A Gyrocopter Aerial Tour of Moalboal (Philippines) With Friends

Hey #Hive,

I am guessing that most of you are not familiar with a gyrocopter also known as gyroplane or autogyro.

A gyrocopter is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. While similar to a helicopter rotor in appearance, the autogyro's rotor must have air flowing across the rotor disc to generate rotation, and the air flows upwards through the rotor disc rather than down.

Source: Wikipedia

In essence, it is an ultralight aircraft which is pushed forward by a propeller at the back and which gets a lift thanks to the air going through a rotor on autorotation (not connected to an engine).

This aircraft is my work tool. I use it to fly people around the area of Moalboal in South Cebu, Philippines. At least, it is what I used to do until Covid19 happened. I stopped the gyrocopter tours last March 22nd and until now I am still not allowed to resume operations. However, our quarantine restrictions were relaxed a bit on May 20th and so since then, I have been keeping busy with maintenance and solo test flights to make sure the gyrocopter stays in good condition.
I also took the opportunity to fix and reduce the amount of vibrations I used to have in the controls. This is a job which requires changes or tweaks to the rotor before going for a test flight to see the results and then repeat until fully satisfied.
It took me several days to get to a stage I am happy with. The only problem though is that the test flights were done alone and so I needed a passenger to make sure the controls were also smooth with extra weight.
For sure, I could have loaded a big and heavy bag of rocks on the back seat but then I thought I might as well get someone to enjoy the flight with me.

So one morning, a week and half ago, I messaged my friend @biggypauls and his wife and asked them if they'd be interested to join me for a test flight around the area in the afternoon. The answer was quick to come back "we're in!"
Paul and Koz had already flown with me before but it was a very long time ago and I knew they had plans to do it again, so I was optimistic that this would be their reply 🙂

A few hours later, I left home and made my way to the hangar located at Three Thirty Airstrip in Ronda, South Cebu. It's about a 20 minute drive away from the touristic (or should I now say "once touristic") town of Moalboal. Even though I wasn't late as per the time we had agreed upon, Paul and Koz were already there, waiting for me.

I spent the next 20-30 minutes doing my pre-flight checks and getting everything ready for our flights. Everything checked out, time to take the gyrocopter outside and start the engine to warm it up.

I decided that Paul would go first so he settled nicely on the back seat. I helped strapping him up and after getting in myself, we were on our way to the end of the runway. Final engine checks, followed by pre-rotation on the rotor, full power on the engine and off we go at full speed on the runway for take off.
"Everything ok?" was my question to Paul over the radio a few seconds after being airborne. "All good mate" was his answer.

I ran a few tests on the controls first and then decided to fly around Moalboal a bit, passing by the most popular areas, mainly Pescador Island, Panagsama Beach and White Beach. About 25 minutes later, we landed back at the airstrip and after refueling a bit, it was Koz's time to have a go at it.

Here are the pictures I was able to snap during the flights:

Here, we are flying over the Moalboal Peninsula. The M/V Zagreb can be seen on the sea behind and in the background is the Island on Negros.

In the middle of the picture is Zaragosa Island located in Badian Bay south of Moalboal.

On our way to Pescador Island. The M/V Zagreb can still be seen as well as the mountain range of the island of Negros

The island of Pescador. On normal times, there are many diving and snorkeling boats around this island, all full of tourists

The bulk carrier M/V Zagreb. On our way to this vessel, Koz and I got to see a group of dolphins jumping around.

On our way back towards Panagsama beach with Pescador Island on the right.

View of the coast of Moalboal from a few kilometers away.

White Beach and the bay of Ronda at the back.

White Beach and the bay of Ronda at the back.

White Beach and the bay of Ronda at the back.

White Beach. You can clearly see where the reef suddenly drops 45m. This "wall" as it is called here is all along the coast of Moalboal and is very popular with the divers.

The bay of Ronda

Smiling @biggypauls

Not so clear, but Koz is also smiling 🙂

The three of us had a great time. I got to run my tests with extra weight and they got to enjoy the landscape in the area we live in. Win-win situation for everybody.

A last picture before closing the hangar and calling it a day:

Thank you for flying with me today and I hope to see you again soon.

Over and out for today.