- Joined
- Oct 30, 2003
- Messages
- 18,373
- Location
- Santa Maria, California
- Aircraft
- Givens Predator
- Total Flight Time
- 2600+ in rotorcraft
From time to time I hear; “flying a gyroplane is not that hard so why don’t I just have my friend show me how to fly; that is the way Bensen did it. How different could it be than a fixed wing aircraft?”
Very few fixed wing pilots attempt to train themselves.
Igor Bensen was trying to market an aircraft everyone could afford and realized flight instruction was a big part of the cost of aviation so he wrote a procedure to learn to fly a gyroplane.
It involved time in a gyro glider and then progressed very slowly to powered flight. Many of the people I know who self-trained went through several sets of rotor blades and more than a few didn’t survive. Many tried to rush their training.
To this day a large part of the aviation community hears gyrocopter and thinks death trap. Most fixed wing pilots have some story of a gyrocopter accident.
When I first flew at Santa Maria the tower asked me to go somewhere else because “the last guy with one of those things here ended up dead over the river bed.” It turned out he was so drunk he fell out of his gyrocopter.
I went to the NTSB to see how self-training worked out and see if the reputation of gyrocopters was deserved. From 1970 to 1980 there were 181 reported gyroplane accidents (many were not reported because they were flown as ultralights) with 51 fatal accidents. That is more than one a month.
At the time many Bensen Gyrocopters were flown as ultralights which are considered a vehicle and the policy of the NTSB is not to count them as aviation accidents.
The reports typically read: Collision with ground/water and probable cause undetermined or improper use of flight controls.
There were so many gyroplane accidents the NTSB didn’t do much investigation and didn’t have many investigators who knew much about gyroplanes.
I feel safe in saying most were pilot error.
Some were experienced fixed wing pilots and some only flew gyroplanes.
Most were self-trained.
It is my observation that a single gyroplane accident typically costs more than getting properly trained.
One on one flight training is inherently expensive and the only option in a two place gyroplane.
For the knowledge test I have my clients take a canned course that saves a lot of money.
I love giving gyroplane flight instruction and would do it for free if it was practical.
In my opinion free flight instruction is not practical.
At some later date I will expand on what a gyroplane flight instructor does and teaches.
Very few fixed wing pilots attempt to train themselves.
Igor Bensen was trying to market an aircraft everyone could afford and realized flight instruction was a big part of the cost of aviation so he wrote a procedure to learn to fly a gyroplane.
It involved time in a gyro glider and then progressed very slowly to powered flight. Many of the people I know who self-trained went through several sets of rotor blades and more than a few didn’t survive. Many tried to rush their training.
To this day a large part of the aviation community hears gyrocopter and thinks death trap. Most fixed wing pilots have some story of a gyrocopter accident.
When I first flew at Santa Maria the tower asked me to go somewhere else because “the last guy with one of those things here ended up dead over the river bed.” It turned out he was so drunk he fell out of his gyrocopter.
I went to the NTSB to see how self-training worked out and see if the reputation of gyrocopters was deserved. From 1970 to 1980 there were 181 reported gyroplane accidents (many were not reported because they were flown as ultralights) with 51 fatal accidents. That is more than one a month.
At the time many Bensen Gyrocopters were flown as ultralights which are considered a vehicle and the policy of the NTSB is not to count them as aviation accidents.
The reports typically read: Collision with ground/water and probable cause undetermined or improper use of flight controls.
There were so many gyroplane accidents the NTSB didn’t do much investigation and didn’t have many investigators who knew much about gyroplanes.
I feel safe in saying most were pilot error.
Some were experienced fixed wing pilots and some only flew gyroplanes.
Most were self-trained.
It is my observation that a single gyroplane accident typically costs more than getting properly trained.
One on one flight training is inherently expensive and the only option in a two place gyroplane.
For the knowledge test I have my clients take a canned course that saves a lot of money.
I love giving gyroplane flight instruction and would do it for free if it was practical.
In my opinion free flight instruction is not practical.
At some later date I will expand on what a gyroplane flight instructor does and teaches.