AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2022 - 77

community. Builders such as Autogyro in
Germany, Magni in Italy, and ELA Aviation
in Spain make beautiful, sophisticated aircraft
that certainly rival the fit and finish of
light sport aircraft, and in some cases, easily
surpass it. The companies use reliable
Rotax engines, have dedicated training programs,
and in some European countries,
offer full certification. In the United States,
Autogyro has achieved primary certification
for a few of its models, but everything
else on the market is generally certified as
an experimental light sport.
Costa Ricans are lucky enough to have
several training options, but Frank Nierhoff
and his son, Niklas, are two of the best.
Frank has experience as an airline pilot
in Germany and bush pilot in Canada, and
he's trained Niklas to the same standard.
In other words, they run a professional,
safety-focused operation.
The professionalism is evident from the
first lesson. Even though Costa Rica certifies
the aircraft as ultralights, this wasn't an
ultralight experience. Frank meticulously
explained every system on the MTOsport,
demonstrated how to do a proper preflight,
the safe transfer of flight controls, and more.
Despite being small, gyros take as much
time to preflight as an airplane.
There are flight controls, fuel, hydraulic
system, radios, the engine (including
the Rotax burp), propeller, tail, and especially,
the rotor. Although, since the rotor
is always in autorotation, it's a surprisingly
simple system. The two-blade, semi-rigid
rotor system consists of nothing more than
a teetering hinge assembly with a teeter
bolt, tower, and a hub bar that holds
the blades. Below this is a sprocket
for pre-rotation, a rotor brake, and
two pitch change links. It's an entirely
mechanical, unpowered system, save
the pre-rotator.
The pilot flies the MTOsport
exclusively from the front, and the
seating area is wide and comfortable.
Two pedals control the large rear rudder,
and brakes are applied via a hand
mechanism similar to that found on
many LSAs. This takes a little getting
used to for a traditional airplane pilot.
The pedals rotate, not move fore and
aft, so you keep your feet in the same
position the entire time. Many lessons
I added power to rocket down the runway,
only to start veering off because
I had slid my feet down off the nonexistent
brakes.
The pedals are only one of many
idiosyncrasies of a gyroplane's ground
handling. In fact, much of the transition
training centers on managing the
rotor during takeoff and after landing,
and proper ground handling. Hull loss
on takeoffs and landings are a significant
problem for gyroplanes, and the
cause usually lies squarely with the
inattentive pilot.
After wiping down the prop and
rotor blades (Frank says a clean prop
and rotor perform better), we were
ready to go. Starting is Rotax simple,
and the 912 ULS usually fires at the
mere breath against the key's starting
position. With a pointed nose in front,
AOPA PILOT / February 2022
77
AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2022

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