Paul: Who wrote this? There was no name below it.

"A gyro, in a zero speed landing, lacks adequate rudder authority
because the prop is idling and there is no forward speed to produce
airflow over the rudder. It's is one of the great vulnerabilities of
gyros and the reason for a lot of rotor strikes due to a lack of yaw
control in the last moments of a zero speed landing. The vectored
thrust from a ducted fan might fill that control gap."

I doubt whomever wrote it is a gyrocopter (or the FAA term:
gyroplane) pilot.

A lot of rotor strikes and lack of yaw control are not issues in
pusher gyrocopters.  Zero speed landings are possible with some
headwind. Very low speed touchdowns are common, with 10-20 feet
rollouts.

Any rotor strikes of gyros one sees on youtube videos are almost
exclusively a takeoff situation, and a result of a pilot not
following their instructor's training to make sure the rotor blades
are up to flight speed before lifting off the ground.

There is no need to develop some sort of ducted fan for pusher
gyros.

Kevin Richey Portland, Oregon


Boyd Thompson wrote that.

Suppose you are landing in a cross wind. Is that possible?

Paul Lamar


I am a gyro-pilot....landing in crosswinds is easy, the craft has THE
super-nimble handling quality ;-)

But you need a relative speed to air to enjoy soft landings. So don`t
need a ducted fan, only a BIG rudder.

Claude Jaejj


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