Learning how to fly is an expensive business, and you'll spend a lot of time as well as money on the process.  It's important to make the right choice of school, so he're we'll lay out our stall and let you decide if The Gyrocopter Experience Lincoln is the place for you.

 

We are a member of The Gyrocopter Experience national network of flying schools.  The Gyrocopter Experience website provides you with online access to your training records which can be shared witrh any other Gyrocopter Experience school.

For most people flying gyros is a leisure activity, so learning how to fly should be enjoyable!  Like most activities the pleasure is partly in the "doing" and partly in the camerarderie, socialising and "tall tales" afterwards.  One of our reasons for choosing Wickenby as our base is that it's one of the friendliest airfields there is, with a fantastic supportive community that it's a pleasure to be part of.  That doesn't mean we just goof around though - the facilities here mean that you can make the most of your time, but you can still wind down after an intensive hour in the air.

Steve Boxall, CFI at The Gyrocopter Experience Lincoln, has held a pilot's licence for over 23 years, and has been a qualified Instructor for 20 of them.  After building and learning to fly his own single-seat gyro, Steve bought the first customer MT-03 gyroplane in the UK "way back" in August 2006, and Gyro Training became the first UK school using the MT-03.   His motto is "the first few hundred times are the worst, then you get used to it"!

If the mantra in property is "location, location, location", then in flight training it's "airfield, airfield, airfield".  Most gyro schools operate from "unlicenced" strips -  which can mean short runways (and maybe only one runway, which can bring your flying to a halt if the wind is in the wrong direction),  limited facilities (do you really want to survive for a week on a diet of Pot Noodle and Mars Bars?) and tricky approaches which can mean trouble if the engine stops at the wrong moment.  There are also some parts of the gyro syllabus (such as "wheel balancing" and "runway hops") which you just can't do on a short, grass airfield!

 

Wickenby Aerodorome is a licenced airfield, which means that its runways and their approaches meet strict criteria laid down by the CAA.  We have two tarmac runways as well as grass strips on which to practice your strip flying.  Being licenced means that we also have CAA approved Rescue and Fire Fighting Service (RFFS).  

 

Other facilities include a Cafe and bar, club lounge, CAA approved gyroplane maintenance facilities, hangarage, a pilot shop selling books, charts etc and our museum recording Wickenby's wartime history.

 

When "Light Aviation" magazine wanted to run a piece on gyros they approached our CFI Steve Boxall.  The photo shoot was hoot, and the results were fantastic!

 

Click on the picture to read the article!