Paul,

Do you have details on autogiro's running rotaries ? Pardon my thoughts, but I think a rotary would work well.


Thanks,

Barron

I don't have any dwgs but Gary Buster might help you out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOwb8QRHrMY

Paul Lamar



Back in the days of the late Cierva and before the Advent of the helicopter the autogyro was quite a capable machine. It had heavy two or more bladed rotor systems which stored a great amount of energy. Todays autogyros on the other hand in my opinion as a rated Chpl with IFR must be the daftest thing out there. Flimsy contraptions with energyretention on the scale of a chopstick. You would not find my behind in One of them on a calm, stable day let alone in any kind of turbulence. Surprises me they are legal.

Lutz Strobel

Have you looked at the you tube video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOwb8QRHrMY

I filmed the video. Looked pretty good to me. However it was a calm day.

IMHO the main problem is MPG.

Paul Lamar

Actually the main problem is negative G's When that happens the disk is no longer loaded and looses momentum, which is where the lack of stored energy due to the low mass of the rotor system comes in....
the second severe problem is the underslung rotorsystem most of the nowadays ( refuse to callem modern ) autogyros employ. It can kill You fast. In summary stay away from them, even if a crash of one of them would have nothing to do with being powered by a Rotary engine, it would still rub off. - Lutz Strobel


We are not doing outside loops here :)

There are a lot of them in the States. If the accident rate were much higher than other experimental aircraft the FAA would be all over their case.

Paul Lamar


A lot of people think a gyro works by weight shift, it does not, the teetering rotor and gimbal head allow the rotor to in effect change pitch around the circle as the advancing blade would have more lift than the retreating blade if it did not teeter They are not as simple as they look.

John Evans



Lutz you should try them although I think no one could pursuance you to
do so now.  They are fun and safe, and handle turbulence very well.   If
fact you do not feel any at all even in very high wind. The "rigidity"
which is the percent of lifting surface in the whole disc is very small, compared with that of a plane which is 100%, so turbulence is no issue for a gyro.

Gordon Gao

Thanks for the warning Lutz, but I think if flown properly the gyro's are as safe as the next aircraft.  Many people see the "open cockpit" and can't imagine flying them.  This is because people don’t understand them, and this is understandable as they are not as common as their fixed wind counter parts.


Thanks,

Barron