www.PSFmagazine.com | July-August 2016 | 23 22 | July-August 2016 | Powered Sport Flying Gyroplane Market My focus, as always, will be on gyroplanes, where no speed records were recently broken. This year was not as rich in terms of innovations. But there were still some to look at; I will take you through the companies as we go. If not stated differently, all gyroplanes were using Rotax 912 or 914 engines with 100 or 115 hp. Autogyro Europe, the market leader, possibly the world leader, showed a new three-seater, very open model. This cannot be flown under the European rule, so they are looking at foreign markets to get this one certified. The engine is a two-cylinder four-stroke, based on the Swiss Weber racing engine, converted by LSA-Engine. It produces 145 hp out of a 750 cc bore. This engine is also available for the mtosport, the most successful open two-seater, instead of the usual Rotax engine. They showed commercial applications, like police, surveillance or geo-scanning as well as agricultural spraying. The Cavalon electric was also on display in the e-flight hall. They claim they were able to fly up to one hour on one charge. The tandemmtosport starts in an open (mto-free) version at 50,000 Euros. The fully enclosed tandem-seating Calidus starts at 65,000 ($74,861.15 usd), the side-by-side Cavalon at 75,000 Euros ($86,378.25 usd). ELA was very present this year, showing their open 07S and Junior as well as the new, fully enclosed Eclipse. The ela 07 and 08 are open tandem gyroplanes starting at about 55,000 Euros ($63,344.05 usd). The Junior, slightly smaller and with no dual control options, will start at 45,000 Euros ($51,826.95 usd), the Eclipse starts at 65,000 ($74,861.15 usd). The Junior was intended as a budget model for under 40,000 Euros ($46,068.40 usd) with a different engine, but in the end, they had to go back to the expensive Rotax 912. The Eclipse is equipped with a very luxurious interior and clever solutions to make this a great aircraft. It can be flown open with a small detachable windscreen, or fully enclosed. The flight reviews so far are great. I have already booked an appointment for a test-flight. Captions: 1. LSA-Engine’s Weber racing engine conversion 2. Autogyro float gyroplane 3-4. Autogyro’s 3-place gyroplane 5. Autogyro Camera Ship 6. Autogryo Ag gyroplane 7. Autogryo Police 8. Autogry Electric 9. ELA Junior
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