manufacturer traded as otc pink gnba industry aviation founded 1986 founder david and jay groen headquarters salt lake city utah united states subsidiaries american autogyro website groenaeronautics.com gba founders david and jay groen with hawk 1 groen brothers aviation inc. is an american autogyro research and development company based in salt lake city utah . the company was founded in 1986 by david groen and his late brother jay groen . david groen remains the company chairman president and ceo . 1 2 3 in 2001 time magazine listed gba s hawk gyroplane as one of their featured inventions of the year . 4 contents 1 history 2 aircraft flight test programs 3 aircraft design programs 4 references 5 external links history edit groen brothers aviation started out by incorporating helicopter design components into autogyro design . they added helicopter style collective pitch control which allowed their aircraft to achieve vertical takeoff and landing and to stabilize flight at high and low speeds . 5 the company holds three us patents 6 and several international patents associated with their variable pitch rotor system . following the first flight of their proof of concept aircraft in 1987 the company flew several larger prototype autogyros during the 1990s . 7 in september 1999 the company flew their first piston engine powered prototype of the four seat hawk 4 . the turbine engined prototype first flew in july 2000 with a rolls royce 250 420 hp 313 kw turboprop engine and was the world s first turbine powered gyroplane . the design s rotor blades used a company developed natural laminar flow airfoil . 5 8 the hawk 4 provided perimeter patrol during the 2002 winter olympics . in 2002 the company provided the utah olympic public safety command uopsc a hawk 4 prototype for perimeter patrol around the salt lake city international airport during the 2002 winter olympics and paralympics . the hawk 4 completed 67 missions over 75 hours of flying time during the 90 day contract . 9 in february 2003 the company introduced its stabilization augmentation kit 10 designed to improve in flight stability and safety for kit gyroplanes on the market . the company entered the kit market with the sparrowhawk . the company discontinued sparrowhawk kit production but formed american autogyro as a subsidiary to produce and sell sparrowhawk kits as a separate business . in november 2005 the us defense advanced research projects agency darpa selected a company led team to design a proof of concept high speed long range vertical takeoff and landing aircraft designed for combat search and rescue . 11 the project was named the heliplane by darpa and intended to meet economy and performance goals not achievable by existing aircraft . the company completed work for phase i of the project in 2009 but the project has not been further funded . aircraft flight test programs edit hawk point five single seat gyroplane with collective pitch controlled rotor open frame gyroplane . first aircraft built by gba . 1987 citation needed hawk 1 single seat gyroplane with collective pitch controlled rotor retractable landing gear fully enclosed stressed skin monocoque design . citation needed h2x side by side two seat version of the hawk 1 gyroplane . citation needed hawk 4 four seat gyroplane with piston engine designed to meet faa type certification . 1999 eventually incorporated a rolls royce gas turbine engine named the hawk 4t . 2000 revcon 6 x test conversion of a cessna 337 skymaster airplane . this aircraft conversion tested the theory of using fixed wing airplanes as the basic airframes for gyroplanes to reduce cost and shorten development time . citation needed sparrowhawk two seat gyroplane with aluminum frame centerline thrust aircraft wide molded fiberglass cabin with adjustable seating . 2003 aircraft design programs edit gba gyroliner commuter airliner . citation needed gba gyrolifter heavy lift gyroplanes and gyrodynes of various sizes up to 160 000 lbs . gvw . citation needed gba darpa heliplane gyrodyne capable of 400 mph 1 000 nautical miles range hoge at 4 000 feet and 95 f. gba arrowhawk seven seat turboprop gyroplane . citation needed gba shadowhawk tandem two seat gyroplane for aerial observation . citation needed references edit best inventions of 2001 time.com retrieved 3 january 2012 heliplane globalsecurity.org scott w.b. hawk 4t breathes new life into gyroplanes aviation week & space technology 6 november 2000 vol . 153 no. 19 pp. 54 56 . best inventions of 2001 time.com a b one step beyond rotor & wing retrieved 3 january 2012 groen brother s aviation u.s. patent and trademark office garvey w. gyrocopters grow up popular mechanics june 1996 pp. 75 77 . hawk 4 gyroplane aerospace technology.com unreliable source olympic security aided by groen brother s hawk aero news network groen brothers announces kit market entry aero news network darpa funding gyrodyne heliplane r & d defense industry daily external links edit external video groenaviation s channel on youtube retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title groen brothers aviation & oldid 743654216 categories helicopter manufacturers of the united statescompanies based in salt lake citydefense companies of the united statesmilitary vehicle manufacturersaircraft manufacturers of the united statescompanies listed on the pink sheets1986 establishments in utahhidden categories all articles lacking reliable referencesarticles lacking reliable references from june 2016pages using infobox company with unsupported parametersall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from january 2013 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact 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