Back in 1923, the first idea of a gyroplane or autogiro was sparked by Juan de la Cierva. His main motivation to develop a gyroplane was to stop aircraft from falling from the sky. Instead of using wings, which always need a minimum airspeed, he created an unpowered rotary wing. This resulted in an aircraft that quite simply cannot stall and therefore was much safer than any other aircraft.
The PAL-V Liberty is based on this original 100-year-old tried and tested concept and will be the first certified gyroplane under the very strict EASA regulations. This enables the vehicle to be used not only by consumers but also by businesses and governments to make operations cost-efficient, and above all, safer.
Because of its simple design and easy flying characteristics, the gyroplane principle caught the eye of PAL-V. The gyroplane principle does not use many moving parts to keep the vehicle flying, so it is easy to transform from drive into flight mode. Even with a rotor of almost 11 meters and a body of 6 meters long while unfolded, the vehicle transforms back into a compact medium-sized car of 4 meters long and 2 meters wide. This makes the Liberty while driving very practical, even in the inner-city of busy metropoles.
The gyroplane concept is not only fun, but also makes operations more cost-efficiënt, and above all, safer
Because of the simplicity of the gyroplane compared with a helicopter, and the limited number of moving parts, the PAL-V runs a low aircraft maintenance scheme. Additionally, the fuel usage of the PAL-V Liberty (26l/h) is lower than a similar small helicopter (40-60 l/h), bringing the operational cost even further down.
As mentioned earlier, the gyroplane platform is the safest way of flying. The rotor on top is always in autorotation, meaning it is powered by the wind. In an unlikely case of a double engine failure, the rotor still spins by air flowing through, it’s just like a parachute. The pilot is still in full control and can safely land the vehicle on the size of a tennis court.
On top of that the best advantage of a gyroplane is that it’s easy to fly. As most of the PAL-V customers are not yet pilots, we are establishing FlyDrive academies around the globe. Here, the future CarFlyers get the best education to start flying their PAL-V Liberty.
