SALT LAKE CITY — American Autogyro International has restarted production of the SparrowHawk III Quickbuild kit.
Officials note that AAI also will provide enhanced support for the more than 100 SparrowHawk kits sold so far.
The SparrowHawk III is a two-seat, aluminum frame, centerline thrust gyroplane with a 44″ molded fiberglass cabin, which is four inches wider than a Cessna 172, company officials point out.
“The SparrowHawk III provides comfortable seating for individuals with up to 6’6″ in height and 240 pounds in weight,” officials add.
When the original SparrowHawk Gyroplane was first introduced, the homebuilt gyroplane kit industry had a poor reputation due to accidents, company officials noted. The majority of these could be attributed to flawed designs that misplaced thrust vectors, officials added.
The SparrowHawk corrected this issue by introducing the “center-line-thrust” placement of the propeller and appropriately aligning the rotor thrust vector, company officials explained.
Since then, AAI has continued to refine and improve on the SparrowHawk design, officials note.
The FAA has evaluated the SparrowHawk III Gyroplane Quick-build Kit and determined that it qualifies under the 51% rule. This means that the homebuilder who buys and builds a SparrowHawk III only needs it inspected after it is built, company officials explain.
Estimated build time is approximately 100 hours, a “notable reduction in build time from the previous model,” company officials report.
I have contacted them and the silence is deafening.
I could use something like this to commute to my company’s HQ. And I need it to be IFR capable. I’d also like to customize it with a 3 blade rotor and a larger fuel tank. And I was on their site and saw the models and a bunch of “testimonials” (pictures of their models with supposed names of the builder/owner).
So I wrote them using their contact info from their website and after more than a week, no response. And I keep an eye on my spam buckets just in case good email goes there.
This is how companies like this shoot themselves in the foot.
I also wonder what the kit price is. In addition, what are the prices of the “add-on’s” such as radios, transponders, etc and their make/model.
$70,000.00. They got back with me. You can get a 2017 MTOSport with 300 rpm prerotation for that.
Would appreciate cost of the kit, along with what is included and power plant requirements.
What is the price of the kit-?