Tensor 600X STOL Gyroplane is a Preview of Bigger Gyros to Come

German Aeronautics company Fraundorfer has unveiled its Tensor 600X gyroplane at the European Rotors show. The two-seat gyroplane is only for personal use at this time but the company hopes to scale up the design to a six-seater for commercial purposes. The design is revolutionary in that gyros offers a middle ground between airplanes and helicopters which makes them exceptionally safe to fly.

Lift is provided by the main large top rotor that is not powered by the engine during flight but instead rotates on the forward motion of the aircraft. The free-spinning main rotor can provide enough lift from forward motion to bring the aircraft safely to the ground in the event of an engine failure.

Forward propulsion is provided by a pusher prop usually at the rear of the aircraft is enough to keep the aircraft in the air safely. Minimum flight speed is 31 mph (50 km/h) and cruising speeds at 124 mph (200 km/h) at a maximum altitude of 10,000 ft. (3,000 m) with a range of around 373 miles (600 km). The engine is a Rotax 915iS engine that can get the gyroplane into the air from a 300 ft (90 m) runway with maximum takeoff weight of 1,325 lb (600 kg) and land it in just 70 ft. (20 m).

Fraundorfer hopes to upgrade the current two-seater hobby version into a full six-seater certified commercial version for cargo and air taxi purposes around 2025. The design is also easily adaptable to battery-electric or hydrogen fuel cell propulsion should that become necessary as the world moves away from fossil fuels into clean energy technology. Even with the current fossil fuel engine, the gyroplane is still twice as efficient as a helicopter and significantly less noisy.

The main drawback to gyroplanes such as the Tensor 600X is the need for a small runway which will severely limit its ability to function as an urban transportation platform as other electric VTOL aircraft which are able to use tops of buildings to take off and land vertically. Nonetheless, the future of gyroplanes looks very promising and the Tensor 600X is carving its own path.