The gyroplane comes back

Gyroplanes, with an unpowered rotor that spins in the airflow and a pusher propeller for thrust, were a 1920s idea that helicopters pushed aside. AutoGyro of Hildesheim, founded in 1999 and originally called HTC, set out to make them a mainstream product. Instead of kits, it sells complete, ready-to-fly aircraft and makes more than 90 per cent of the parts in-house. The MT-03 became the first microlight gyroplane certified in Germany, in 2003, and its mast-mounted vibration dampers became a company trademark.

MT-03 to Cavalon

The open-cockpit MT-03 was a market leader and was sold in Britain, modified, by RotorSport UK. It gave way to the aerodynamically refined MTOsport in 2008. In 2009 AutoGyro added the Calidus, with tandem seats under a smooth composite teardrop body, cruising at 160 km/h with a range of 800 km. On 12 April 2011 came the side-by-side Cavalon, which won a Red Dot design award; in 2013 an electric version, the eCavalon, was billed as the world’s first electric autogyro. The three-seat MTOtrigo followed in 2016 with a Chinese partner.

Records, round-the-world and police work

AutoGyro machines have flown far. An MT-03 set a world distance record of 1,263 km in Australia, and Norman Surplus used one for a nine-year circumnavigation completed in 2019, the first in an autogyro. The company says it is the only gyroplane maker certified for commercial gyroplane operations, and its Sentinel versions serve police and coastguards; Turkey’s Gendarmerie flies nine Cavalons. Output figures vary by source, from more than 30 a year to around 300 a year in 2014.

Fábricas

• Hildesheim factory · Hildesheim, Lower Saxony — All models developed and built here

Récords y primicias

• MT-03 world distance record for gyroplanes, 1,263 km, Australia
• First circumnavigation by autogyro, completed 2019 in an MT-03 by Norman Surplus