ARGON GTL Triple

The three-seat gyroplane

Almost every gyroplane on the market seats two. If you have been looking for a three-seat gyroplane - or a four, which is advertised but certified nowhere - there is one. The ARGON GTL Triple is a 3 seater gyrocopter: one seat forward and two behind, under the same enclosed carbon canopy as the ARGON GTL, on a 700 kg airframe with a 160 hp ROTAX 916 iS.

We should say the important thing before the specification rather than after it: the Triple is not certified for the United Kingdom, and the reason is worth understanding if you are shopping for one. It is further down this page, in plain terms.

What it is for

Three seats change what a gyroplane is. Two seats make an aircraft for a pilot and a passenger; three make one for a family, an instructor with two students, a survey crew, or simply two people who want to bring a third along rather than take turns.

The manufacturer's other use is the more interesting one: the third seat comes out quickly, and the space it leaves takes long luggage - a bicycle, skis, a surfboard, a kite, fishing rods. That turns a touring aircraft into one you can actually pack for, which is a rarer thing in this class than it sounds.

Layouts we have seen

Worth setting out plainly, because the specification sheet and the aircraft in front of you are not always describing the same thing. These are configurations rather than a fixed cabin - what the airframe allows, not a menu we are quoting from:

• One seat forward, two behind. The arrangement we have seen in the aircraft, and the one that makes sense of a three-seat cabin on a gyroplane airframe.
• Gull-wing doors, both sides. Large panels that lift upward rather than swinging out, which is what makes loading across the cabin practical at all.
• A seat out, and long cargo in. The seat comes out quickly and the space takes a bicycle, skis, a surfboard, a kite or fishing rods - the manufacturer's own example, and the reason this is a touring aircraft you can pack for.
• A stretcher, and a medical attendant. One seat comes out and a stretcher goes in through the door, with room beside it for someone to travel with the patient. An aircraft whose flying hour costs a fraction of a helicopter's, doing work a helicopter is normally called for. Read the UK section below before you plan around it - here it stops at the regulation, not at the aircraft.

The manufacturer's published table lists the cabin as side-by-side. If the layout matters to your decision, ask us and we will get the answer for the aircraft you would actually be offered rather than quote a datasheet at you.

Specifications

Figures are the manufacturer's own, published at argo.aero.

Why it is not certified in the UK

Current BCAR-T requirements stipulate a maximum of two occupants, a maximum all-up weight of 600 kg, and day VMC.

The Triple's three seats and 700 kg fall outside the BCAR-T approvals we are currently progressing for the two-seat GTL.

If there is sufficient UK demand for the Triple, we will work towards full Part 21 factory approval and seek UK aircraft approval for the Triple and all its derivatives. Which is the practical reason to tell us if you want one: the demand is what moves it.

One thing this is not: a limit on your licence. The UK PPL(G) carries no weight restriction of its own. The 600 kg figure governs how the aircraft is approved, not what the pilot may fly.

What is possible, and what is not

An aircraft without a type certificate is not automatically an aircraft you cannot fly. The UK has a route for exactly this case: the National Permit to Fly, granted under BCAR Section A3-7, which the CAA describes as covering aircraft that are ex-military, amateur built, microlight, gyroplanes, or without a valid Type Certificate.

What a permit allows and forbids is the part that decides whether the Triple suits you:

• Private flying - yes. This is what a permit is for.
• Instruction and self-fly hire - only by permission. The ANO bars permit aircraft from commercial operations or hire without the CAA's consent, which is granted separately.
• Commercial air transport, aerial work, or carrying passengers for reward - no. This is where the medical idea stops in the UK. An air ambulance role is commercial air transport, and no permit reaches it.

And the caveat we will not paper over: a permit is granted by the CAA on the individual aircraft, not handed out with the type. We can tell you the route exists and what it permits. We cannot promise you the outcome, and anyone who does is guessing. If you are serious, the position should be confirmed with the CAA for your intended use before money changes hands.

We would rather tell you all of this on the page than after a deposit. If the certification position changes, we will say so here.

If you want one

Tell us. Genuinely - the number of people asking is the thing that moves a model up a manufacturer's list, and we pass that on. Tell us what the third seat is for as well, because a passenger, a child, cargo and instruction are four different requirements and they do not all need the same aircraft.

If two seats will do, the ARGON GTL is available now, inside BCAR-T, with a cubic metre of luggage space behind the cabin - and it is the model we are currently taking UK orders for.

Frequently asked questions