I've been doing crosswind landings today and yesterday. My instructor has had me lining up the nose much earlier (as I only have 15 hours at the moment and making the switch at such a low altitude would make for a high workload and the potential for a nasty screw-up). It is an extremely uncomfortable (and for the first few times, scary) feeling with the wind howling through the cockpit and the gyro banked over into the wind but getting it down successfully and accurately is extremely satisfying and a good confidence-builder.
Gyrocopter flying club - Not somewhere I'd be spending any time. Rather you than me. But that does conjure up images of all these coast-guard pilots flying around a desert wondering why they're not seeing any stricken ships. ;) ... and I don't think that you owe anyone an apology for not uploading RU-vid videos. Regardless of what some people seem to think, there is life beyond the keyboard. I'm just glad that this isn't a dead channel because I like your content and the timing is excellent because all being well, I start my own flight-training in a few days.
Nice to see you back. I was the (one of the?) guy(s) who phoned to find out what had happened to you. Given your response that you were in the Middle East I didn't call back unsure of the country and desirability of incoming calls from the UK. On reflection not particularly bright of me if there had been an issue with calls you wouldn't have made one in the first place. My bell has switched off so it was just seeing you in my suggested viewing that has brought me here. If due to the time period bells have deactivated you may well be down on your views for a bit.
COIcultist hey no problems - yes it’s been a long time in the desert! I hope to be back and updating the channel regularly from now on so hopefully everyone will be back on board if they find it useful. Thanks for the support
My own view is its better to simply fly the runway. Setting a power on approach is a good starter for students just to give them something to aim for and get them in the ballpark but ultimately you want this constant aspect approach so that you can fly to any airfield with any circuit height and pattern and be comfortable early. I fly power down the approach and ease the power back to idle once I've rounded out. Also it does make it easier (IMO) if you fly a faster approach in stronger winds.
Thanks for your reply I fly with power on approach back to idle on round out power on to maintain rudder control. Landing into the wind back to idle at about 700 feet for a power off landing 👍 keep up with your posts
@@gyropilot7191 Thanks for the support. One thing with the idle approaches is that obviously good to keep in practice in case of engine failure but if I'm honest I don't major on them with my students simply because it makes that round out to float transition quite a big angle and that just leads to ballooning and then the head goes and the student spends 10 minutes beating himself up over the balloon rather than flying the aircraft!
Gyrocopter flying club all good lots of changes with factory machines. I learned old school rotor management don’t see many posting hand spinning rotors and taxiing up and down runway to obtain rotor speed 👍 also I do have a couple of videos on you tube
Hello - I'm not sure I fully understand what your own thinking is when you say "how much side wind can it resist?" but if I assume the question is how much crosswind could you land in with the engine off then the quick answer is the same as with the engine functional however with the engine shutdown you have one opportunity to land - as with any glide approach. The demonstrated crosswind limits for each gyroplane make/model are published in the relevant POH.
Just an observation - there are many ways to land a gyro across wind and all of them are legitimate, given different circumstances and strengths of wind. The one that no one has mentioned here is approaching down one side of the runway then turning into wind at the last minute at an angle across the runway. If I was in a 35/40 mile an hour wind I certainly wouldn't be using the technique demonstrated in this video which is perfectly legitimate in lighter winds.
Hey Keith - I hear you but the omission on my side is deliberate because I fundamentally don't agree with the concept. First of all whilst I accept the nuance of what you are suggesting in the end you have to make approaches to land with the expectation that you need to remain disciplined so that other traffic knows what you are doing, that it doesn't interfere with others [or airfield furniture] and you avoid runway excursions. A gyroplane has huge control authority and so there is no need to do wacky approaches and even 35/40 mph wind speed is no challenge for this technique - what I would caution is flight in such windy conditions for new pilots because in the UK [for example] that level of wind will not be an enjoyable condition.
@@gyrocopterflyingclub6148 So let me put you in a scenario which has actually happened to me. A relatively inexperienced pilot leaves his home airfield at which point the wind is across the runway 45 degrees but light and steady - say 10 mph. An hour and half later he returns to the very same airfield only to discover that since he has left the wind has strengthened to 35/40 mph at 90 degrees to the runway. At that level of wind strength it is impossible to land an autogyro down the centreline it doesn't have enough rudder authority - I know - when my instructor was training me - he put me in exactly this position to show me! Also you would be flying the gyro beyond its authorised cross wind capability (that was in an MT03 a 2017 MTO Sport's rudder authority is even worse as its too small). So what does he do?
Hi Keith - well some thoughts. The first is that the number one part of any flight is all about pre-flight planning. So just as we ensure that our licence is valid, aircraft is able to fly and we did a check A [daily inspection] we likely check the weather. I don't know of a day where a TAF wasn't sensitive to highlight a shift in wind from 7knts to 30+knts and the big direction change. Could it happen? Maybe but lets put it this way, eyebrows would be raised if you claimed the weather changed so fast and without any clue available from the TAF. BUT lets indulge the senario. The next thing which you did in pre-flight planning was look at alternative fields / diverts. In the situation you highlight the better process is to look for a divert field that is aligned to the wind as 35-40mph on the nose is not a problem. Most/many UK airfields have crossed runways and so perhaps an alternative runway at the home airfield is available? The comments from your instructor are just plain wrong. There are no "authorised cross wind capability" for the aircraft there are merely demonstrated crosswind speeds in the POH and any reference to "authorised" suggests the training environment has some kind of SOP's which are not required for gyroplane training in the UK but of course should they exist then you have to follow them because that is how the environment is working, but then see my earlier point about pre-flight planning etc. Still the 2017 Sport does not run out of rudder authority if flown correctly merely if you try and land too slowly because at this point the crosswind component is increased. So to answer the questions you ask. 1) the pre-flight plan is essential in regard to wind 2) have a divert 3) understand the POH and what limits actually are 4) learn to fly properly so that you understand how to deal with the situation properly rather than your instructor building a false construct to prove or demonstrate a poor technique - likely whilst saying "fly like a gyro pilot......"
