Auto Gyro MTO-Sport 2017 with Rotax 915 aircraft review

A review of the new Auto Gyro MTOsport 2017 with Rotax 915 power.

[@virginiahansen320]

I'd love to see the Cavalon next!

[@virginiahansen320]

Nice! Great review! I never quite get the point of open cockpit night-equipped or IFR aircraft. Night flying kinda seems like a cross-country feature, and closed cockpit aircraft seem to lend themselves more to cross-country flying.

[@gyrocopterflyingclub6148]

In the UK we have gone in a direction of more complexity with night and commercial ratings backed by more complex aircraft which have become expensive. In my opinion that was the wrong direction.

[@chrisa7237]

Enjoying the video’s. Bit too much camera shake :-) £140k is a whack for a gyro! But I’m a fan of more power, even if you don’t often need or use it.

[@gyrocopterflyingclub6148]

Chris A price wise in the UK it’s getting whipped around by GBPEUR and factory order with only 1.06/7 EUR to GBP makes it certainly up toward £130-135k the aircraft in the film has a few hours on it and was obtained prior to the latest collapse in sterling. It’s for sale at £113k I’m told.

[@theonlybuzz1969]

What sort of money would one of these cost? It looks fabulous, so upwards of 30k is a cheaper way to fly though

[@olebang6860]

In Norway, it cost`s 1.500000 Kr in USA 166,755 $

[@gyrocopterflyingclub6148]

Phil Boardman price wise in the UK it’s getting whipped around by GBPEUR and factory order with only 1.06/7 EUR to GBP makes it certainly up toward £130-135k the aircraft in the film has a few hours on it and was obtained prior to the latest collapse in sterling. It’s for sale at £113k I’m told.

[@stanleyrocker8192]

Any plans to review the ELA Eclipse 10?

[@gyrocopterflyingclub6148]

Stan Van Vliet Hi sadly the ELA brand isn’t something we have approved for the UK however if the company would invite me to Spain I’ll review it

[@boskofilipovic8487]

Hi Phil, did you have a chance to fly it? if, so what is your opinion about performance comparing to 914 MTO 2017.

[@gyrocopterflyingclub6148]

Bosko Filipovic hey no sadly I haven’t flown it yet although that will change and I’ll give the overall impression of the motor once done. I was talking with a student just last week about 915 and my general view is this. Rotax have made the 915 for the improved performance mainly of fixed wing aircraft where it will turn 110knt aircraft into 150knt aircraft. However in gyroplanes (of all makes) we have a VNE of 120mph which is remember an absolute, VNE is NOT a target. So I can sit at 100-110mph with a Rotax 912. Maybe with a 915 I can do it with less RPM and sip a little less fuel but to offset the initial price delta I probably breakeven at the 1200TBO! Ok so maybe I can take more payload? Well yes in 2017 sport the 912 has MAUW of 500kgs but the 914 has 560 so to the 914 no change. So now we are just left with climb performance. Now I don’t know about you but I tend to fly 90% of the time at

[@boskofilipovic8487]

@@gyrocopterflyingclub6148 I agree with you, but sometimes it is good to have back-up power, just in case you need it. Also, what I like about 915 is reliability , full redundancy and no more hassle with carburettors. By the way, I see that 915 on this machine is equipped with governor flange for CS prop, does that mean that every 915 delivered with MTO will be having it even you if you order fixed pitch prop, like this one.

[@gyrocopterflyingclub6148]

Bosko Filipovic let me ask about the prop for you. Yes i do hear what your saying ref reliability but so far 915 is not that well known

[@gyrocopterflyingclub6148]

Bosko Filipovic flew it today and the 915 is a game changer. I’ll do a video tomorrow with some commentary

[@boskofilipovic8487]

@@gyrocopterflyingclub6148 "Game Changer", sounds promising!!!! Cannot wait to hear more comments and see the video. thanks a lot

[@COIcultist]

Damned by faint praise?

[@gyrocopterflyingclub6148]

That is possibly too harsh and the 915 specific comments certainly have read across all gyroplane makes. The issue for me is that for example if you take Vans RV12, fit that with Rotax 915 and it becomes fast and some kit aeroplanes with 915 are 150kt aircraft while we are stuck at 120mph. Weight wise we have 252kgs for fuel and people. When you consider the fuel burn if you are utilising the power its likely you get 2 x 90kg people in the aircraft - that isn't a lot of margin for 2019 sized people!!! So really that makes 915 perhaps more suited to lower rpm for the same power as 912/914 and maybe quieter?? Thats fine but you pay for it.

[@gyrocopterflyingclub6148]

@@COIcultist I'm sure the 915 will have its TBO extended but for now it is as stated and of course in the meantime the early adopters are left to discover the long term snags. In aviation that never proves cheap! 120mph is just a function of BCAR-T regulation and the design. I flew the Austrian Arrowcopter a few years ago and we were cruising at beyond 220km/h but it did wander in yaw/pitch/roll (dutch roll) and ultimately failed the BCAR-T test when it was attempted to be approved here. All the aircraft have adjustable props in the UK thats not an issue. Yes you'll get marginal improvement to fuel burn but to be honest it is marginal especially if referenced to the price uplift in the adjustable prop purchase price and on going maintenance. A £16k 912 that will cruise at 100mph happily verse £30K for a 915 that may cruise at 110mph (because you can not call the VNE speed as the cruise!! REMEMBER VNE is an absolute limit and should be seen as such NOT a target!). Also remember most of the time gyroplanes spend most of their time at around

[@COIcultist]

@@gyrocopterflyingclub6148 Thanks for the reply. I see what you say about the relative speed of the 912 engine but then again the 912 engined MTO-Sport you reviewed is limited to 500kg so you are down from 560kg and 50kg nett on a 915 engined autogyro. What were you saying about 2000s sized people? How much lighter is the 914 than the 915 do we gain more than 50kg from that? You mentioned doing additional films about the night package and the 915 engine. I'll watch anything you put out as I'm quite interested but I doubt I'm your target market lacking sufficient funds for a new car let alone an autogyro. I presume your target market is prospective student pilots. If I was such a prospective pilot I would be far more taken with your explanation of an alternative take off technique kzbin.info/www/bejne/oYiZZnyPaJ6Ahrc than someone forming a very slick video about how they are going to teach you things whilst offering nothing as an example. Then again your most popular film by a long way is about take off technique and errors.kzbin.info/www/bejne/h3uzmISHqbF5bdk Are people who watch KZbin just sickos who like to watch things crash? If you are prepared to make films for a wider audience then a wider look at Rotax engines not just the 915 would interest me. I sort of understand about approval with limited numbers of engines meaning that generally private aircraft are flying with dinosaur engines. Relatively Rotax are very progressive, introducing electronic ignition instead of magnetos and fuel injection. For an outsider it is hard to understand a turbocharged engine with carburetors. Thought I'd seen the last of that in the 70s/early 80s. Heck 1982 Honda even developed fuel injection for the CX500 and that thing was a pushrod twin. Love to see something on those turbo 912s pushing out 120bhp plus.

[@gyrocopterflyingclub6148]

COIcultist yes 914 allows 560kgs MAUW with a weight saving to the 915. One thing to remember is that Rotax and AutoGyro are two different companies so of course it doesn’t necessarily follow that the 915 allows an advantage in a gyro, where it certainly would in a fixed wing aircraft. I started making my films primarily on the instruction side because not only did it allow my students to see ahead of a lesson what might be required but also gave everyone else an idea because even in 2019 something would seem to be missing when 99% of current gyroplane accidents are from normal take offs and landings. The aircraft reviews were a follow on as perhaps some very basic overview of a sub set of popular aircraft.

[@cpy9691]

Might as well buy a used R22 for that money, this MTO offers little more than a performance flex wing microlight which would cost a 1/4 to 1/3 of the price. Gyroplanes have a history of being commercially unviable when compared with other flying machines, looks like AutoGyro are demonstrating that once again. It does explain why Gyro training is so expensive as owner/instructors attempt to claw back some of the huge capital outlay. I can understand this with something as complex as a helicopter but not a gyro.

[@gyrocopterflyingclub6148]

C Py hi partly I agree and partly not. Yes you could buy a used R22 but you’d of course also take on the uplift in maintaining it and learning to fly it for not really any better performance other than vertical take off/ landing. As for flex microlight - they really aren’t the same thing and gyroplanes are flyable in a much wider range of conditions and unless you spend quite a bit on Rotax 912 powered micro lights you’ll not get anywhere near the same cruise. However where I do agree is that the increasing complex nature of these things is mistaken- look how P&M went bust even though they have a sophisticated range. Gyroplanes offer great visibility and a very short landing roll making them safe to fly at low level and in a wide range of weather conditions. Training cost I think instructors like to make money otherwise it is a short term venture...

[@cpy9691]

Thank you for your insightful reply. It is great to see features on these machines which make operations safer and provide structural integrity, I am sure the R&D and certifications must be very expensive. I just can’t help think that we are missing a way of getting people on normal wages in the air! Thank you for your interesting videos.

[@gyrocopterflyingclub6148]

C Py yes I completely agree the industry in general has gone in the wrong direction- attempting to make gyroplanes a commercial operators proposition and flyable at night etc. That may have been a worthwhile endeavour had someone made a 1000+kg 180mph machine but that seems to be a greater challenge than is possible with the current players. With the weight/speed limits we have today 560kg/120mph simpler and cheaper aircraft would be the preferred direction