fewer than in Europe, where they are much more popular. This is probably a function of distances – if you are going to use an aircraft to cover long distances such as we have in the USA, then you need something that goes fast and that’s not a gyro. So there aren't many out there, and there isn't the supply of old-but-still-flyable machines that the flight schools renting 50-year old Cessna have access to.

Another reason is the insurance industry, which is less than enthusiastic about gyroplanes. This outdated attitude stems from the 1960s and 1970s when magazines such as Popular Mechanics published articles on how to build your own “gyrocopter” as they were originally called. People did just that, often making changes or “improvements” to the designs, which they would then try to fly without training. As you can imagine, in many cases this didn’t end well. Even if people hadn't tweaked the designs and did get training, the early gyrocopters were powered by unreliable two-stroke engines and were vulnerable to something called a “buntover” which caused the gyro to get into unstable oscillation and eventually tumble, which was invariably fatal. Unsurprisingly, the insurance industry looked at the statistics and decided gyros were a bad thing.

In the 1990s, Jukka Tervamaecki, a Finnish aerodynamicist, and Vittorio Magni, the founder of Magni Gyro worked out why this happened and fixed it by adding a significant tail surface – a horizontal stabilizer – that smoothed out the oscillation and prevented buntover. We call the modern evolution of their work the gyroplane to help differentiate them from the earlier gyrocopters. 

If the issue is now resolved, why is the insurance situation not getting better? Because insurers work on backward-looking numbers over multiple years and they like large datasets to feel comfortable taking on the risk of writing the insurance. Unfortunately, there aren’t yet sufficient numbers of modern gyroplanes flying to build up a good safety record.

Don’t get me wrong on this: I’m not trying to suggest that there’s no risk to flying a modern gyroplane. There is. Like any form of flying, gyroplanes are unforgiving of serious errors and the consequences when you are hundreds or thousands of feet in the air can be very severe. Actually most gyro accidents happen in takeoffs and landings where the gyro can fall over if the pilot is not doing the right things at the right time or paying attention to how the forces on it are acting.

Flight training is a major way to reduce risk, teach you the things to do and very importantly, not do. Making sure you are competent and that you practice flying in the way you were taught is another way, and this requires the building up of time in the aircraft.

Another key factor is the choice of gyroplane. There are three major brands of modern gyroplane – all European, plus a few others with lower volumes. As it’s not possible to rent a gyroplane, if you’re going to go beyond the initial training stage, you will need to own one yourself. This is also true if you are a new pilot and want to complete the flying certification, as this requires solo time, and your instructor will not be able to send you off in their gyro by yourself.

Gyroplane flight schools need to make this clear to new students up-front, (hence this article), so there is no major surprise later and they find that the few thousands of dollars of investment they had in mind for flight training has suddenly become over a hundred thousand in gyroplane purchase costs.

Your instructor and local dealer will be able to explain costs. You can also find out how much a gyroplane costs here. https://www.magnigyrousa.com/build-and-price.

Besides outright purchase, another option is to buy a used gyro and your instructor can help explain the best way to go about that. However, there are not many good used gyros for sale at any given time - once someone is flying a gyro, they tend to want to keep on doing it, so turnover is very low. Since newer gyroplane models are also demonstrably safer, my advice is not to be tempted to compromise and get an old, two-stroke powered gyrocopter on the basis that it’s a lot cheaper. How much is your safety worth to you and your family?

A sensible option that can help a lot with cost is partnership. Many pilots (fixed-wing and gyroplane) have one or more partners in their aircraft. Even the most enthusiastic and committed pilot does not fly all the time, so sharing the aircraft with others can be a very effective way to greatly reduce costs, both for purchase and monthly running costs such as insurance and hangarage.

Of course that means finding the right partner, and this needs to be done carefully, with clear rules set up. Your instructor may well know of others who are learning and in a similar situation to you – wanting to buy into a gyro but not wanting to shoulder all the costs themselves. They may be able to introduce you to them.

The good news is that running costs for gyroplanes are very low in aviation terms. They burn a lot less fuel than typical fixed-wing planes and a lot of the maintenance for most gyros can be done by the owner. At only around 6 feet wide, several gyros can fit into one hangar that would normally only house one plane. Once you’ve solved the challenge of the purchase price, you’ll find owning or co-owning a gyro relatively affordable.