GyroCopter Experience

Last Saturday i turned up to Barton EGCB for a flight in a Gyro Copter.  The weather was fantastic you could see Winterhill as you drove up to the airfield the wind was blowing straight down 27 at around 10knts. I turned in to flight academy and was greeted by Phil Robinson the owner and Roger Savage the Gyro instructor. We made are way in to Phil's office (caravan) and started to talk about the flight and our background in aviation. Roger told me he had been flying Gyro copters since man first walked the planet and he had thousands of hours flying them he had been all over the country and had his own little airstrip in the lake district where he hangered his own gyro. He has been teaching Phil around 18 months how to fly and instruct in the gyro.

 We finished out tea and made are way over to Phil's Hanger he had three Robinson R44's and one R22 which i have flown many hours in with Phil G-BLDK. Phil pulled the helis out and then walked me over to the gyro at a first glance the seem quite small and fragile. Roger explained they could hold anything even a big thick looking lad like me!

Roger started talking about the controls and configuration of the gyro copters. Gyro's have 3 main flight controls : control stick, rudder pedals, and throttle. The control stick is termed cyclic and tilts the rotor in the desired direction to provide pitch and roll control. The rudder pedals provide yaw control, and the throttle controls engine power.

Now we had familiarized our self with cockpit and controls we was ready for the off. I sat in the back on the first flight as there was so much to do in the front  and i hadn't a clue what to do. I tuned in to Barton Frequency on 120.250 and called for taxi. We were told to taxi to A3 the hold for 27. We came past the front of the control tower and the Pemberton Hangar and past the RFFS and fueling office on to the southern taxi way around the hold. Roger started the Pre-Take off Checklist: Mags Check, Lights on, T's+P's in the green or rising, Fuel pump on, Choke off and QNH set we were good to go. I called ready for departure and we were told to take off at our discretion Roger taxied around to 27L and set the parking brake, Rotor Brake turn to Flight, increase RPM and rotors started to move. We were looking for about 2000 RPM (rotor) before we released the brake and off we went. Roger moved the stick forward just a little to stop the back of the gyro hitting the deck and we started to increase speed at around 40 KNTS the Gyro left the ground and we started to climb. By the edge of the airfield boundary we were 350ft AGL and still climbing we left the circuit to the north and headed of to Chorley lake where we would practice some exercises.

Roger asked if i felt confident to fly the gyro and use the phrase "you have control" he said keep a visual on the horizon and you will keep her at 70KNTS and you wont be climbing or descending. Roger asked me to do some Steep Turns, Climbing turns and descending turns which i took in my stride. We decided to fly a little bit more south than the lakes as other aircraft was starting to use at as a traning ground for stalls spins and general handling. Roger took control once more a flew to Bolton where he performed a PFL (Practice Forced Landing) in to a farmers field. Fantastic as a Gyro copter is always in Auto Rotation easy 40 KNTS the speed checking for wind checking for a field and in we go power on and go around!

By this time we had used up the best part of 45 minutes and we decided to make are way back to Barton. Roger asked if i would like to fly a circuit so we joined downwind for 27L . Sometimes at the airfield you find pilots flying 6 mile wide circuits not in Roger's case he told me to keep it nice and tight! We found ourselves not crossing the motorway at all flying over the Brook-house Estate AVOIDING THE CEMETERY! I called final and we were nice and high on the approach Roger chopped the power and we Glided in we landed bag on the numbers and we were exiting just after the tower Rotor Brake set to PARK after the blades slowed and we taxied back to the hangar.

Picture courtesy from CAA GINFO.

For more information Contact Phil Robinson  www.flightsandlessons.com
Roger Savage http://www.rogersavage.co.uk/club.htm