Did anyone see this at OSH (AvWeb source)?

Your Own VTOL, Hold Your Breath If You Like

It's a dream that has eluded aircraft designers for almost a
century but

a

California engineer and A&P mechanic says his strange-looking craft
will

end the

quest. "Real freedom of flight is when you don't have to use an

airport," said

AMV Aircraft owner and designer Atilla Melkuti. A six-foot vaned fan

under the

belly would provide lift for vertical takeoffs. After the aircraft

transitioned

26 degrees forward the fuselage and wing lifting surfaces would take

over. With

a turbocharged 450-horsepower Mazda rotary engine, Melkuti predicts
a

5,000-fpm

climb for the 900-pound aircraft (gross 1800), 280-mph maximum speed

(250 mph at

60-percent power) at 10 gph. First test flight is set for August.

Here are some pictures I took at OSH. Paul Lamar

Melkuti's
friend Imre Nagy has a different dream, one that has also been tried

many times

but never really caught on. Nagy has always thought that airships

offered the

best of all worlds in aviation. He's designed a kind of personal
airship

that

offers 1,500 square feet of living space and the go-anywhere
flexibility

of

aircraft that don't need to use the National Airspace System. Nagy
said

the

airship is also amphibious because all the accommodations and
systems

are inside

the waterproof hull. "You can just land on a lake and hang a fishing

line into

the water," he said. Four Mazda rotaries on revolving pylons provide

power and

control. "Since you don't need to take off from a runway, anyone
can fly

it," he

said. The self-financed project is on hold for now until Nagy can
sell

some real

estate to finish the prototype.

Scott
Gettings

Can anyone tell me the fundamental thing missing from this rotorcraft?
I'll give you a hint, it involves torque.

Lets look at the disc loading.  6 foot diameter rotor, 1800 lb. gross.
I get 28.25 square feet rotor area.  Let's call it 30 feet squared for
simplicity's sake.  That makes 60 pounds per square foot, which is
quite high, higher than an Osprey.  60 lb disc loading will throw rocks
for sure.  The latest Robinson R44 is 2500 lb gross with a 885 square
foot rotor disc, 3 pounds per square foot.

I will have to run some numbers to see if such a rotor will lift 1800
lbs.  Maybe yes with 450 HP, that is only 4 lbs per HP.

Of course this machine will have no yaw control under a 100 knots or so.

I am amazed at the lack of knowledge displayed by people who invest a
lot of time & money.

Hans Conser

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