Is it a bird? A plane? No, it’s a gyrocopter

New Delhi: On May 24, during the course of his world tour, American pilot Mathew Hayduk will make a pit-stop at Ahmedabad, on his way back to Italy. Apart from refuelling his tank, Hayduk will also be displaying the machine he’s flown the 18,000 kms in — a gyrocopter.
A hybrid between helicopters and gliders, gyrocopters are set to make their debut in India in the next couple of months. This smaller, lighter and quieter version of the chopper will perhaps be the answer to the country’s traffic problems. And it doesn’t cost a bomb. Priced Rs 30 lakh onward, it is about the same as a luxury car.
Rishabh Mehta, managing director of Sector 6, the company that’s bringing gyrocopters to India believes that the flying machine has great business prospects.
So what makes a gyrocopter so exciting? For starters, they can fly very low, only a few metres above the ground at a very low speed, about 30 kmph unlike a helicopter which cannot fly low and slow at the same time. Gyrocopters are also much less expensive and need very little landing space unlike a glider.
15/05/10 Shalini Singh/Hindustan Times

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Categories: Foreign May 2010, New May 2010