Gyros in the US - Good News

[mak]

Found the following interesting news on the RotaryWing Forum. It seems that a lot more people are seeing the value of gyros, apart from the unions.

Sounds like the FAA will be getting to know the factory built gyros whether it wants to or not: This is lifted straight from a recent announcement from AutoGyro in Germany:

"The US Department of Justice has chosen the MTO Sport gyroplane as the latest aircraft to wear its uniform!

AutoGyro GmbH has been officially chosen to be the partner of the US Department of Justice within the Law Enforcement Aviation Technology Program and their gyrocopters clearly stood out from the crowd passing a strict and multilevel selection process prevailing against numerous competitors.

Amongst many other criteria, the various fields of application, flight characteristics, qualityof manufacture, aquisition and operating costs as well as the availability were all key areas where the AutGyro aircraft excelled.

Thanks to its agility, field of vision and low operating costs, the gyrocopter is the ideal alternative to helicopters.

The US authorities will take advantage of these attributes and from now on a specially equipped MTO Sport will serve the law in the cause of the Sheriffs’ Association of Texas.

At the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference in Orlando, Florida, this MTOsport was displayed and received great interest from both U.S. and International Law Enforcement. In the future, more autogyros will enrich the air fleet of the U.S. Department of Justice.

AutoGyro GmbH Managing Director Otmar Birkner said “It is a great honor for us receiving this confidence and award and we are looking forward to cooperating with the U.S. authorities and other law enforcement agencies”

Good news for all gyro manufacturers as the FAA will now have to start taking it more seriously and will probably have to start getting educated on gyros. Hopefully they work out well then law enforcement agencies all the world will start looking at them.

The only issue is actually pilots, apparently they trialed gyros in law enforcement in germany and when they went to commit to them because the trial was successful the police union stepped in threatened legal action because the pilots refused to fly them!.

Regardless a lot information will be collected that will help support the LSA gyro. This is good for everyone because if the LSA gyro market opens up in the US it will mean new entrants and also allows plenty of support for existing manufacturers.