The autogyro is sometimes thought to be an American invention—who hasn’t seen a black-and-white photo of the famed Pitcairn PCA-2?—but it actually originated in Spain. And it’s Europe where this aircraft continues to thrive despite the fact that North America is still the largest and richest light aircraft market.
But persistence might be about to pay off. Sales of European-manufactured autogyros are rising modestly in the U.S. and the larger companies are applying new engine technology to make them even more attractive. Heretofore, most of these aircraft found their way to U.S. owners as experimental amateur builts. And while EABs are a growth industry in the U.S., autogyros just never caught the wave.