Dancing The Skies
by Ron Bartlett

New Zealand's latest autogyro instructor touches down from the UK. A typical response from Tony Unwin when you ask him why his interest in gyros, is a question fired straight back at you. "What do you want from YOUR flying?" He then embarks upon a nostalgic journey expounding a personal profile that, in effect, answers his own question, during which he invites the listener to identify any overlaps that may satisfy their own aims.

For most there is none, having rejected his out of hand and arriving at the conclusion that perhaps, just perhaps, he may be slightly deranged.
Tony will then share some of his background history in a bid to convince you that he is not and that his views are based on a lifetime of experience, both fixed wing and rotary, that has indeed seen him 'dance the skies.'

In his formative years in aviation back in 'the fifties', Tony - recalling one of his fondest and most memorable aviation moments - relates to us his experiencing the slipstream of a Handley Page Hastings pumping adrenaline into his young veins as he waited, poised in the open doorway high above a remote UK airfield (Weston-on-the-Green - still a popular skydiving centre today) for the call "Green on. GO." From that moment on, he was hooked. So much so, that in 'the sixties' he was in the core of those attempting to push the boundaries of British skydiving forward to formation flying and into a recognised and acceptable competitive sport around the world.

He enjoyed those skies so much that when it was too windy to jump from the wing of a Tiger Moth, he asked the pilot to teach him to fly it. "Thank God I did", he says.

Within months, the freedom of the skies opened up to him in the same Tiger Moth as, having obtained his pilot's licence, it took him up through towering cumulus and through endless loops and spins. A run along an open beach at dawn, just feet above the tide, was something else! (An enviable experience rarely enjoyed in today's overcrowded UK skies - ed).
Dawn experiences have been sampled from many a varied seat in the skies since, as he progressed into commercial aviation and into flying a variety of types from de Havilland - to Airbus and even the mighty 747 which were all gradually added to the list of ratings in his Commercial Pilot's Licence.

Despite the (very) unique life of a professional aviator bringing him an interesting, though perhaps not as lucrative a career as you may think (Tony was employed in the charter airline sector, as opposed to the 'fat cat' state owned commercials), it was not always his perception of enjoying the skies. Then, he suddenly found that old feeling again when he discovered the much maligned (by the ill-informed) autogyro. Originally designed by the visionary Juan de la Cierva as the autogiro, Cierva had set out to produce a rotary flight machine that could not stall or spin - during which, had he not come up with his revolutionary flapping hinge rotor blade attachments, helicopters may have taken a lot longer to develop.

Tony adds; "Today's offspring, though totally different in both layout and size, utilise many of those same Cierva principles. They can be built by a semi-skilled individual in their own garage, inspected at regular predetermined intervals by an approved, qualified inspector during the process. Upon completion and test flight, (followed by the issue of a permit to fly or the relevant country's equivalent), that same individual - following suitable training - can still sample the most fun flying available anywhere, at any price and at any time bar none!!"

(However, today's factory built machines are being recognised by authorities around the world, which opens the door for those who just want to fly without the building bit - ed). He then suggests that if you fail to agree, you couldn't possibly have tried it.

Summing up his perception of 'dancing the skies' and experiencing fun flying, he says; "It must be safe aviation, when I want it, where I want it and at a price I can afford. A return of enjoyment is a MUST for the investment I have made in both time and money. For me, the autogyro answers all these things. All right, it is not ideal or maybe not suitable for a long distance business trip, but then you are back to my commercial airline days and that sounds too much like hard work to me".

But what about the less than enviable reputation that the autogyro has built up over the years? I hear you ask.

MOST accidents have been attributed to some form of pilot blame/error and today it is very rare that you will find it to be as the result of something mechanically wrong or the design of the machines. Common accident causes, which are not unique to gyroplanes, include low hour pilots/inexperience, lack of respect for the simple machine being flown or in some cases, even the lack of training. In a bid to reduce accidents involving inexperienced pilots moves are afoot worldwide to investigate the stability of ALL gyros to attempt to make the aircraft even more forgiving. Some machines, like those of Wing Commander Wallis in the UK and Italy's Magni etc., are inherently stable in their design, but there will be room for improvement in others.

On the subject of training, that draws us nicely into the final throes of this piece and back to the subject in the spotlight. Tony has accumulated over a thousand gyro hours over the years that have seen him emerge as one of the main UK instructors, utilising his 2-seat VPM/Magni M-16 machine (he has also trained students on their own single-seat and other two-seat designs and until recently had his own single-seat Cricket for training purposes as well).

Whilst the best UK weather has been linked (loosely) with that of New Zealand, many training days have had to have been postponed due to the unpredictable conditions that sometimes render flying impossible - even during the summer months!

This is a major factor that has led to Tony setting up a training school on the other side of his current world, in New Zealand. He established his base at Tauranga City Airport earlier this year and obtained his New Zealand Commercial Licence and instructor's conversion, this allowed some initial training details with New Zealand students. Having returned to the UK for training and demonstration commitments during the Northern summer he is preparing for a return in October to immerse fully into the autogyro instructor's role.

The excellent weather record and training facilities are likely to attract potential gyronaughts on Flying Holidays from the UK as well as benefiting those in New Zealand and the Pacific region.

Tony has now secured the New Zealand distributorship for Auto Europe's MT-03 two-seat, factory built autogyro. Plans to import the first machines are at the advanced stage of shipment.



Interested? Then contact Tony at: gyfly@aol.com or 64 (0) 7 575 6583 + 64 9(0) 21 038 0760.