Introduction: 

For those who are considering purchasing a two-seat light helicopter at a competitive price, but don't require to use it commercially for carrying fare paying passengers, don't want the hassle of building a kit themselves, want excellent quality, good flying qualities and low operating costs, you have found the right address.

As a rotorcraft enthusiast and not a website creator, I have compiled this website to share information  with those researching all the light two-seat helicopter options. Helicopters generally are expensive machines, so it is vital to make a well informed choice first time round.

I started on helicopters in 1991, first with radio-control models, which incidentally were an invaluable teaching aid, then four years later started my helicopter private pilots license. Like every one else who learns to fly these wonderful machines, I dreamt of owning my own small personnel helicopter.

I wanted a two-seat, as it is much nicer sharing this flying experience with friends and family. It had to be of excellent quality and preferably with two gearbox's and shaft drive to the tail rotor. It had to be able to run on petrol, so that I had the freedom to refuel almost anywhere. It had to be easily transportable and capable of operating off a trailer, so that I could tow it and bring the whole family on holiday by car.

Realizing too that, Type-certified helicopters used more expensive Avgas with its availability limitations, were out of my price range, both to purchase and operate, I decided to look at kit-built helicopters as an alternative. After several years of researching and test flying all available two-seat helicopter kits on the market, I finally made a compromised decision in 2001 and purchased the diminutive Italian CH-7 Kompress kit. A wonderful little machine, but with limited passenger space. After having spent 800 hours assembling it and flown 500+ hours  in her, I have now discovered the helicopter I would have bought, had it been available back then.

I introduce to you the AK1-3 Sanka helicopter.  ...(Which I have now purchased.)

As of 2010, the South African AK1-3 Sanka agency is represented by Rotorway SA (Richard Chase) and  Aerocopter SA (Albert Questiaux). As Rotorway has a well established marketing team and maintenance facilities it made sense to represent the two helicopter brands under one knowledgeable team. Furthermore Richard and I are good friends sharing a common passion for helicopters.

First impressions of Aerocopter, flight performance and characteristics of the AK1-3 Sanka, you will find this in the Flight test .

For those who enjoy technical and constructional details you will find this in Technical detail & specifications

For helicopter pilots and enthusiasts who want interpret detail performance , look at the Flight performance graphs

To see a flying demo watch the Flying video clip.    Note: This file is 18.7 mb.