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
He's cleverly solved that problem. There were movable vanes under the
rotor so he could take out that nasty swirl & neutralize the torque.
(Yes, I know better than to believe that will work.) :-)
He will probably do just fine financially. Did you ask if he was taking
deposits?
Charlie England
The AirCraft Rotary Engine NewsLetter. Powered by Linux.
ACRE NL web site. http://home.earthlink.net/~rotaryeng/
Copyright 1998-2003 All world wide rights reserved.