There is no fuel level sight gage in many gyroplanes and in my opinion a dip stick should be used.
In my opinion part of any good preflight is to determine the amount of fuel available and estimate hours of flight.
I feel doing that with a fuel gage is a bad idea.
The FAA requires a 20 minute reserve for rotor craft.
FAR 91.191
(b) No
person may begin a flight in a
rotorcraft under
VFR conditions unless (considering wind and forecast weather conditions) there is enough fuel to fly to the first point of intended landing and, assuming normal cruising speed, to fly after that for at least 20 minutes.
I feel a flight timer is important on every flight.
In my opinion in many areas of the country 20 minutes fuel reserve is not enough and I land with an hour of fuel on board.
If the fog comes in on the California Coast where I fly it can shut down all the coastal airports and Taft (L17); the nearest inland airport to me is 52 nautical miles from Santa Maria (SMX) and may be further if I was aiming for one of the other coastal airports.
An unexpected wind can easily double the time it takes to get to my planned destination.
I will not take a student flying until he has determined how much flight time we have based on the available fuel on board and has compared it to our proposed mission.
I have heard that the number one reason for aviation engines to go quiet in flight is fuel exhaustion.
Some people will say that an engine out in a gyroplane is no big deal and in my opinion they are simply wrong. I feel any unplanned landing in any aircraft is a high risk operation.