Outside Investor Plavo More Kickstarts Path to Flight Demonstration

Skyworks Aeronautics might be taking to the skies with their utility-oriented Hawk 5 gyroplane in the near future, paving the way for the unorthodox offering to make a name for itself in the public safety GA market.

While gyros aren't new by any means, there aren't too many on the market looking to court the mission-focused operator. The Hawk 5 offers a 5-seat, lightweight, short-takeoff aircraft with 450 shaft horsepower from a Rolls Royce turboprop engine. Payload sits at 1,825 lbs, with max fuel to carry it 315 nm at 120 kts. The usual benefits of a gyroplane have been touted, like the ease of autorotation and ease of upkeep compared to traditional rotary aircraft. 

The Hawk 5 has been bankrolled into its demonstration phase by Plavo More SPV, LLC. Skyworks hopes to capitalize on a Letter of Intent from Turkey for the purchase of 200 Hawk 5s, and has embarked on building the first flight-ready unit with the new injection of capital. Turkey will hopefully be good for the sale, in any case, with one board member from a local energy company saying his group is "looking forward to converting our LOI orders to firm orders once the Hawk demonstrator is flying”. 

Paul J. Alar, President and Founder of Plavo More, was quick to tout the benefits of the new design. “Often investors confuse ‘no competition’ with new, leading-edge, technology. Many times, that simply is not the case. Although simple in concept, the Skyworks Hawk 5 aircraft is a byproduct of decades of incremental improvement protected by numerous patents. The end result is a product that is cheaper to build, cheaper to operate, and most importantly, safer to fly than a helicopter.”

Jennifer Alou, Plavo More’s Director of Business Development said that the Hawk 5 falls right into the firm's investment strategy. “Plavo More is clearly a performance-driven fund; however, our expectations are that our capital will help create solutions that are beneficial to all, whether or not they are the end user of the products we are financing.”

“The Skyworks Team is very excited to move this exciting and transformative aircraft capability forward,” added Skyworks CEO, John E. Michel. “The ability to showcase the Hawk 5’s operating performance first-hand brings us one very large step closer to our goal of being the first company to commercialize gyrocraft at scale."

FMI: www.skyworks-aero.com