Kevin, you are correct. I'm not a gyro pilot. I do, though, have an Air and Space 18a project that became a project in that manner. I was told by the previous owner, who was the pilot, that this was the issue and typical of gyros in general. If that is not the case, my apologies, but his explaination appeared very logical. How can there be adequate rudder authority with almost no airflow over the rudder?
   Thanks for your input.
   Boyd

   On Tue, Apr 18, 2017 at 9:20 PM paul lamar <rotaryeng@earthlink.net <mailto:rotaryeng@earthlink.net>> wrote:


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

Hi Paul,
Perhaps this is what the experienced pilot who crashed my project 18a was talking about?:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y5zWLTQXcUI
Thanks.
Boyd Thompson

Looks like you are right. I suggest a bigger rudder with a 45 degree pivot to take advantage
of the rotor down wash.

Paul Lamar


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