On Fri, 11 Nov 2005 21:36:35 GMT, in rec.aviation.rotorcraft, boB said:

...I was flying Army from 1970 - 1995.

1982 to 1987 here.

My dream was to build a RAF2000 Gyro, mostly because of the enclosed
cockpit and the standard type seating.

Gyros are fun, simple, and affordable rotorcraft.

But no matter what model interests you, some strong words of caution to a
brother pilot...

There have been a lot of very poorly designed gyroplanes created over the
years (from a stability standpoint)... usually created by well meaning people
lacking an in depth understanding of both aerodynamics and physics. This has
lead to a lot of deaths and given amateur-built gyroplanes a bad reputation
that still lingers. Thankfully through better educated buyers, things have
been slowly changing.

Just as you should never buy any non-certified aircraft without first
researching it's safety and design stability, the same applies to gyroplanes.
The interesting thing about gyroplanes is that usually even an unstable one
can get in the air, but it's design flaws will be waiting to kill the
unsuspecting pilot under certain circumstances.

The bottom line is don't ever plunk down money on any gyroplane design until
you've done your research and fully understand the design stability issues and
choices. Don't take one persons word for it... especially if he's trying to
sell you something or has some other personal interest in steering your
decision (sometimes aircraft owners are the most deluded people you can find).
Your life depends on your choices!

Anyway, I don't mean to scare you off from gyroplanes... I just want to warn
you there are still unstable models out there.

And of course it goes without saying that you have to get proper and adequate
dual training before you ever attempt to operate a gyroplane solo. You'd be
surprised how many would-be pilots try to skip this important step for a
variety of not-so-good reasons.

A great place to learn more about gyroplanes is to hang out over on:

www.rotaryforum.com

That dream is on hold now but what do you fly? I would like to hear your experiences.

I fly an open-frame single-place gyroplane called a GyroBee. I built it (from
free plans which can be downloaded on the Internet) staring in 1999, and I
finished in 2000. I have over 125 hours on it now.

You can see some pictures here (that's me flying at a dry lake bed this past
Labor Day weekend):

http://www.autorotation.net/GyroBee/Runup.jpg

http://www.autorotation.net/GyroBee/Circling.jpg

http://www.autorotation.net/GyroBee/Landing.jpg

It's a great little gyro and comfortable to operate.

Take care,

John L.