Ownership
The Calendar TBO Trap: Why a Low-Hour Used Gyroplane Can Still Be Overdue
Assess engine calendar time and hours against the documents for its exact model and serial number. Airframe age alone cannot establish whether an overhaul is due.
Flight Log
Every entry carries a named author, a stated basis for their experience, and the sources behind any claim of fact. How we work.
Ownership
Assess engine calendar time and hours against the documents for its exact model and serial number. Airframe age alone cannot establish whether an overhaul is due.
Airworthiness
A fixed-wing VNE is usually a structural limit. On a gyroplane it is usually the retreating rotor blade approaching a stall, a mechanism that has nothing to do with horsepower.
Training
Prepare for both ground discussion and flying skills. The applicable FAA standards guide assessment throughout a gyroplane practical test.
Buying
A light-sport certification path exists for gyroplanes. Confirm the individual aircraft’s airworthiness certificate, operating limitations and compliance documents before buying.
Training
Two different roads lead to gyroplane privileges, one runs through two CFIs with no FAA checkride, the other through a designated pilot examiner. Which applies to you depends on the certificate you already hold.
Training
What the certificate actually involves, and why a real number of fixed-wing students end up adding a gyroplane rating instead of stopping at one type.
Ownership
Open cockpit versus enclosed cabin is the real comfort question. Here is what enclosed models actually offer, and what this category genuinely does not have.
Airworthiness
Hot and high air cuts lift and engine power for every aircraft. Here is what that means for a gyrocopter, why turbo engine options exist, and how to calculate your own numbers.
Buying
No single accident-rate number spans all three categories honestly. Here are the real structural differences instead of a guessed-at scoreboard.
Buying
There is no published, reliable ranking of manufacturers by accident rate, and that is worth explaining honestly. Here is what actually predicts a safer design, and how we are tracking it going forward.
Buying
Searching for build instructions? The honest answer starts with who already builds the parts. Here are the kit manufacturers, the factory-certified alternative, and how the two paths differ.
Training
The enclosed, side-by-side Magni M24 Orion is the gyroplane you train in at Vance Brand Airport in Longmont, Colorado. Full specs, instruction rates, and a $175 discovery flight with a gyroplane CFI.
Masthead
Everyone publishing on this site is named, and every byline carries a stated basis for that person's experience. Years in the industry is calculated from the year they started, not typed into a bio, so it cannot quietly inflate.
Read the editorial policyText size
Contrast and legibility
Motion
These are display preferences saved to this browser. They do not replace your operating system or browser accessibility settings, which this site also respects. If something here does not work with your assistive technology, our accessibility statement lists the known gaps and how to report a new one.