Global leader aims to take flight with new UK base

Skyworks Aeronautics, a world leading business focused on the the development of gyroplanes / autogyros / gyrocopters – a type of rotorcraft that looks similar to a helicopter but uses an unpowered rotor to create lift – has announced it is launching its first UK base and testing centre in Selby.

To mark the launch of the US firm’s UK operations which will be based at Condor Aviation in North Yorkshire. a fleet of gyrocopters will be sent there for testing. Thanks to bilateral agreements the vehicles will be able secure accreditation from three safety authorities from the site as once an aircraft meets Civil Aviation Authority standards it also effectively meets the standards of the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration.

The journey to this point was not always clear skies and had an usual start, with Skyworks Aeronautics UK managing director a former British Army helicopter pilot who once attempted to circumnavigate the globe in a gyrocopter, Barry Jones approaching the American outfit after noting it was “getting funding together” while watching the gyro development sector over the course of the pandemic.

Following the communication between Jones and the business which is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in the next generation of autogyros the UK arm of Skyworks was established.

The new location at Condor Aviation which is run by Martyn Wiseman, was selected by Jones because he’d been impressed with Wiseman’s “willingness to be entrepreneurial with design” and ability to “step outside the box”, something he says he wanted to be at the heart of the business.

Jones who is also director of aviation at the firm and chief pilot said: “This is an emerging technology which is far greener than current aviation, and I do like the idea of harnessing British ingenuity, which we are famed for across the globe.”

It is the focus on the climate crisis which Jones says provides an opportunity for the business highlighting gyros offer 95% of the capabilities of a helicopter at 10% of the price and using a free-rotating blade are much lighter on fuel.

In fact Jones believes that the use of electricity within these vehicles could be revolutionary noting that it has “opened up a whole new aspect of aerodynamics that we didn’t have before because we have that instant power we didn’t have from normal engines.”

He added: “Like the early mobile phone we are going through the ‘house brick’ phase. Who would have thought that they’d now last more than a week and be smaller than a matchbox.

“E-gyros are capable on just a battery of 30 minutes of flight, and we’re talking 100 knots – that’s quite a distance. Inter city travel is a viable option and 100 per cent clean.”

The roster of vehicles coming to East Yorkshire for testing and certification have been manufactured in other countries and include the five-seat Hawk 5, which is being built in Serbia and the VertiJet, a vertical take-off and landing aircraft, with fixed wings and a main rotorblade, which will have a mainly military use.

Speaking about the move Wiseman noted Condor’s experience with flying aircraft under E-Conditions – a term and regulations created by the Civil Aviation Authority which allows experimental light aircraft to be flown and tested therefore reducing red tape and financial burdens associated with securing airworthiness – was key to the attraction of Skyworks.