Gyrocopter Flight Training

After buying a Gyroplane I contacted Craig McPherson of Blues Skies Autogyros for training and took a week of leave from work.

This week I have flown for four hours so far in his MTO Sport trainer pictured above. It has been quite an experience and very different than the hour I spent with Steve McGowan in Georgia back in 2009.

The MTO Sport is very fast and responsive. Craig challenges his students by going beyond the typical syllabus. We have done the usual touch and go landings, but, rarely do we do them the same as done during the previous session. For instance, most CFIs use a powered approach and land the gyrocopter more like an airplane. Craig however, started me off with power off (engine at idle) approaches to simulate engine out situations.

At first the approaches were similar to a normal pattern with down wind leg, base leg and final. Then in a later session we started doing very short finals. Next we did an approach from a vertical decent, then a powered on standard approach.

More to follow, we are about to get back in the air and I will later describe the other training techniques that were incorporated with the touch and goes above.

Happy Flying,

Tom

Air Command Gyrocopter and Quicksilver MX II

Well folks, I decided to get back into aviation.  I have been considering purchasing a gyrocopter for some time.  My lovely wife Danita wants to fly with me and we had considered finishing a build on a two place tandem gyrocopter.  However, many in the gyrocopter sport have advised me to fly in a single place machine for at least one-hundred fifty hours before getting a two place machine.  Therefore, we decided to rebuild a two seat Quicksilver MX II (fixed wing) airplane that we could share.   This reduced my budget on a gyrocopter to a used single place machine and this is what I found, a center line thrust Air Command with an MZ 202 two-stroke engine.

Here is the MX II prior to the renovation that we are working on:

Currently, it is completely dis-assembled for repairs.  We are giving the engine a tune-up, by replacing the muffler, spark plugs, points and condensors.  We are also overhauling the carburetor.  Plus, we are replacing the wing covering material, modifying the stabilizer  and replacing the instruments.  Finally, to reduce weight, we are replacing the electric starter with a rope pull starter.