Dave Vorsas at Triumph Instruments and Avionics (formerly JDC) prepares the Sporty’s gyro for a wring-out on the gyro table. The gyro did well in a series of basic tests.

As general aviation marches bravely forward into the dawn of the electronic flight display revolution, you’d think the days of the iron gyro would be numbered. Who in their right mind would design and build a new one? Answer: the world’s most well-known pilot boutique, Sporty’s Pilot Shop, along with an equally well-known instrument maker, Castleberry Instruments of Austin, Texas.

Have these guys come adrift or is there really a market for such a thing? As with all things in aviation, there’s a market for everything if the price is right and on this new instrument, the price is definitely right, a bargain-basement $1595 for a fully lighted, well-designed electric attitude gyro…