GyroGlider: Dead or Alive?

[Jens]

How much is the gyroglider in use today?

Is gyrogliding used as a sport in it self anywhere?
In a club, group or how?

Are there some enthusiastic Glider-Pilots that like to tell what they think about gyrogliding?

Something that I can copy to my GyroForum:

https://www.gyroforum.dk

__________________________________________
Jens
Denmark

 

[Gyroflyer]

I have to tell you, when I had my Bensen (late 80's) I think they were coming out with two place powered trainers but I couldn't afford it. I ended up towing and I actually had a blast doing it. Brings back more memories.

Mark

 

[EI-GYRO]

Very educational.
Great fun.
Cheap.
Pretty safe.
I think the most intense moment ever, was my first takeoff in my
gyroglider.

 

[gyroblackwell]

I think that gliders built today are just that -gliders- not gyros that are built for motors, then flight trained as a glider, then transitioned into a powered craft. So the only people that tend to build gliders are clubs. Chapter 81 has been working on one for awhile. (not really anyones top priority.. unfortunately) There are three of us in the group that are building ultra-light gyros, so the need for training is becoming more obvious as the months go by.

I have installed the "RH (Rufus Howard) manual powered pre-rotator on the club trainer, and as soon as I get a chance, I will be mounting the blades.

So the long-and short of it ..... I think glider training is a great way to learn "Rotor management", and basic gyro flight skills.

Just my opinion!

Tim

 

[barnstorm2]

I would like to ride in one.

I was tempted to buy one once but I have no place we can fly one nearby.

 

[Jens]

Hi,
Thanks a lot for your answers.

What IE-GYRO wrote:

Very educational.
Great fun.
Cheap.
Pretty safe.
I think the most intense moment ever, was my first takeoff in my
gyroglider.

is excatly what I hoped to here, and the rest of you confirm that in a different way. That is excellent.

"How much is the gyroglider in use today?"
That ? I still like to ask, and I hope a few more will answer me.

Your answers have inspired me to open a new thread.

Jens

 

[Jens]

Hi Tim,

I understand that you actually have a club that use a gyroglider and now are building one more.
How do you get them in the air? Always using a car?

Are you doing any free flight with the glider?
If so, from which altitude?

Jens

 

[Dean_Dolph]

Hi Tim,

I understand that you actually have a club that use a gyroglider and now are building one more.
How do you get them in the air? Always using a car?

Are you doing any free flight with the glider?
If so, from which altitude?

Jens

Actually, glider is somewhat of a misnomer! That is until it is released from the tow, which could and has been done but it isn't common practice. It would seem to be pretty impractical since the height reached is still relatively low. I have never seen a tow being provided buy anything other than a auto.

While the glider is relatively safe that is not to say that incidents can't occur. I have had several old timers tell me of blade busts and rollovers. Finding a place to tow one is a challenge and picking the wrong one, such as a country road, can get a person in trouble in a hurry. I believe a boomtrainer is a safer and more viable alternative.

Just for the record, I got my first ride in a gyro at the 1980 PRA Convention with Ken Brock in his glider. It is a strange and very enjoyable sensation, similar to setting on a marshmallow, in that it is a soft vibration free ride.

 

[Aussie_Paul]

And Dean, that lovely "swish" of the rotors!!!!!!!!! is something to behold.

Aussie Paul.

 

[Jens]

Good Dean, that you brought up the boomtrainer again.

The boomtrainer sounds to me like a safe and simple step on the road to gyros.
And then you probably don't have much need for a two-seater glider?

 

[Jens]

Gyroglider and safety:

I am told, from more gyrocoptor pilots, that the gyroglider is much more dangerous than the gyrocoptor.
Latest argument is that the (broken) rope gets in your rotor!

It sounds like a possibility - so it scares me.
BUT as a gliderpilot (many years ago) and don't recall any incident where the wire hit the plane.

Has there been (many) serious accidents of this kind with towing the gyroglider?

Jens

 

[MOL]

Hi Jens,

It is dangerous (I’m one of the guys that tolled him that). I don’t recall I said it was much more dangerous.
It is dangerous because you have to rely (or trust the driver with your life) that he don’t do something wrong. One example: If the driver, for some reason, released the car gas pedal for a second and applied it again, it is highly possible that the wire will brake. Normally the wire is relatively short and if it brakes where it is mounted at the car, then what will happen??
As mentioned before the car was the only tow vehicle used and if you were to tow the glider to an altitude where a reasonable glide could be obtained then you will need a 5 kilometre long runway, and still only get low altitude. Ones the tow is released you would only get a few seconds of free glide.
So what is it all worth I ask?
It is fun, and a strange feeling I give you that, but at the cost that you have to rely on other people not doing something wrong.
If it is just for the fun of it, go ahead, do it.
But if you think it is a cheap way to learn to fly a Gyroplane, you are deadly wrong.
Flying a rotorcraft is much different as any other aircraft. I like to say, that an airplane is like driving a truck, and a flying gyroplane is like driving a racecar with power steering, in comparison.
Therefore you still need an instructor to fly with you in the glider for some time before you can handle it yourself. You still have to learn to fly the gyroplane from ground up again. So what is the point?
My point is as said previously:
Misnomer
It would seem to be pretty impractical since the height reached is still relatively low
That is not to say that incidents can't occur.
Old timers tell of blade busts and rollovers.
So if you want to fly a gyroplane my point is that it is a waste of time and money.
The gyro glider were in the old days the only way to learn to fly a gyro as there were no powered 2 seat gyroplanes available, so it did its job back then. But now we have good powered 2-seat gyroplanes so why waste your time and money on a glider?

 

[Rotornut]

Jens, Off the subject. My mother was from Denmark
Her madien name was Enslev her Dads name was Jens Enslev just wondering if you have ever heard of this family last name. Curious thats all. MJ

 

[Jens]

Hi MJ,
Hmm, I don't think I have know anyone with that name.
I looked it up in the "phonebook", and as last name I got about 30 names - so not many with that name.

 

[Rotornut]

Thank you very much. MJ

 

[EI-GYRO]

If you read, and follow, the instructions in the Bensen gyroglider manual, and have
the tow-car driver do so also, it is not particularly hazardous.
I cant speak for the boom-trainer, as I havent flown one, but I suspect it might
be a bit twitchy laterally, given the short length of the boom.
We used a 25metre polyprop rope. You would pull the tow-boom off the gyro
before that would break.
We refined signals down to only one. The driver puts his arm out the window
to signal slow-down at the end of the run.
The turn-around is toward the drivers side, to keep vis of the gyro at all times.
First runs on calm day so driver sees airspeed on speedo.
Best if car is automatic, but not vital.
We did a few releases, but the glide is so short its not worth it.
We were primarily interested in self-training.

Still are.

Cheers

Fergus.

 

[Jens]

Sounds very okay to me, Fergus.

I am now convinced that the gyroglider can be great fun, as safe as the gyrocoptor, attract new interest and somewhat (or very) educational.

Step 1 was to convience myself - that was the easy one I think!
Step 2 is to find somebody else who are interested.

I will try my best.

 

[barnstorm2]

I just read Shirley Jennings's account of flying a gyro glider (in marion Springer's new book Born Free, My Life in Gyrocopters) and it has me all fired up.

Then I read Jerrie Barnett's account of a Bensen Hydro-glider and now more then ever I want to take a ride in one.

Do you think it would be too much of a disturbance to give gyroglider rides at a fly-in like Benson days or Mentone?