Post by michael on Jul 1, 2019 9:22:15 GMT
I've always been a fan of vehicles where you sit up high so the Guimbal Cabri G2 seemed to be worth a try.
The compact stance is perfect for manoeuvring in congested areas and you feel it's something you could park just about anywhere and even with a modest and sleek design you can be sure to get noticed wherever you arrive.
The cabin, two seater, is snug with little storage space although forward visibility is good - rear less so with a complete absence of mirrors or rear window.
Handling is something of a mixed bag. It's fair to say that feeling through any of the controls, pedals or collector is poor to non existent but then control inputs are instance. Even the slightest input to any of these controls has a significant effect on the movement of the vehicle to the extent that correcting what you've just done and then trying to correct that is the overwhelming characteristic of any exercise. I liken it to walking on a highwire (which I've never done) in that if you put a foot wrong and try to correct, you end up over-correcting until you finally fall - or the instructor takes control. To make matters yet more interesting/ deadly, doing nothing is not an option as you've got the exciting variable of the weather and overall conditions to contend with. That general experience is quite overwhelming, trying to steer a machine across three axis with controls that felt entirely counter intuitive and utterly confusing. Then again, only a few days earlier I'd been struggling to use a gear lever in a left hand drive car as I'd forgotten what a clutch was.
The instructor mentioned that if the engine failed you can still land a helicopter and this is part of the training process - what fun!
That said, I enjoyed it.
Not my picture but this is it, yours for about £300k:
