This will knock your socks off.  Must reading.

    Vertical take off, 200mph, and fifteen patents, extremely creative.
    This is
    to be a kit and they talk about alternative engines but have not
    included a
    Wankel 13b in their commentary at this point.  Will have to get to them.
    This sounds like a new Burt Rutan.

    Are there Wankels in helicopters with vertical orientation?

    Here are the links

    http://www.cartercopters.com/deposit_agreement.html

    http://www.cartercopters.com/patents_granted.html

    http://www.cartercopters.com/videos/pav_11g_fly_by_with_stats.html

    http://www.cartercopters.com/pav_11g_performance_2400_max_speed.html

    http://www.cartercopters.com/faq-placing_order.html

    Norm


    I don't think so :) Been around for ten years. Got a lot of
    tax and investment money. NOTHING worked as predicted. Crashed
    several times. Just a plain old gyrocopter.

    Paul Lamar



You are correct about the crash(es)- but it is not a normal gyrocopter.
It has a powered rotor that has revolutionized tip speed limitations and
increased travel speeds far beyond normal gyro limits.  They have
developed an interesting scimitar propeller that is very efficient.
They've also developed a very promising energy absorbing landing gear
for the plane.

 They did screw up the powerplant choice- a big block turbocharged Chevy
that had overheating problems from the get-go.  I had the opportunity to
meet the designers and pilot, Larry Neal, at the S&F a few years ago-
all interesting folks.

MICHAEL D PARKER

The prop is nothing new. The Horton brothers built
a similar prop in the late 1930's. If it truly was more
efficient I would think it would be universal by know
67 years later. Klaus Savier tried it again a few years
ago and he is not running it now.

Paul Lamar

It's just a gyroplane.  Forward thrust is from a pusher prop, lift is
provided by an autorotating main rotor.

Powered-rotor gyros are nothing new either -- the Autogyro had a drive
from the engine -- they are, however, an evolutionary dead end.

Keith

Still I, wish them all the luck.  They made more progress than
moller on by far less money.

Clifton

You can't compare the two.  These guys have taken an existing technology
and put it in a pretty box -- that's not "progress," that's adjustment.
The Autogiro also looked like an airplane of its day, 75 years ago.
This is just one more gyroplane out of thousands.

Moller took an idea and made it fly, first of the kind.  BIG difference.

Keith

Almost fly. In theory it will. It has the required power
to weight ratio. I don't know why it has not flown yet.

Paul Lamar

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