Peter: I am one of the survivors of the "Self Taught" school of Benson
gyrocopter flying. When I built my ship there was absolutely no way to get
dual. Both my wife and I soloed the Benson with a Hot McCullough engine and
never had any trouble. I got tired of the need to take it to the airport to
fly, and got into the helicopter arena. After two aborted attempts with the
Scorpion, I now fly a Baby Belle/ Safari and can't quite see going back to a
Gyro. You are definitely right though, the gyros are much easier to fly and
can make zero speed touch downs quite regularly. They are cheaper and
easier to maintain, but you just can't do what I can do with the helicopter.
If I'm buzzing a coyote den, I can stop, back up and just set there and
watch. This I've done with the airport coyote who just set there looking up
at me with his hair blowing about. Also I have a 40X40 launch pad that I
couldn't get the gyro off of without a significant wind.

--
Stuart Fields
Experimental Helo magazine