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Thread: Affordable modern gyroplanes?

  1. #11
    Chris In Marshfield's Avatar
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    Oct 2011
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    Germantown, WI
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    Now that design is cool!

    ~Chris
    Christopher Owens (EAA #808438, VAA #723276)
    Germantown, WI
    Bearhawk Plans #991, Bearhawk Patrol Plans #P313

  2. #12

    Join Date
    Jul 2011
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    NW FL
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    I know a little something about helicopters, autogyros not so much. The text books say that the most stable mode of rotorcraft flight is in autorotation. Hovering under power is the least stable, followed closely by the transverse flow cruising mode of a helicopter. The autogyro only sees autorotation, therefore, very stable.

    Thanks to Zack, we got links to the Little Wing and that sleek Russian model. Both are tractors, just like the first models going back 80 years. These have always been very user friendly. Then came the pusher types. If not carefully designed in regard to the thrust line/CG, they had control problems in some areas. .As I said, I’m not a “gyro head.” That Little Wing has an attractive price.

    A late friend/fellow pilot/boss once told me over milk and cookies one evening about his stint as an experimental test pilot. The project was a USN contract for an air droppable, pusher autogyro fueled by hydrogen peroxide. Came knocked down in a canvass bag. No pilot enclosure. On par with a lawn chair. Even a fighter pilot could fly it (in theory) after reading the instruction sheet. There were a few out of control in flight breakups in testing trying to make the specified straight and level speed. This happened abruptly when the test pilot kept stuffing the nose down. When the rotor tip path plane in front of the so called aircraft went below the horizon, it kind of looked like a lomcevac.

    The Navy dropped the project in favor helicopter rescue of downed aircrew. The National Museum of Naval Aviation used to have some of these on display. There also was some use of the Fulton rig. There is one pilot in my local area who got out with the Fulton. I heard the story from a mutual friend. Like a James Bond story.

    Bob

  3. #13
    cluttonfred's Avatar
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    Oct 2011
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    Here is a fun video from the UK featuring both the German Auto-Gyro and Italian Magni gyroplanes. As you can see, these are far removed from the Bensen Gyrocopter days.

    *******
    Matthew Long, Editor
    cluttonfred.info
    A site for builders, owners and fans of Eric Clutton's FRED
    and other safe, simple, affordable homebuilt aircraft

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