Mike Concannon
AV18 Ltd. was formed by Mike Concannon in 2017. Mike is an ex-Brummie, now living in Ireland.
He flies a two seat Magni M22 and has a single seat Cricket that he built in 1996.
Mike isn't just an engineer, he very much a "hands on" pilot and is passionate about his gyro flying.
After completing his education he worked for Autospeed in Birmingham involved in race, rally and
performance car and motorcycle tuning and then on to Kawasaki in the late 1970s
After gaining 300 hours on weightshift microlights in the 80s and early 90s he switched to flying gyros.
Mike has hundreds of hours flying gyros and has owned/flown many two seat and single seat types
including early Air Commands, Campbell Crickets, Magni M18, Magni M16, M24, MT 03, ELA 07 etc.
Mike is a holds a practical qualification as a mechanical engineer/technician and isa also a qualified
mechanical engineering theorist.
Mike is also a senior inspector for autogyros in Ireland, with The Irish Light Aviation Society.
The AV18
The AV18 was the final and ultimate design in a long line of safe, forgiving and easy to handle autogyros,
designed by Peter Lovegrove. The AV18 is built on the proven design geometry of the original Campbel
Crickets but brought right up to date with introduction of even more safety features, as recommended by the
CAA research project in conjunction with Glasgow University, on pitch stability, centerline thrust and
horizontal stabalizers.
The new AV18 also uses needle roller bearings in the rotor head, bringing the head design into the new
century.
The design is to Section T standard and has been passed for flight training in the UK by the CAA.