SilverLight Aviation reports a Gyroplane Warning System (GWS) is now standard on its flagship gyroplane, the American Ranger 1, also known as AR-1.
“With the AR-1 becoming the first production gyroplane with a Gyroplane Warning System included as a standard, this will give trained pilots a warning in time to do something about developing a dangerous trend, like unloading the rotor or retreating blade stall on takeoff or incorrect stick position on takeoff or getting behind the curve,” said Abid Farooqui, president and founder of SilverLight Aviation. “This allows the pilot to correct the situation and possibly avoid a disaster.”
When a situation triggers the GWS, it emits an audible warning, such as “Stick position,” “Behind the curve,” “Max power descending,” and “Low G bunting risk.”
Developed by Mike Goodrich and Mark Burton of Smart Avionics in the UK, the system warns again common causes of accidents in gyroplanes, explained Farooqui.
“It also warns about getting behind the curve as gyroplanes do not stall, but you can get so slow that you are behind the power or drag curve and they will come vertically down in complete control,” he said.
“It also logs attitude, G load, rotor RPM, airspeed, and altitude of the gyroplane, so after the accident no matter what the pilot thinks happened, we can create a graph of all these items and know exactly what happened,” he added, saying it’s “kind of like a black box.”
For more information: SilverLightAviation.com
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