Understanding the Gyroplane (569B) Review

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.....this is a book whose explanations are largely over-simplified, and in some cases not in accordance with good engineering practice.
Paul Bergen Abbott is an eminent writer on autogyros/gyroplanes - the aircraft type for which his colleague, the late Igor Bensen, coined the trademark "Gyrocopter". For many years he was editor of the PRA magazine, and did a stirling job, but I would suggest that this popular account is seriously flawed when it tries to explain aircraft flight principles. My own copy is full of pencilled corrections.
One example is the directional stability item in Chapter 8, which is based on a wrong assumption that applies in only one case. Misleading to the newcomer, and potentially fatal if used to assess stability.
A good read, but do not take the explanations too seriously.

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Here's hard-to-find information on the gyroplane, one of the most fascinating types of aircraft. It tells how a Spanish inventor developed this aircraft after a flash of inspiration during an opera. It describes how a gyroplane differs from its sister aircraft, the helicopter, explaining how a gyroplane's rotor blades turn in autorotation without direct power from an engine.There's lots of technical information here, always presented in simple terms that anyone can understand. There are many photographs and illustrations. This book's subtitle is, "A Handbook of Technical Information for the Non-Technically Minded."Want to know how an aircraft flies in "thin air?" This book gives the simple explanation you've probably never heard before, with diagrams (and even a cartoon) to explain it. This knowledge will probably make your next airline flight more comfortable. It also contains one of the clearest and most extensive explanations of how rotor blades work, all in simple terms and with illustrations. Rotor blade tracking is described, along with regulations affecting gyroplanes and their pilots. The advantages of flying with a license are compared to flying without a license in an ultralight gyroplane. Stability is discussed, including a simple way to determine how stable a gyroplane is from a photograph. It explains the problem of PIO (pilot induced oscillation) and another problem, the power pushover. There's a glossary of gyroplane terms.Author Paul Bergen Abbott provides information he has gathered as a gyroplane pilot and presents it in an interesting, easy-reading style. Abbott is also the author of "The Gyroplane Flight Manual," the world's most popular book on sport gyroplanes. He is also the editor of a book by Igor Bensen, the inventor of the Gyrocopter, "A Dream of Flight."

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