A dozen years ago, fixed wing pilots thought very little about “gyrocopters” — as some people called them. Actually that word is a model name established by Igor Bensen, widely thought of as the father of this activity along with Juan de la Cierva of Spain, known for his pioneering autogyro work.
The preferred term these days is “gyroplane.” Names aside, what pilots care about is having fun in the air and being able to afford a flying machine. When an aircraft also looks terrific, heads turn.
From eleven years ago comes the #3 in our list of Top 50 Aircraft Videos. More than 450,000 views of this video show broad interest in ArrowCopter, quite the head turner in its day.
Gyroplane interest grew quickly after European designers took the lead from American manufacturers. Think back to the days of Ken Brock’s gyro or the former Air Command (now under new management).Top 50 — Beginning the Decade of Gyroplanes; Meet ArrowCopter and Those That Followed
A dozen years ago, fixed wing pilots thought very little about “gyrocopters” — as some people called them. Actually that word is a model name established by Igor Bensen, widely thought of as the father of this activity along with Juan de la Cierva of Spain, known for his pioneering autogyro work.
The preferred term these days is “gyroplane.” Names aside, what pilots care about is having fun in the air and being able to afford a flying machine. When an aircraft also looks terrific, heads turn.
From eleven years ago comes the #3 in our list of Top 50 Aircraft Videos. More than 450,000 views of this video show broad interest in ArrowCopter, quite the head turner in its day.
Gyroplane interest grew quickly after European designers took the lead from American manufacturers. Think back to the days of Ken Brock’s gyro or the former Air Command (now under new management). Those machines were simpler. Euro designs went much further and kept on going. ArrowCopter was one of the early leads in this fascinating development.
Fly Like An Arrow
Getting right to the point, although this rakish design attracted a large video audience over the years, ArrowCopter failed in the marketplace. The company is no more. Why the product failed could hinge on any number of reasons but at least one early video review of ArrowCopter was not very complimentary, faulting both the company organization and its flight qualities. The reviewer liked ArrowCopter’s speed, but he did not like the way it behaved at those speeds. Reviews like that can kill a fledgling design.
Great detail is unnecessary since you cannot buy a new ArrowCopter and I know of no used ones for sale although at least two were sold into the United States (they appear in pictures). Still, it’s worthwhile to look at some of its unique qualities.
American gyroplane enthusiasts first saw ArrowCopter back in 2014, only three years after its maiden flight. If you were at Bensen Days that year and admired ArrowCopter, you may be aware you’ve seen nothing since.
ArrowCopter’s aerodynamically shaped landing gear strakes provide lift in horizontal flight, claimed some reviewers, and serve as fuel tanks. This design feature is one of several distinctive ideas that ArrowCopter designer Dietmar Fuchs incorporated.
As ArrowCopter accelerated down the runway, pilots looked for 60 mph (52 knots) and 340 rotor rpm. At that point ArrowCopter is ready to launch. Climb out occurs at 60 mph while cruise speed is 99 mph (86 knots). ArrowCopter’s never-exceed speed was 120 mph (104 knots).
Non-gyroplane pilots may not find that particularly fast. Certainly, it is not compared to a fixed-wing, high-powered mLSA aircraft. As gyros go, though, that’s fairly quick. It’s smooth lines explain much.
What you should know is that gyroplanes are some of the best aircraft in recreational aviation at performing well in stronger winds. This is true of all gyroplanes, not only ArrowCopter.
Market Changes
Today, ArrowCopter is gone but others have risen to carry on with striking designs and innovative ideas. Along the way, Rotax has continually raised the power output of its 9-series engines. The Austrian engine giant acknowledged that for several years in the mid- to late-2010s, gyroplane manufacturers were the single biggest segment buyers of 9-series engines. Gyroplanes were hot, hot, hot. Sadly, ArrowCopter missed the chance to grab many sales.
Autogyro’s side-by-side Cavalon view from aft.
Brands like Germany’s AutoGyro rose quickly and sold large numbers of aircraft. They steadily refined these and produced several models that remain among the most popular designs on the market.
Others like Magnigyro from Italy also flourished and also offered increasingly advanced models. More recently, side-by-side seating has made inroads into what had been exclusively tandem-seating aircraft. It’s worth noting here that most of the earlier American gyro models were single place but it was a much earlier time.
Magni’s gyro line up.
As the Europeans began selling faster, American producers like SilverLight reintroduced gyroplanes as a Made-in-American product. The Zephyr Hills, Florida manufacturer enjoyed a good early run as its Ranger arrived on the market. SilverLight later added a full enclosure for their model but it remains tandem seating.
Side-by-side interactions included the Rotorvox also from Germany. This product somewhat emulated ArrowCopter by being spacious inside. Rotorvox has not made a big impact in the market but it was rather late to the party. As gyroplane sales cooled somewhat weaker producers lost out to the majors.
Niki’s stylish gyroplane and, we presume, its pilot.
A newer entry but one also full of innovations is the Niki I wrote about recently (link below).
So, while our #3 aircraft subject has disappeared from the recreational aircraft scene, the market remains rich with gyroplanes, most of them quite handsome and clever. Now, with Mosaic proposing to finally allow factory-built gyroplanes, we may see a new renaissance in gyroplane adoption.
Stay tuned as I work my way through the Top 50 aviation videos of the last decade. Can you guess what’s next?
ARTICLE LINKS:
With ArrowCopter gone, here are gyroplane producers in business today; list does not include all manufacturers with regrets to any missed products:
- Gyro Technic (single seat), all content on this website
- AutoGyro, Video Pilot Report
- Magnigyro, article on this website
- SilverLight, article on this website
- Rotorvox, article on this website
- Niki, or Niki Gyro, 2 articles on this website
- Hummingbird, article on this website
- Air Command (renewed product), article on this website
MORE GYRO INFO:
- Gyroplanes or Autogyros, article on this website comparing the two types
- Market Share Report on gyroplanes in America
- Bulldog Autogyro, video on this website (beautiful production no longer offered)
Here is the video that ranked so high with YouTube enthusiasts:
A dozen years ago, fixed wing pilots thought very little about “gyrocopters” — as some people called them. Actually that word is a model name established by Igor Bensen, widely thought of as the father of this activity along with Juan de la Cierva of Spain, known for his pioneering autogyro work.
The preferred term these days is “gyroplane.” Names aside, what pilots care about is having fun in the air and being able to afford a flying machine. When an aircraft also looks terrific, heads turn.
From eleven years ago comes the #3 in our list of Top 50 Aircraft Videos. More than 450,000 views of this video show broad interest in ArrowCopter, quite the head turner in its day.
Gyroplane interest grew quickly after European designers took the lead from American manufacturers. Think back to the days of Ken Brock’s gyro or the former Air Command (now under new management).
Oh, these air taxi vehicles are coming. I don’t doubt that, if for no other reason than they are absorbing vast amounts of money as people bet on some grand future where infotech merges with aviation to make flying vastly better and easier. It’s a fantastic dream and when smart people powered by enough money work on something long enough… something often happens.
Fine. That’s the sales pitch and apparently it’s working because more than 350 companies around the globe have raised billions of dollars to pursue their dreams yet the first entries remain far from market.
What we’ve got now is a total of five current entries in the Part 103 multicopter race. Think about that.
What you have seen up close, I’m betting, is smaller “drones,” usually quad copters than can be flown with a radio-control aircraft handset. You may have flown or owned one.
Rotor X said, “Dragon can carry one pilot who is over 6 foot-6 and weighs up to 250 pounds.” Dragon can fly “for up to 20 minutes depending on the weight of the pilot and the air density where the aircraft is flying.”
Ready to go along?
I was at 
Handling
We are headed into an interesting period of aircraft development and the subject of this article is a perfect example. Welcome to TL Ultralight’s enhanced Sparker.
The model was introduced to the European 600 kilogram (1,320 pound) standard but over the last year it has gone through an extensive evaluation and upgrade to carry a 750 kilogram load (1,653 pounds). It was also revised to accommodate Rotax’s 915iS and 916iS engines.
The last aircraft released by TL in 2015 was Stream, their elegant take on a tandem-seating LSA. I flew with Trey Murdaugh, proprietor of TL Sport Aircraft, the North American representative for the brand. Read about 
As I hear your groans over the prices we’ve seen in the newest Light-Sport Aircraft, please consider the prices on everything else you buy. Since Covid, many things you buy have gone up substantially in price; many items have doubled in price. That fact does not ease your financial burden and it certainly puts Sparker out of reach for some, maybe most pilots. That does not mean it is incorrectly priced; it simply may not fit your budget.
Yet if you have the budget or some partners, Sparker might be just the airplane to ignite your flying interests.
Once Mosaic arrives, I expect you will find TL Ultralight’s Sparker to be an early aircraft to gain approval. Fortunately, pilots interested today don’t need to wait until 2025 — the earliest date Mosaic could be fully available. Trey said the deluxe Sparker could be delivered in 7-8 months. Use the contact information below to obtain pricing and availability.
My series will touch on the top 50 most-watched videos on Videoman Dave’s 
While the company took their time getting the design to their satisfaction, their marketing took off like a SpaceX rocket. In a short period, Icon accumulated something like 1.5 million likes on their Facebook page, in those days a notable accomplishment.
Air taxi ventures based on multicopter designs are drinking up funds by the tens or hundreds millions of dollars, probably billions by now. I don’t have a shred of doubt that these will lead to genuine changes in transportation… but I would not hold my breath until such services become common. I suspect it will be many years yet.
Felix Rühle is the designer behind the 
Ultralight Design noted, “We have been actively flying trikes with a history of operation over six years. When the battery installed in your trike reaches its lifetime, it will be possible to replace it with a new type. Thanks to the fast development in electric automotive industry we can expect new batteries with a double capacity and maybe half price.”
For those unsure of electric, Ultralight Design offers Ego trikes with combustion engines. Paramotor engines appropriate for Ego and ATOS have undergone a number of changes in last seven years, Ultralight Design said. “The result is a very good performance with a minimum fuel consumption of around 3 liters (0.75 gallons) per hour of flight. “The low fuel consumption of standard Mogas gives you over five hours endurance and over 300 kilometer (185 miles) range on one fuel tank.
What made this choice of topics lucky was that as I was doing some investigation of this company and aircraft, I reached out to a local aviator who hails from the same country: Hungary. His name is Doma Andreka and he is the importer of 
He is also part of 
I was drawn by its lovely wings but the entire aircraft has appeal, although being intended for soaring flight, it may not be a roomy as some cross-country-oriented Light-Sport Aircraft.
Altus took its maiden flight in May of 2018. Since that initial flight, “Altus spent over 800 hours in the air and earned 5 FAI world records without a single problem,” reported the company.
Let’s make it simpler with an image of an intriguing display hoisted above an actual Altus. I love how they managed to depict the airflows and fix them to the aircraft without damaging the airframe or its ability to fly.
In this wonderful 
LAMA, the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association, hosted a gathering of European manufacturers during last month’s Aero Friedrichshafen show. Van’s Aircraft President and Chief Engineer Rian Johnson accepted LAMA’s invitation and presented an update on Mosaic. As the leader of the ASTM committee working on LSA standards, he covered expected changes to help manufacturers prepare.
FAA is very keen to have Mosaic aircraft be “transferable,” added Rian in his LAMA talk. FAA officials are working with their counterparts in Europe, at EASA, and in Brazil to align their regulations. The latter country’s ANAC agency has already passed regulations that are very similar (link below; also nearby chart) though not identical to Mosaic. FAA realizes, Rian said, that if regulations are sufficiently close, an airplane manufacturer in one country can sell in another with relative ease. This already happens for LSA aircraft, where countries in Europe and other nations like Australia, Brazil, South African, China, and more have embraced very similar regulations.
Amazingly, even turbine engines are reportedly in consideration. If this keeps up, pilots might come to love Mosaic after all. The big question as summer arrives… “Will FAA release the NPRM in August as predicted?” Keep clicking or tapping back for more info.
What you could not easily see was the engine selection. As up-to-date as they can be, Niki is offering either a 141-horsepower Rotax 915iS or the just-released 160-horsepower 916iS. The latter with a lighter load can reportedly climb better than 2,500 feet per minute.
When I happened across Niki, I remembered they had sent an invitation to come by and look at their engaging designs. Company co-owner Miglena Kopcheva was kind enough to show me around the green machine you see nearby. Her enthusiasm for what Niki is doing is infectious.
Backing up their rather obvious competence in aviation is a larger metal fabrication enterprise called Niki Ltd. For the last 25 years, this operation has been a leading manufacturer of custom-made or private-label furniture for the retail and hospitality industries. The company boasts 150 employees and more than 90,000 square feet of factory and office space. “We are ISO certified,” boasted NRA. They add that 100% of all components integrated in our gyroplanes are manufactured in-house.
Niki employees and company facilities support the building of elegant and smart aircraft such as Lightning, Kallithea, and Cruiser (images of each appear with this article).
So, flying a Zeppelin. Cool, yes, but you’re only a passenger. Sure, the visibility is fantastic through panoramic (and German-clean) windows, and every seat is a window seat. But aren’t you stuck in that one seat the whole flight? Nope.
You fly around 35 knots (max is 67 knots). It feels remarkably like many ultralights I’ve flown, where the ground drifts by underneath. We flew around at about 1,000-1,500 feet so the sight was familiar to any recreational pilot.
Subsequently, Goodyear built 347 of their non-rigid blimps but when the last one operated to the end of its service life, Goodyear restored relations with Zeppelin and the aircraft in which I flew is one of three NTs built at Goodyear’s Akron, Ohio facility under the direction of Zeppelin using their semi-rigid construction.
On prior years at Aero, I’ve seen several other corporate markings on Zeppelins. The Zeppelin NT is approved in Europe and the USA for passenger hauling, the first airship to be so licensed since the era of airships that ended with the Hindenburg disaster. Zeppelin NT uses nonflammable Helium, of course.
Under the cowling is… well, your choice. Both new AVI models offer the Polini 303 with 38 horsepower, making Swan lively and able to achieve short takeoffs. Or, you can have an equally powerful (28 kW or 37.5 hp) electric propulsion unit. AVI has offered electric for several years, time enough to work out the installation and operation.
Swan at Aero was badged “Swan 120 LE” as it is approved under Germany’s 120-Kilo Class. However, in our discussion, Radu stressed more than once that both Swan and Dracula can conform to U.S. Part 103 with minor changes, which he has already engineered and produced. The earlier boom-engine Swan has already proved itself capable of meeting Part 103, according to importer Tom Bartlett, AVI Aircraft’s U.S. distributor (
One example is the wing-remove, tail-boom-fold method of disassembling Dracula for transport. Radu indicated that Dracula would fit the impossibly-small trailer just as Swan LE does. Given significant waits for hangar space at many airports, a small trailer could be the deciding factor for some potential buyers. Towing this small trailer around, almost no one would believe you have an airplane inside. A small trailer is also lightweight so towing with a smaller vehicle should not prove challenging.
What else does AVI do?
I was alerted to visit Belmont by my journalist friend, Marino Boric, who suggested I have a look at Belmont primarily because it carries quite an agreeable price point: €96,000. At today’s exchange rate ($1 = €1.09), that translates to $105,000 before shipping and related transport expenses.
“DW200 is a two-seat, all-metal, low-wing aircraft with side-by-side seats,” said Belmont. “The landing gear consists of a fixed tricycle landing gear with steerable nose wheel.”
This 
Belmont’s wing is all-metal with a rectangular center section and trapezoidal outer sections. All elements are made of aluminum, which may assure some readers concerned with repairs for an aircraft with a distant origin.
Beautifully upholstered seats have a composite sandwich structure. Four-point seat belts are standard. Headphone jacks are located behind the pilot’s seats.
Belmont DW200 presented well at Aero and looked top quality on display. The company’s base price appears reasonable in an age that has seen several LSA cross the $300,000 border. I believe it’s fair to call Belmont “affordable.”
What could the typical pilot expect while flying Superveloce? Porto Aviation lists the cruise speed at 75% power from Rotax’s 915iS at 200 knots true airspeed at 9,000 feet. Compared to other LSA I have examined, this tops the list (although some other fast designs aren’t too far behind).
Isn’t this well beyond LSA speeds?
How fast is this aircraft?
For complete factory information on speeds, see the data sheet below. Note the right column portrays Risen 915iS SV — with “SV” designating Superveloce. Even with the less costly and more fuel efficient 912iS, Risen can still hit 162 knots at 9,000 feet.
As airframe producers made the effort to configure the new engine to their aircraft, its appearance is becoming more common.
These are somewhat specialized aircraft and they may take a certain kind of buyer. However, you cannot fault the exquisite design effort and the painstaking detail that shows in the construction.
Beringer and its team of 32 employees, has progressively moved up in the ranks of widely-used wheel and brake systems, distinguishing themselves by the safety, reliability, and innovation of its distinctively-colored products.
The leaders of Beringer reported, “We did not set out to create ‘good enough’ wheels and brakes. We sought to create exceptional wheels and brakes, with the goal of providing peace of mind to pilots during the most critical phases of flight.” Smart, because while pilots love to go fast, they definitely appreciate a strong set of brakes at the end of the flight.
“Representing a culmination of decades of production, testing, and experience, Aerotec+ offers a fundamentally new package designed for safety and increased performance,” said Beringer.
Then he finished the aircraft, flew it, and proved it could make weight. Later Jörg worked with a three-cylinder internal combustion engine that seemed to fit the era well. He wasn’t done as you’ll see below.
As many who attended Sun ‘n Fun 2023 learned and even more discovered via online news — Flying Media has acquired the ByDanJohnson aviation brand and all of the written, photographic, or video content created under the tagline, “By Dan Johnson.”
Building a website was very challenging then — we called it “stick-built,” as every line of code to make it work had to be written essentially from scratch. WordPress, which today delivers ByDanJohnson.com and about one-third of all websites worldwide, did not exist in 1999. Google was new. Facebook had yet to launch. No one had heard of YouTube. Apple’s iPhone was years away. Tick tock was something only a clock did. A lot happened in 20 years.
As Flying takes completes its takeover around April 1, 2024, ByDanJohnson.com will complete a full 20 years of publishing… an eternity in Internet time. Flying will rebadge ByDanJohnson.com as AffordableAviation.com. I purchased this website domain name many years ago with exactly this change in mind.
“The LSA category is the most exciting part of the aviation industry,” Craig said in Flying’s announcement. “It offers affordable access to some of the most advanced general aviation aircraft in the market. With the changes expected under Mosaic, we expect an explosion in new aircraft models, innovative technology, and more affordable offerings for pilots and aircraft owners. Affordable aviation is coming to general aviation and Flying Media Group plans to capitalize on this opportunity by providing far more coverage and content related to the category, across all of our channels.”
Part 103 ultralights — that nobody, including me, can count accurately — appear to be doing very well. Light-Sport Aircraft and Sport Pilot kit-built aircraft were 
Since it wasn’t side by side that did it, was it the way the canopy seemed to hinge forward and nearly off? Was it the dual-boom empennage?
Jindrich and Ondrej could see what the other side-by-side gyro producers were doing and they clearly set out to further those design efforts. The earlier designs simply don’t have all the innovative ideas that Nisus does.
Nisus uses a primary structure welded from chrome molybdenum steel tubes (25crmo4 NBK), reducing weight while ensuring a rigid form and enhanced safety. The inside of the cabin is fully layered with a carbon Kevlar hybrid for occupant safety.
✔️ Simple but necessary. How do you tie down a gyroplane. Not by its “wings.” Instead, Nisus provides tie downs on all three wheels.
✔️ Nisus uses an integrated throttle, wheel-brake lever, and prerotator handle grouped for one-hand operation. Rich said that Nisus prerotator spins up the rotor quickly (15-20 seconds) and you can go full power as this happens. With a simple hand gesture, you can relax the wheel brake and release the prerotator without removing your hand from the throttle. This makes great sense in an important phase of flight.
Let’s begin with a focus on the modest cost of Merlin. I promote affordable aviation all day long. That word “affordable” means something different to every single pilot so every time I use the word someone is going to tell me, “It’s still too expensive.”
Look I get it. I’m a consumer, too. Plus, who doesn’t enjoy a deal? So here’s the short answer: “Finished Price: $34,000.” That’s a direct quote from 
One main reason given by Brad Damm, the company’s vice president of sales and marketing, is because customers asked for it. However, Brad has several other good reasons, which he shared in the video below.
“We invested in several new technologies to make the Carbon Cub UL even lighter and better performing than its predecessor, the Carbon Cub SS,” stated CubCrafters. “The goal is a new airplane that features multi-fuel technology (mogas and/or avgas), fully meets ASTM standards, and carries two adult people with a full fuel load and a reasonable amount of baggage at a takeoff weight of 600 kilograms or 1,320 pounds.”
“Our Carbon Cub was first introduced in 2009 and has been a successful aircraft for both CubCrafters and the entire backcountry flying community,” stated Patrick Horgan, CubCrafters President and CEO. “Now, we’re reimagining the Carbon Cub by incorporating the latest in pre-preg composites, more titanium components, and innovative manufacturing techniques, along with the best new engine and avionics technologies for even more performance and versatility.” Brad further elaborates some of these upgrades in the video below.
The production version of the new aircraft is slated to be initially built, certified, and test flown as a Light-Sport Aircraft at the CubCrafters factory in Yakima, Washington, but it will also meet Ultralight category requirements in many international jurisdictions.
The UL concept of a lighter and even better performing version of the Carbon Cub for international markets was first seen for a stunt in Dubai, UAE. A technology demonstrator version of the aircraft was able to successfully land and take off again from a 27-meter (about 90 foot) diameter heliport that is suspended 56 stories above the ground on top of Dubai’s iconic skyscraper, Burj Al Arab hotel as part of a recent Red Bull project that inspired audiences worldwide.