The Gyroplane Nisus is a personal aircraft that you may have seen online for a few years now. But it is only lately that it has made its appearance in the USA. For those who don’t know, the gyroplane or gyrocopter, which is sometimes called autogyro was first invented by Spaniard Juan de la Cierva in the 1920s. It was a special aircraft because it uses a rotor for lift and a rear-facing propeller for forward thrust, and most important of all, it is an aircraft that couldn’t stall.
Over 10 years in development, Gyroplane Nisus is a futuristic personal aircraft that made its debut stateside at the Bensen Days, and Sun n’ Fun last month. It requires only short, flat open space for taking off and landing, or 200 m (656 feet) and 150 m (492 feet), respectively, to be precise. And no, it is not a flying car if that’s what you are thinking. This is a true blue autogyro.
Where most airplanes of any nature would have a smooth round-off design, the Gyroplane Nisus leans more towards a geometric form and it is this form that had our attention. It is unlike anything we have seen. It actually makes a gyroplane look futuristic. Even the opening of the cockpit has a futuristic vibe too; the canopy pivots open and moves forward to allow for easy ingress and egress.
And it is luxurious too. It has a diamond pattern stitched leather and/or suede interior with carbon fiber paneling and four-point harnesses. It has storage too. While not a lot, it does it with a lot of styles. Storage is in the form of matching original design bags, each with 50L (13 US GAL) of volume, and goes into the back of each seat.
The interior of the Nisus is so lush and luxe that it looks like something 007 would fly in a James Bond movie. The cockpit and cabin frame are made of Kevlar carbon hybrid supported by a support frame that is made of chrome molybdenum steel tubes. Meanwhile, the tail section is made of a sandwich composite of carbon fiber.
The vehicle is powered by a Rotax 915IS Turbo st with a peak output of 112 kW (150 HP) and up to 500 km range (270 miles) from its 24 US GAL (92L) fuel capacity. Nisus has a max payload of 270 kilograms (595 lbs) and a top speed of 195 km/h (121 mph or 105 knots).
You will need a Sport Pilot license in the rotorcraft category/gyroplane class to fly it and yes, it is available to order but for how much, well, you gotta put in your request to find out.
Images: Nisus.
via designboom.
