In January, 2022, I fulfilled a childhood dream of mine by learning to fly a gyroplane. I traveled to Gulf Shores, AL, for an intensive training session in the Magni Orion M24 gyroplane. This video is a record of that experience.
Congratulations! I am right behind you, I am 61 years old with Private Plane certificate and have not flown in 20 years but itching to get a Gyroplane!
I agree that Mark, Shannon and the team at Gulf Shores do a great job. I’ve been training with them as well over the past months and have been pleased with their skills/thoroughness as well as their friendliness. I would recommend them and bonus the local area is nice to spend time during down times between training.
Nice work Sir, I'm 68 now and I stopped flying in 2018 because of health and financial reasons, I'm fit now but wont return to flying, ill instead watch others enjoying there journey, I started flying in 1988, happy landings.
Awww, fond memories of the Gulf Shores area. Completed NFO training at Pensacola NAS and Gulf Shores Int'l was part of our checkride as a "remote" field.
Drat, I wish I had seen this a 10 days ago. I was vacationing in Orange Beach just down the beach and saw a gyro fly by several times. I too haven't flown (other than paragliding) for 20 years and am facinated with gyroplanes..
I was going to sign up for lessons this month, February, but business picked up and interferred with those plans. maybe in a couple of months. Definitely this year.
I bought one and it was assembled and tested at MagniFlight. BUT - I then found out I was uninsurable because of age (although I had passed my FAA Class 3). So unfortunately I had to sell it back to MagniFlight. I had previously been assured by insurance brokers that liability insurance would be no problem... I checked every underwriter in the USA, but no luck. I was told that all underwriters have a hard age cut off at 75, with most not even insuring past 70 unless you were a long-term customer. Just a word of warning to us 'mature' pilots...
Great video. Thanks for sharing, and great job on pursuing a dream. A demo flight is on my bucket list! RU-vidr "Florida Flying" has an inspiring video filmed at Southland Airpark in Florida.
Thanks for posting this. A few questions about the M24, takeoff and landing procedures. The 3 complaints I hear about the M24 is the very high stick force, the central axis of the stick causing it to "rotate" up and down, and the lack of in flight adjustable trims. Do they train takeoffs using immediate full throttle and full back stick followed by balancing on the mains or gradual throttle followed by a slight stick relax so when the nose comes up it takes off with no need for wheel balance? Seems you were doing no power landings. Is that for all landings or was is emergency landing training?
The Magni M24 uses a composite rotor, which is quite heavy, and as such makes it very stable. The good news is that it is indeed stable, but that results in the feel of a 'heavy' stick. Instead of quick stick movements, a slow and steady pressure will do the same thing. All the helo pilots I have talked to very much prefer heavier blades as they help energy management a lot (and make for more stable flight) I don't like the central axis stick either, but that is one of the trade-offs for simplicity. It took me a while to get my muscle memory to apply pressure to the stick along its arc of travel rather than straight across, but practice eventually makes it seem natural. There is a fore-aft adjustable trim, but no lateral. The craft I used was well-balanced and didn't seem to need it. All my take-offs were initially at partial throttle until the rotor RPM started to climb, with slight relaxation of the stick as the front wheel lightened, with more power added at that point. The engine, particularly the 915, produces a LOT of both directional and axial yaw at low speed and needs a good bit of pedal and stick to compensate. I have never done a soft field takeoff (yet), and I expect power handling will be a bit different. Just remember that these have way more power than needed to get them into the air, and they are not really designed to be a short-field takeoff machine - however, I could easily do three touch and gos to a full stop on most runways... I did landings both with power and dead-stick. My personal preference is to use a close, short pattern and chop power when making the base to final turn. Rotorcraft usually use a 500 feet AGL, so I feel more comfortable always being within 'gliding' distance of the runway, and as you know, these glide more like a brick than a bird... Hope all this helps. The 'shipping Gods' willing, i will be getting one in a month or so and will do more videos of my experiences as things progress.
@@stephenwardlaw6428 Sounds exciting, I hope to start training this coming spring unless our government screws the world up too badly in the meantime. I am curious as to others opinions particularly on the M-24, It seems that the weight of passengers is maxed out easily if both people are approaching 250 or more each. the cockpit is a bit small for larger people. I am only 190 but I may take a friend or two that push that limit. Would the 915 be a better fit for full payload?
@@joesmith-dk3uz Mark Sprigg, one of my CFIs at Gulf Shores and a long-time Magni flyer, told me that if you can fit it in, it will fly. I presume he just meant people... The 914 had plenty of power at sea level, but if I was going to fly at higher pressure altitudes, the 915 gives more margin. Just keep in mind that solo flight in a 915 craft requires more care because of the power available. Personally, I would prefer to have more power and not use it than the other way around. The cockpit is small, but I have seen 250-pounders squeeze in - and get out again.
I have heard it's very expensive to get hull insurance in the US for a Gryo most just go with only liability insurance. I would guess no bank is going to loan money on something without insurance probably why Gyro's are not that common at least the more expensive ones. I guess with all the fatal crashes in the US they don't want to insure them. Seems to be lot of crashes on take off sudden over rotation, or failure to maintain rotor RPM kind of a balance from what I read keep the control stick back after pre-rotation but once start to gain don't want to over rotate pitch up suddenly.
One question, why are you starting the prerottason during taxi, I was always told not to engage the prerotter until I was on the runway and had been cleared for takeoff. Is this a special feature for this aircraft??
This is something the CFI said to do to save some time if the runway was busy. It is safe if there is not a lot of wind and if you don't overdo it. In looking at take-offs at Bensen Days this year, I saw maybe half of the gyros use this technique.
I wondered the same thing, but from a different angle. You could create all sorts of problems sitting on a busy runway while you wind up from zero, but this is the first video I've seen recently that seems to use a common sense approach to it. Care needed obviously and may be an issue with strong winds perhaps. Also assuming a decent sized runway and a strong wind, why would you ever need to do a crosswind landing 🙂
The vibration depends a lot on the type of rotors and the flight conditions. Heavier rotors, such as used by the Magni, generally have more stick shake, simply because they weigh more. Stick shake will also vary with rotor loading, reaching a minimum at some point and increasing on either side of that. The shake is not a harsh vibration and is not uncomfortable unless something is badly out of balance,
Much less so; on a day when a Cessna would be bouncing all over, the gyro barely notices it. It has a very high 'wing' loading, which makes it much less susceptible to turbulence. When I encountered thermals or hill updrafts, I could feel a steady 'push' but no bumps as such. It was very comfortable that way.
I believe current pricing for instruction from Gulf Coast Magni Gyro is $200/hr, $75/hr if you own your own gyro. Prices may vary from region to region. If you have no prior flight experience, you will likely need 40-60 hours of air time and another 20 or so hours of ground school before you can get your license. A new Magni 24 Orion+ is now going for about 120,000 Euros, plus shipping from Italy. After that, you need to add another $10,000 or so for final assembly, testing, certification, etc. You may be able to find other used gyros in good condition in the US and EU for prices ranging from about $50,000 to $200,000, depending upon model and condition.
@@stephenwardlaw6428 what is the reason to travel south down to Alabama to do your license, is it the pricer? and why would delivery of the machine be there (i presume you like Magni from Italy)? don't you want to have it at home? I'm in Europe, part of former east block and also dreaming doing my license. possibly this summer...however to own a new gyro is very costy...
@@4shellma The gyro is delivered as a 'kit' to MagniFlight, their rep in Gulf Shores. I and their team assemble it (about a week), and then it must be flown for 40 hours locally before I can ferry it up here. I will also use that flight time , both instructed and solo, to get proficient and to learn the Dynon nav and comm system.
@@stephenwardlaw6428 thank you for the info. I wish you lot of joy flying your own machine. hopefully you'll publish some videos or at least pictures of your flights when time allows.
Yes, I bought one but had to return it to MagniFly because I found I was uninsurable because of age - even after passing my FAA medical and previous assurances by insurance brokers that there would be no problems.... A sad day and a very unexpected end to this adventure. I have been in both the Cavalon and the M24, and although they are both good ships, I think the M24 is more forgiving because of the much heavier rotor. This also makes it less 'quick', so some may prevfer that to the M24s stability.
My advice to any body that is learning to fly. Dont load up on Burritos and and boiled pickled eggs before pre flight . You will lose your C.F.I, on the first day. Can you get one with a trap door so you can take a dump in flight ?
