The Gyrobee on Skis

We get a lot of snow up here in Michigan, so trying out snow skis was probably inevitable. We had a set of skis we used on our old fixed-wing Quicksilver and we managed to fit them to the Gyrobee with some tinkering. Here is Don, about to land after a typical winter flight.

Directional control on the ground is relatively poor until you get the rotor up to speed. Without a prerotator, you are pretty much limited to situations where you can taxi directly into the wind. With a prerotator, operation is pretty easy. The skis have no observable impact on flight performance. Snowmobile suits, ski masks, goggles, and very good insulated mittens are a must for this type of flying!