Anybody here own one? If so, would love to hear about your experience in training and how you use it.

Save your money. Buy a helicopter or/and a plane. A gyroplane/copter has none of the good qualities of either and the bad qualities of both.

Already have a good plane. Have you owned/flown one?

I have a few friends that have them. Consider it a useless toy. But a whole lot of fun. It's almost always a social sport when they go flying. Think snowmobile or ATV. No fun alone. Usually end up at the end of the day where you started.
Training is hard to find. A lot easier than a helicopter to fly, especially if you already have fixed wing time. Just a few things need to be unlearned. The safety and designs have come a long ways since the Bensons.

Yeah, I am just thinking about one as a toy. We are life long motorcyclists (street/dirt) and these things look like similar fun.

My plane is 15 min away at a very good airport but I live on the Mississippi on 500 rural acres. Thinking about helo rating or gyro. Would build a strip next to house and use it for joy riding up and down the river and surrounding area. Open cockpit and low and slow...

Seems like the gyro would be a lot less $ and shorter learning curve than helo. Just started looking into them.

For the same mission, consider a Trike (for instance: http://www.evolutiontrikes.com/). A lot of bang for the buck, (altho the example I gave is one of the most expensive...there are lots more cheap) and IMO much, much safer. There are a couple of flight modes where a Gyro WILL kill you. Period. And the newer designs make it tougher to get there...but not impossible.

A Trike is way more benign. It'll just barely kill you.

Jim

I owned / flew one eight years. It was always trying to kill me and nearly did.

Yeah, I am just thinking about one as a toy. We are life long motorcyclists (street/dirt) and these things look like similar fun.

My plane is 15 min away at a very good airport but I live on the Mississippi on 500 rural acres. Thinking about helo rating or gyro. Would build a strip next to house and use it for joy riding up and down the river and surrounding area. Open cockpit and low and slow...

Seems like the gyro would be a lot less $ and shorter learning curve than helo. Just started looking into them.

Mark,

I'm working on my helo CFI now. Come down to Tune for an intro flight and free cheeseburger and you can be my first student next spring

Jeff

What are the flight modes where a gyrocopter will kill you?

Also interested in the bad flight modes.

Charles,

What happened?

The one that killed a friend of mine in med school is based on generating negative g's...very minor negative G's...and the rotor impinges on some part of the airframe. That is a one time event, and requires meticulous care to avoid to my understanding.

Better with the newer models is the center of thrust problem...full power in the older models throws the body upward leading to a smart push of the stick forward leading to...see above.

I also believe you can get into a sink-mode which you can't recover from if at relatively low altitude.

Disclaimer...I looked into gyrocopters a few years ago and was dissuaded by the above stuff. I may be spouting stuff which have been designed out of the modern gyrocopter or OWT ala "Cirruses weren't certified in spin mode..."

Jim

They have the same limitation (positive G's only) as teetering rotor-blade helicopters have. (That is, almost every 2-bladed helicopter you can buy or build.) You cannot just shove the cyclic stick forward when you cross a ridge-line, for instance. Doing so causes the rotor system to "unload" and can (not WILL, but CAN) result in mast bumping (static stop on the hinged rotor head makes contact with the mast). Mast bumping - especially "violent" mast bumping - can cause the mast to be deformed (crushed slightly), which in turn can cause it to separate from the aircraft. At that point, you are toast.

Earlier gyroplanes could enter this "low G" condition without the pilot intending to so do, based on two design-related problems:
1) Engines mounted such that their thrust line was well below the center of mass of the gyroplane, which could cause the gyro to pitch significantly with power changes.
2) Insufficient horizontal stabilizer area, leading to pitch instability that could be exacerbated by #1 above.

With modern gyroplane designs and good training, these concerns have been significantly reduced, although pilot error cannot be eliminated... In Europe, where the EASA has endorsed the ASTM gyroplane standards (LSA-equivalent), gyros are increasingly popular. Here in the US, the FAA's rotary-wing division appears to be full of bigots who despise gyroplanes, and simply refuse to even consider approving the ASTM standards for LSA. They also make it extremely difficult to get a LODA for using an experimental gyro for training (there are virtually no remaining certified gyroplanes left in the US), with the result that only a very few people can provide gyro flight training in the US.

It's a catch-22 situation that I hope will be resolved as some of the FAA dinosaurs retire. But by then, gyroplanes may be functionally extinct in the US. Another example of our Friendly Aviation Authority at work (we're not happy until you're not happy).