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Gyrocopter Flight from Illawarra - $69 (Valued $180) for 30 Min or $109 for 1 Hr Flight Via Cudo

80

Tandem flight in the auto gyrocopter MT-O3
Available seven days a week by appointment
Giving you fabulous views of the stunning hidden valleys and waterfalls of the Illawarra and Southern Highlands area
With an experienced pilot by your side
We strongly encourage bookings to be made by 13 December 2015. Bookings after this date cannot be guaranteed. If there are no available bookings after 13 December 2015, simply contact our Customer Support Team before 10 January 2016 and you will be entitled to a full credit back to your account
Not valid on public holidays
Voucher valid for one person aged 16 years+
A waiver is to be signed before flight departure
Voucher must be used in one visit
Members can purchase one voucher for themselves and up to five vouchers as gifts for different recipients
Maximum of one voucher per person per booking
Participants must weigh a minimum of 45kg and a maximum of 120kg
All participants must sign a waiver
24 hour cancellation policy applies, non-attendance and late cancellation voids voucher
Not valid in conjunction with any other offer and not redeemable for cash

Related Stores

gyrocopter-illawarra.com.au
gyrocopter-illawarra.com.au
Cudo
Cudo

closed Comments

  • +2

    Location in title…

    • Was going to make a booking then read the fine print…"A waiver is to be signed before flight departure". Errr…

  • +5

    Can I load up on Death insurance prior to flight?

    • +2

      Give it a try and let me know if they pay

      • +3

        MaMan could be wanting to give the flight to someone else. ;)

        • They may not do Third Party only cover.

        • In that case there is a good chance that he will loose $69 and increased insurance premium if the flight didn't crash

        • +14

          Early Xmas present for JV

        • +1

          @MaMan:

          I only fly Malaysian Airlines, it's less risky…

    • +1

      Yeah death can really ruin your day, I'd be going for a full refund.

  • +2

    Always on the news "a man was killed today when the ultralight gyrocopter he was flying crashed just after take off"

  • +4

    My Auntie Brownyn is asking how this compares to limousine hire?

  • This is also on living social if the $10 off code works

  • +1

    I think a lot of the perceived danger comes from the fact these are often flown by amateur / inexperienced pilots since they're cheap and simple to run.

    • I think the main issue is they fly lower to the ground, so the margin for error is very slim even for experienced pilots.

  • Nothing in melbourne :(

  • +1

    This just isn't something I'd risk - especially as a 'bargain'

    Last major accident here with this model was in Victoria: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/singaporean-student-second…

    Of the 123 gyrocopter crashes on this page, the majority were on this model of gyro: http://sportflyingforum.com/accidents.php#AutoGyro MTO

    Regarding the comment above about cause being amateur pilots/inexperience, if you read through this list, you'll see crashes occur often involving experienced, trained pilots (e.g. police, the Vic crash, tourism operators like here), and are often mechanical or weather related, not due to pilot error.

    • +1

      Agreed. Every part of an aircraft (including planes, helicopters and gyrocopters) has a "service life", meaning "the manufacturer guarantees this part will not break in this many flying hours". The big airlines make absolutely sure that they replace everything before the service life expires, because their insurance becomes void if they can't produce the service records and receipts.

      In the large emergency helicopters that transfer people to hospitals, the rotor blades have a few thousand hours life, and cost upwards of a million dollars. They get replaced a couple of times a year, this is why helicopter flights are so expensive.

      Cheaper outfits often replace parts much more slowly, running parts for longer than their rated service life. It saves them money, right up to the point they have a major accident, and then they go bankrupt.

      All the pilot skill in the world won't help you if your aircraft falls apart in the air.

  • https://goo.gl/pVqxYh

    Enough said…..

  • It is true that the vast majority of standard injury and death insurance policies will not pay out for these types of flights so, having you sign a waiver, essentially saying that anything that happens is not their fault (even if it is) would probably not hold up in court. Their liability for maintenance and due care do not end when they make you sign a piece of paper - you cannot sign away your rights in Australian law. So if you could prove negligence your heirs could sue successfully.

    • +2

      If they have assets worth something, then you can sue them. But they might be a so-called "two-dollar company", deliberately run so it has no significant assets. You can still sue them, but you'll never get any money.

  • I thought Gyroplanes are safer than helicopters?

    • -1

      In theory yes. However sometimes the reality is that a multi-million dollar device subject to stringent safety checks beats a cheaper alternative. It is true that the blades on a gyro freely rotate and slow your descent in the event of engine failure, providing of course the blades, etc remain intact.

      • -1

        Most of the crashes I see are pilot error nose up too fast / cutting power etc. You need to maintain air speed in order to keep those blades spinning! I guess its a case of many more low experience gyro pilots vs heli.

    • I thought Gyroplanes are safer than helicopters?

      Yes and no.

      They are much less complex than helicopters, so there's fewer parts to fail, which makes them safer. They are also less complex to control, so they are safer for pilots with lower skill levels.

      But they are more dangerous in some ways too. For safety you always land like an airplane, because it's the only way you can control your vertical airspeed. But if there's a microburst over the runway, you can't gain speed quickly enough to regain lift, and you'll crash:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microburst#Danger_to_aircraft

      Also, because gyrocopters are much much cheaper than helicopters, you tend to get pilots with less training, and maintenance can be slack too - sometimes with the equivalent of "backyard mechanics" performing the maintenance. The economic pressure to make a profit can mean that parts are used well past their service life (like a "use by" date). All of these add up to increased risk - not so much because of the concept of a gyrocopter, just the way that they are used.

  • It's 'Little Nellie' though… Worth the small risk I say :)

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