American Ranger AR1

After thousands of articles, I’ve have heard over and over about two common ingredients sought by pilots who visit this website: Affordability and Availability. Once you make a decision about what to buy, you want to be able to get it quickly and you want it to fit your budget. The first requirement is understandable. […]

You can call modern gyroplanes “wanna-be” helicopters if you want but that might miss a few important points. First, a gyroplane can be flown by a Sport Pilot. Other than Part 103 ultralight version, a helicopter requires a higher certificate and that means a medical, at least BasicMed. LAMA believes gyroplanes will be included in FAA’s […]

For years, more than a decade, the U.S. gyroplane producer community tried to persuade FAA to allow fully built Special Light-Sport Aircraft gyroplanes into the USA. “No dice,” said FAA! With perspective, it turned out only a small group was opposed but so strong was their hand at the time that FAA leadership could not […]

The final day of the Sebring U.S. Sport Aviation Expo brought good flying conditions until mid-afternoon when light precipitation returned. The good start allowed us to record two Video Pilot Reports (VPR), one on the Magnus Aircraft all-carbon-fiber Fusion 212 and the other on the fully enclosed SilverLight Aviation American Ranger AR1 gyroplane. The videos […]

Once upon a time… gyrocopters were an American invention. Igor Benson was such an important pioneer that many fixed wing pilots refer to all such flying machines as “Bensen gyros.” Starting in the 1950s, he hit on a good combination of ideas that made the new sector flourish… for a time. Gyros are small rotary […]