site.btaBulgarian Autogyros Have Customers from Australia to Los Angeles

Autogyros, a niche market of ultralight aviation, are  hybrid machines, combining the flight characteristics of an airplane and a helicopter. They have many applications and a 100-year history, as the first flight with an autogyro was made by the Spaniard Juan de la Cierva back in 1923, said  Miglena Kopcheva from the Bulgarian company Niki Rotor Aviation in a BTA interview.

Niki Rotor Aviation is a family company that operates in Pravets, Northwestern Bulgaria, where 95% of its production takes place (everything for an autogyro, apart from the engine and avionics). The company has nearly 40 machines that fly all over the world, most actively in Europe, but also in Australia, in South Africa, in the USA. 

The rotor system of Niki Rotor Aviation's autogyros is entirely their development. It is extremely innovative and this is one of the advantages of their machines from the point of view of technology, Kopcheva pointed out.

The development of this new Bulgarian niche in aviation started from a childhood dream,  the dream of Kopcheva 's father, Nikolay Nikolov, to become a pilot,  "not just to be able to fly a plane or a helicopter, but to do something that would leave a mark ". In 2010, Niki Rotor Aviation's was founded as an independent company, separate from the main activity of the parent company, engaged in the production of metal and wooden products for industry. The company's first project, a two-seater helicopter, remained unfinished, but after 2004 their activity was directed to the technology of autogyros. 

Currently, the company's machines are type-certified in Germany, which allows them, with slight adjustments, to be adapted to other markets, and one of them, single or double, can cost from EUIR 130,000 to 160,000 depending on what type of equipment is installed on board, including a built-in tablet that can be used to create a flight plan, said Kopcheva. 

The ambition of the manufacturer, which currently employs around 160 people, is to develop a two-seater helicopter with a hybrid propulsion system and, in the short term, to develop its activity in terms of composite materials to be able to offer high-quality elements for sectors such as automotive and aircraft manufacturing. The United States and the Middle East are promising markets for the application of the technology, which have great potential for development in the next 5-10 years, added Kopcheva.

Autogyros as aircraft have many advantages over light aircraft, helicopters, even drones. They show the most optimal calculation in terms of aerodynamics, thanks to which fuel consumption is optimized to a maximum, and this leads to a reduction in emissions. The noise emitted during their operation is also much less, about 60 decibels compared to nearly 70 decibels in the light electric aircraft that will hit the market in the next 5-10 years. The biggest advantage of the autogyro is that it is the safest aircraft. Its rotor is not actually driven by the engine, but by the flow of air around the aircraft during flight. This makes the device an absolute precedent in light aviation. If an autogyro engine stops, even at an altitude of 3,000 metres, it can be easily planned, autorotate and land safely, even on a small strip of grass, said Kopcheva.

Ultralight machines can find countless applications, both for military and civilian needs, for example surveying cadastral schemes, surveying hard-to-reach areas, locating fires, in rescue operations, anti-terrorist activities. They can also be used in agriculture for irrigation. The autogyro can be adapted to the needs of different industries, and training to fly it is quick, Kopcheva pointed out, adding another advantage - it takes only ten minutes to bring it into flight condition, while with the "big aviation" requires a much larger resource of money and people.

With 4-5 hours of flight time, the ability to carry two people and up to 250 kg of additional cargo and an additional tank, the autogyros are far more autonomous than most small drones. The carbon footprint expected over the assumed life cycle of such a machine of 6,000 hours (approximately 15-20 years of active flying) is equivalent to the carbon footprint of 15 people in Europe for one year. This makes the technology an extremely ecological way to fly, although for now the transition to an electric version of the light machines is difficult due to the significant weight of the batteries, said Kopcheva.