Learn to fly Gyrocopters!
Pilot Training, Introductory Flights, Sales and Support
Locations around the UK
Telephone
0845 643 9476
The Gyrocopter GrinTM
Welcome to The Gyrocopter Experience - PrestonIntroduction
We specialise in intensive 5/7 day courses at Your location Anywhere in the UK- We come to you and do intensive instruction at your local airfield on a one student to one instructor basis or two students to one instructor basis, the later being the more cost effective. For the students who wants to concentrate on their flying, with maximum achievement in the minimum time. We offer Air Experience flights on Saturday and Wednesday from Pilling sands, which are all strictly by appointment only. Training is currently not offered at our base of operation, For existing gyroplane owners looking to improve their skills and awareness we offer Advanced Flying courses at your location.
Peter Davies, the Preston part of the Gyrocopter Experience is also offering 7 day and 14 day Intensive Gyroplane training in France and Spain.
Currently he has three airfields that he Instructs from, in France he has teamed up with GS Aviation and is operating from St.Secondin near Poiters. Its owned by GS Aviation and is ideal for training as this region has the second best sunshine rate in France - second only to the 'Cote D'Azur! Based 17 nm SSE of Poitiers and just 50/60 miles from La Rochelle with its beaches. The airfield has two runways one 900mtrs, one 700mtrs, a large hanger, new club house and ample outside parking (suitable for visiting aircraft!) The airfield is conveniently situated just two miles from the village. Its location offers ideal weather conditions for flight training. This enables students to consolidate their flying hours, and with the combination of a very experienced instructor and good weather, students can learn to fly safely and quickly. There is accommodation in the village of St. Secondin, and basic accommodation and camping facilities on the airfield. Students are welcome to take there own aircraft either by trailer or if they prefer, fly down with an Instructor onboard, this makes for a great navigation excerise. The airfield is approx. 4.5 hours drive from the main ferry ports or you can fly using the following routes. To Limoges :- Flybe from Manchester, Newcastle or Southampton Ryanair from East Midlands/Nottingham, Liverpool/John Lennon or London/Stanstead To Poitiers :- Ryanair from Stanstead (from 14/3/08), Birmingham (From June) To Angouleme :- Ryanair from Stanstead (to be confirmed)
The other two airfield he operates from are in Spain. Igulada is in the North of the Country, 40 mins. drive north from Barcelona, with accommodation in the local town, 1500ft tarmac runway and a thriving little gyro community. The area is a great place to fly, the coast is 30 mins flight, Costa Blanca is 45 mins flight, lots of friendly Ultralight fields locally. Lots of interesting things to do and places to visit for the family (if you take them) Flights are plentiful into Barcelona from all over the UK. Ferries into Santander from the south coast, or a good days Drive from the French ferry ports.
His Winter operation in Spain is further South, 22 miles inland north of Malaga at Antequera, a Ultralight field to the north of the village, Accommodation is available in the village, this is friendly little field surrounded by lovely scenery, Marbella, Granada and the Sierra Nevada’s are all within 50 miles. Flights into Malaga are plentiful from across the UK. This is place to be flying in the middle of our cold UK winters.
Air Experience Flights
All Air Experience events begin with a technical briefing which includes an introduction to how a Gyrocopter works and how it is flown. There will also be an important safety briefing. Your air experience flight will last for around 30 or 60 minutes (depending which option you selected) and during the flight you will have the opportunity to take the controls and fly it yourself, or you can simply relax and enjoy the panoramic experience. If you later decide to train for your private pilots licence to fly a gyrocopter, then your air experience flight will count towards your training – our trial flights cover Exercise 3 of the syllabus. If you would like to buy someone a gift of a flight, buying a Gyrocopter Experience Giftpack with flight voucher is the easiest way to proceed. The person receiving the gift can then book a specific time and date at a later stage. If you already have a voucher and would like to book a time and a date Redeem your voucher here Alternatively if you want to book a date and time now then you can Book Direct Here. Go on...treat yourself...you wont regret it!
Gyrocopter Pilot TrainingThe Gyrocopter Experience Preston offer offers intensive 5 or 7 day training courses for student pilots. Courses cater for students wanting to train for a Private Pilot's Licence for Gyroplanes or PPL(G) in addition to advanced flying training for existing pilots. Training courses are held during the week. We would normally have two students on each intensive training week. Students take it in turns to fly and depending on their stage of training, may share briefings. You can expect to fly an average of two and a half to three hours each day. It might not sound that much, but learning to fly is very absorbing and intense and it takes a while for your brain to assimilate what you’ve been taught. We do not allow students to book intensive training weeks back to back – it isn’t a productive way to learn as you need time to fully understand and absorb everything you’ve learned. The optimum gap between training weeks is probably between two weeks and four weeks, this can be stretched to up to two months, however we do have a number of students who are learning to fly over a couple of years and have longer gaps between each intensive week. We fully understand and respect that you will probably use valuable vacation time in learning to fly and we make every effort to fly despite sometimes less than ideal weather conditions. We will sometimes rearrange the order that things get taught in an effort to make the best use of the varying British weather conditions. In the event that flying is not possible, we try to switch our attention to the various ground school topics in order to ensure that time isn’t wasted. We have had great feedback regarding learning on these intensive courses as opposed to training an hour here or there spread across a long period. It is often helpful to remove yourself from your normal everyday life and fully immerse yourself in flying training. Many of our students stay locally and maximise the time they spend at the airfield with their attention fully focused on learning to fly. Meet the StaffPeter is an experienced and qualified Flying Instructor and Examiner who has been training for many years. Peter started his career at Blackpool airport as an apprentice helicopter engineer and has found his engineering training useful throughout his aviation career. Over the years Peter has learned to fly fixed wing aircraft and then learned to hang glide. He spent some time as a microlight test pilot and set a world distance record in a Shadow microlight. By 1984 Peter was the head of test flying for the British Microlight Aircraft Association (BMAA) testing aircraft on behalf of the Civil Aviation Authority. Peter has competed as part of the British Microlight team in the World Championships attaining the distinction of '4th Best Pilot in the World' in 1985. Thereafter Peter learned to fly helicopters and Gyrocopters and began importing gyrocopters into the UK. By this time he was a qualified Instructor of Instructors in the Gyrocopter world and ran a successful training operation. In 1994 Peter was part of the successful team that won the Around the World Air Race in a highly modified 3500 hp Cessna Conquest II twin turbo prop aircraft. In 1996 Peter competed for Britain in the 1st World Air Games in the discipline of long distance navigation flying. His flight took him from Iceland, across Europe, and the Med across into Jordon and finally up into Turkey over two weeks of competition and he attained fourth in the World. All this experience makes Peter a very well qualified and experienced Pilot and Instructor and makes him ideally suited to introduce you to the world of gyro flying.  FacilitiesGyrocopter Experience is base at small quite Private flying Club, the Club house has basic catering facilities, there is a separate toilet block with separate male and female facilities, for those wishing to enjoy the fresh air and watch what is going on there is a sheltered seating area outside. B&B accommodation is available a 2 miles away. At Knot End/ Pilling Sands where our Trial flights are done, there is a a Cafe with toilets and after your flight there is pub where you can relax and recount your flight. Where are we?Please call for Direction to Knot End/Pilling for trial flight. Our Training AircraftWe use the RotorSport MT-03 for all our flying. We also train on VPM and Magni aircraft |
The Gyrocopter Experience Preston based at a quiet location near Out Rawcliffe which is five west of Garstang 3 miles south of Pilling Sands. 
This is your opportunity to take to the skies in a Gyrocopter. You will be able to experience the thrill of a flight in a gyrocopter where all the special characteristics of this type of flying will be demonstrated to you. You will also be given the chance to take the controls & fly this “motorbike of the sky” yourself. 
