Groen Brothers Aviation (GBA) displayed the first flying prototype of its Hawk 4 turboprop-powered gyrocopter at the show along with a six-seater variant of the Hawk 6G, a hybrid single turboprop-powered conversion of a twin piston-engined Cessna 337.
The Hawk 6G, made its first flight before the show, and is being readied for its second test flight this month. Both gyrocopters are powered by a single Rolls-Royce Allison 250 turboshaft engine.
US certification of the Hawk 4 is scheduled for the third quarter of 2002, says GBA, which is relocating from Salt Lake City, Utah, to a new $14 million manufacturing plant in Glendale, Arizona.
GBA last month introduced a Hawk 4-based fractional ownership programme. Under the Hawk-Shares programme, a one-eighth share in an aircraft would cost around $99,000, plus a monthly management fee of $900 and cost per flight hour of $226.
Source: Flight International
