Award winning Dominator two place

[GyroRon]

I am not 100 percent committed to selling my gyro, but the truth of the matter is I just am not flying it enough lately ( maybe Ive flown 5-6 hours total since last years mentone event )..... If someone is in the market for a machine like mine and makes a proper offer, Ill part with it.

About the gyro.... It is a Dominator Tandem gyro, Powered with a Yamaha 120hp engine, Rotax gearbox, Warp drive prop. Very powerful, will fly over 500 pounds of pilot/ passenger weight with full fuel safely. 27 foot dragon wing rotors. 13 gallon fuel capacity, burns as little as 2.5 gph at low cruise settings. Icom radio, intercom, Storage bag for small items, Hydro pre rotator.

Gyro has won many awards at Bensen Days and Mentone including Grand champion Rotorcraft. Also machine won the famous " Time to climb " contest put on at Mentone a few years back, easily beating all other entries by a large margin.

I would be looking for cash offers in the mid to upper 20 thousand range. I haven't really decided on a price because I haven't really made my mind up to sell it, but wanted to let people know it can be bought.... And I am pretty sure Ill be going to Mentone with it, so if you want this gyro, bring cash and a trailer and you might go home with it.

 

[Monarchist]

Wow...what a nice machine. Sorry that you're selling it...wish I could make you an offer!

Is gyro flying not as much fun for you any more? Or is it just an issue of available time? I know you're into motorcycles...is that your main hobby?

-John

 

[Vance]

My two cents.

My two cents.

I have ridden in this machine and in my opinion it flies very well.

Ron is an excellent pilot and this puts less strain on the machine.

I don’t ride in anything without doing a preflight and in my opinion it is very nicely built and maintained.

I suspect it would cost north of $40,000 to duplicate assuming your time was worth something and there is no risk of it not working because in my opinion it works very well.

Thank you, Vance

 

[StanFoster]

Ron let me fly it with him in it at Bensen Days and it flew my 22O pounds fine with him. I also saw an over 300 pound guy go up in it with Ron, and it looked like it still had reserve. Nice gyro meticulously kept up by one of the best.




Stan

 

[GyroRon]

Wow...what a nice machine. Sorry that you're selling it...wish I could make you an offer!

Is gyro flying not as much fun for you any more? Or is it just an issue of available time? I know you're into motorcycles...is that your main hobby?

-John

Ill be frank and honest with you. I LOVE flying my gyro. Ive never gotten in the seat to fly it and yawned! I just don't have the passion I had before. I find that I am working so much lately, and I have limited free time to play. In that free time I have a gazillion things I could be doing, and gyro flying just hasn't been high on that list lately.

My home airport is dead, there simply isn't much going on out there on a regular basis.... Barry Kroplien ( the only other active gyro person close by ) moved to a new airport 30 miles away... and to go to the airport to fly the gyro has become a solitary sport / hobby. I like most humans enjoy some company and socializing, and unlike alot of people, I work alone so I have limited contact with people during the work week..... when the weekend comes and I have some time to play I would rather do something with friends than to go to the airport and hang out by myself to fly the gyro to no where special...

I am really into the dirtbike thing and that is where I focus alot of my free time.

I don't owe anything on the gyro and it costs very little in taxes and fees to own. I love flying it and even if I don't fly it much I enjoy owning it and knowing that if the mood strikes, I can go to the airport and pull it out and go for a flight. If I sold it I would regret it later Im sure.

If I did sell it, I would consider building another single place simular to my " GyRONimo " gyro I built a few years back, just for my rotor fix.

I don't really know what I want to do to be honest.... I do feel like that if someone came along and offered a good cash offer on it, I would let it go.

Part of that is because I have considered selling my airplane and gyro both, and using the money to buy something with 4 seats, A Cessna 172 perhaps, or another Piper Pacer or something along those lines. Im divorced with 2 kids and I only get to see my kids on the weekends, and not every weekend at that. When I have my kids I can not take them flying, because I only have 2 seats in the plane and only 2 seats in the gyro. I love my gyro and I love my plane, but there has been a ton of weekends I had the kids and wanted to go flying but couldn't because I couldn't take them with me. I think that reason, coupled with how little I have flown it lately, makes me want to at least let folks know they could buy it.

I still have some desire to become a sport pilot CFI, but I just have been way too busy to spend any time studying up for the tests, and I really don't see how I could fit in much time to instruct once I got the rating, not with my work being what it is and with my desire to go to the woods on my motorcycle as much as possible.

Long post... but it is what it is.

Will add, the gyro has about 265 hours total time on the airframe and 140 hours on the engine and gearbox.

 

[GyroRon]

Stan and Vance, thanks for the good words.

 

[Earthboundmisft]

Ron you quittin pu$$y.
Next thing you know,
you will be riding a quad.
Then a vespa.
Then a Prius...:sad:

 

[All_In]

Ron doing his thing in the pilot's showcase.

Ron Awad flying his Dominator gyroplane at Bensen Days 2010 - YouTube

Ron say it’s not true!!!

This sucks, not sure I would be in the sport if it were not for the 1st ride you gave me… no one else I’ve flown with will/can give me a ride like you Ron! Our sport will lose one of it best flight ambassador’s it has ever had.

Personally I hope you do not sell your two-place, there is nothing like a Ron Awad ride in his light weight Dominator!
You are such a natural pilot and would have made an excellent flight instructor!

I do understand wanting a 4 place FW too???? But they can be found for less than 15K and they are financeable!

I’m going to go a little off topic so others might encourage Ron not to sell his ride as this is what we may not have access to again:

My 1st ride was offered to me on the forum by Ron. What I did not know was that all of my FRIENDS here had suggested that Ron scare the crap out of me… Just for fun!

So I show up at Mentone as a high time FW pilot and need a latter to get in this spindly looking contraption, OK….

We take off and I notice that pre-rotation and take-off procedures are different but otherwise it’s about the same and we head over to a farmers field where there are rolls of hay about 5’ or 6’ feet high and there are all spread out like a maze for mice and that’s what Ron turns it into as he gets a foot off the ground and zoom through them. Me I’m yelling Yippee, and do that again! I’m thinking wow it’s cannot get any better than this?

After finishing the maze several times he flies right at this line of small wind/break trees maybe 30 feet high and just zooms right over the top. It’s been a few years ago but seem to me that there was water on the other side and he just flew over the trees and down to the water and now we were a personal watercraft. Wow it cannot get any better than this? Me I’m yelling Yippee, and do that again!

Then back over the trees through the farmer’s field maze and now heading for a row of much higher trees like 60+ feet high and were just a foot or so off the deck at full speed.
At about 100 yards from impact; I’m thinking OK he is not going to make it over them any more so he’s got to turn soon or at this speed we will just do an accelerated stall into the trees like all the FW aircraft I fly would do which could hurt.
At 50 yards from impact; I’m thinking OK when he turn a 90 and we accelerated stall into the trees I’ll just unbuckle my seatbelt and drop to the ground and use the forward momentum to roll behind the tree and away from any fire... and still Ron just flies on. He does see the trees right?
Then he pulls a climbing 90 degree turn and doesn’t just turn away but does a 520 right in front of the tree line. Wow no accelerated stall this thing flies like it is on rails and he can keep most of his altitude in a turn by just loading the blades by continually tightening the turn. WOW I got to get me one of these… Me I’m yelling Yippee, and do that again! So go through the maze and does it again! It cannot get any better than this!

Then he heads off over a brush line where he spotted a deer with her fawn running so it off to inspect them for ticks… that’s how close they were to us and they were trying to ditch us by zigzagging, no luck Ron is so skilled he just followed every move amazing… I’ve got to get me one of these!!! Bummer all too soon he heading back to the airport and I’m looking back at all the places I’d like to explore with him on this new toy.

We are making a normal pattern and I’m sad it ending (really) when all of a sudden at the end of the runway he just stops and hang in the air! I ask Ron are we hovering? No John look down. I do and we are in a very slow vertical decent wow and then he points the nose down and hard right rudder and we are doing a “twist and shout” (He named it. See 5:00 on the video) It’s like a vertical barrow roll, sort of. And at about 100+ feet he levels out and lands on the grass next to the runway right at the beginning of it and stop in the footprint of the gyroplane.
WOW, WOW, WOW UNBEALIVEABLE!!!

I will NEVER FORGET and I will really miss are rides together my friend!!! This sucks!!!

 

[CLS447]

Ron, did you get a replacement for the wife yet ?

I worry this could be that Hawaiin disease.......I forget what they call it.....anyone ?

I have flown mine very little so far this year. The weather has been horrible.
I have to be pretty dedicated to going to the airport. If the weather is looking bad, I just don't go. It is killing me !

Now work has taken over full time !!!!!! Now the weather will get real nice !

I really have no passengers right now so the 2 place is on the back burner on low.
So my single is all I need now. But I sure can't wait to share the thrill with others.

You have done all that many times over.

Best of luck in whatever you decide to do !!!!!!

 

[GyroRon]

John, your story will probably get me in trouble with Steve McGowan!

Chris, yeah, I have a girlfriend who lives with me, shes practically my wife.... but she has zero interest in aviation. I had to trick her to get her to fly in the airplane with me the first time, told her we were just going to taxi and of course I took off, she was mad! But she did enjoy it.... no way in hell she would ride in the gyro with me though.

Mike, I would drive the crap out of a prius! Who doesn't like getting 40+ mpg!!!

It is a hard decision to make. I love gyros, I love flying mine, I would love to teach others how to fly them, I enjoy MOST of the people I meet that also fly em, and I love going to the fly-ins. But at the same time, I just haven't had that spark lately... and I haven't had much time to mess with it either. Matt ( Mr Grey ) is going through the same thing, thats why he has his bird listed...

Like I said, the gyro costs me very little to own, and I am not hurting for money, so no pressing need to sell it other than to possibly help me get a nice 4 place plane I can take my kids flying with me in. Im not getting out of gyros by any means. If someone wants to buy my gyro, Ill just use some of the funds to start a build on a simple single place machine. I wouldn't sell it for less than 25 grand, and really think I should ask for even more than that.... But if someone shoved 25 grand in my hand I would let her go. If my lifestyle changes in the future to the point where I would want another two place I can always build one or buy one.

 

[All_In]

You know I admire and like Steve so much but he does have a problem every year with you giving rides, while the other 3 or 5 pilots doing the exact same thing = no mention however most of them are not on the forum so might be why. I cannot figure out how getting future customers excited about taking lesson from him or another instructor is ever a bad thing!

Maybe he will notice the others receiving expenses now so be careful?

As for me, not sure with all the different aircraft I've flown that if I hadn't been shown so much of the flight envelope by you on my first ride, I would not be in this sport as so far all my flight instruction and other rides have been just about the same experience as flying a open cockpit FW ultralight and I can fly that way anytime I wish.


I hope you find a new girlfriend with twice the looks and want to fly gyroplanes all the time right before sex!

 

[Joe Pires]

Its killing me to see this for sale. Well not that part..the part about me not buying it.

 

[themonarch]

Selling something that meant so much

Selling something that meant so much

Ron,

I think go ahead with your sale as planned. Your price for your gyro is one heck of a good deal and someone should grab it up if they are smart.
For now your interests have changed. You explianed this and those of us respect your decision. I hope to see you come back someday and be an excellent instructor as I know you already are. Thanks for the experience. MJD.

 

[GyroRon]

I got a call today from a interested party. Unless he gets cold feet I will be parting with the machine in less than a week. Gonna be a sad day for me to see it go, but the person interested in it will put it to good use im sure. Im sure Ill regret selling it, but ultimately I think its the right thing to do for me right now. Already been on Barnstormers looking at planes.... 172... Pacer or Tri Pacer.... Maybe a cherokee... IDK... It will suck not having the gyro, but will be nice to have something I can take my kids up in, and possibly the girlfriend too.

 

[CLS447]

Hey Ron, That's great ! If you're happy , then I am happy for you ! I don't quite understand something though........Do you take your kids up in the gyro now ? (one at a time of course ).

Won't the girlfriend(no name) watch the other kid while you take the other for a ride ?

I know .....you want to take them all up at the same time.

What is she interested in if not aviation ? Dirt bikes ?

Someone's gonna grab it already ! That was fast !

 

[Stan V]

Ron, have you considered a Piper Arrow ? I have a nice one. Stan PRA 41973

 

[Jazzenjohn]

$25K's cheap for that gyro... I hope it went to someone who will instruct with it. It is one of the best flying gyros for transitioning to a single place open machine.

 

[GyroRon]

Chris, I am not about to put my 4 year old son in the back seat of my gyro. He could easily fall out of the seat. Ive taken Kasey ( now 10 yrs old ) for his first gyro flight, maybe 2 months ago ( which I believe was the last time Ive flown the gyro...) Kasey is old enough and big enough I would trust in the back seat, but he wasn't really into it, he was pretty scared and wanted me to land asap, we were only up for maybe 15 minutes. My GF will watch a kid while I take the other flying every once in a while, but not always, and the point is to be able to take both kids and possibly her to somewhere else via the air... such as fly to the beach for the day, or go to a fly-in, etc.... What is she interested in you ask? Cooking TV shows, and playing Candy Crush Saga on her phone, and going onto Facebook every 15 minutes to see whats been posted

Stan, A Arrow would be nice, but outta my price range I suspect. I will probably use the funds from the gyro to buy whatever I buy, so that limits me to around 25 grand. Ill list and sell the titan ( probably get around 15 Grand for it ) and use that money to either build or buy another gyro..... I think... Because all of a sudden I am thinking of all the cool crap I have always wanted and never had.... Jeep CJ, Corvette, A sports car or muscle car or something, Polaris Razor ( can use one of those to take the kids off road riding with me ) etc....

John, 25G for it probably seems cheap, but considering the market I feel like it is a fair price. Wouldn't be able to build another one for that kind of money though. The person who intends to buy it, talked about wanting to instruct at some point.

Don't count me out, Im still here and will have another gyro sooner or later. At some point I very well may be back in another two place and finally get my crap together and get a instructors rating.

 

[NoWingsAttached]

I'm left scratchin my head.

It ain't hardly nuthin to get your Sport Pilot CFI, so why you didn't just do THAT and make some money off one of your 800,000 hobbies for a change, instead of just pissin off a CFI by selling rides at the fly-ins, is beyond me.

Hey, that'll just leave more money on the table for me at Mentone and BD (when I get my CFI) so I guess it's good for me.

Funny thing is, I was actually shopping for a Cherokee back in 2005, when I realized a tandem gyro would be a LOT more fun, a LOT cheaper to maintain, and I could get the "helicopter experience" (kinda like the GFE, lol) for pennies on the dollar. My choice for a tandem gyrocopter became a no-brainer at that point, and I've never looked back.

Unless I start making gobs of money again, I doubt I'll ever seriously look into a FW purchase, except maybe a share. No slight to UL or very light FWs, but you couldn't give me one of those things, and if you did I'd sell it after my first flight. What a yawner. I can definitely see purchasing a "family minivan" type aircraft for ferrying the kids and wife in, though, and going from one place to another, far away. And gliders, acrobats, warbirds, heck ya.

I'm not surprised you have 6 hours in your Dominator since Mentone. A man can have as many hobbies as he can afford, but time can't be bartered nor bought and ya got to make choices.

Now, when you are ready for a REAL man's gyrocopter, not some sissy 120 or 130 hp thing, or some lead-sled car engine conversion that weighs so much it's like dragging your mother-in-law with you on every flight just let me know and I'll set you up with a 550-pound tandem YG4 with a 2.88:1 chain drive turning a 72" Warp for REAL climb and high-end performance.

I'm just messin with ya. Guess i wont' be seein ya at Mentone. No sense in having a time to climb contest, now. My competition has left the room. Hey, wait a minute! is THAT why you decided to sell your gyro NOW?!?!?!?!?!?!

HahA! gotchya.

 

[groundhog]

Ron . Before you consder a cherokee or cessna in the same sentence, take both for a rip and define your needs. The cherokee is better for getting there,while the high wing of a cessna makes it way better for sight seeing. I will always love the cherokee because it was my first solo. But I do like to look around and all you see out of it is wing.