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

Paul: Crosswind landings are not a problem in rotorcraft. Most gyro pilots do them. Gyroplane CFI Vance Breese @ Santa Maria does them all the time in his "Predator" gyroplane. He flys to many airports around the southern California region, and performs in several airshows in the area yearly.

The pilot slightly tilts the rotorblade disc into the CW, just as is done in a small airplane, maintaining runway heading with the rudder pedals (or, in the case of a helicopter, the anti-torque pedals). The stronger the CW, the more experienced the pilot should be to execute it while keeping aligned w/ the runway. Practice builds the skills & confidence to do so.

Landing with some amount of power provides extra airflow over the rudder under gusty or strong CW conditions. If in a real engine-out situation, allowing a higher than usual airspeed in the descent ensures more rudder authority to have at one's disposal, in case extra maneuvering is required to avoid an obstacle in the landing phase.

From flight speed through flaring, and promptly setting down, the rudder has plenty of airflow to be effective. Flaring also causes the rotorblades to "see" extra weight, just as in a turn, and they speed up a bit, storing extra energy used to stop the aircraft so quickly.

Otherwise, for low time pilots of gyroplanes, landing at an angle on the runway is an excellent option. Or, for the more experienced gyro pilot, after knowing the abilities of rotor aircraft, and their gyro in particular, in a strong CW situation, they could land across the runway, since the rollout is so little. Landing @ a taxiway/runway intersection allows for more pavement to utilize, if necessary.

At a towered airport, it is best to inform ATC of this type of landing prior to doing it in strong windy conditions. Safety is the main issue for the pilot and for those in the tower. At non-towered strips, still it is best to alert others that may be in the pattern of this, so they might not be alarmed at this maneuver, being foreign to most airplane pilots. Just as a steep descent to land @ engine idle might be.

The FAA has stated that airplane pilots should be aware of rotorcraft (both helicopters & gyroplanes) performing these kind of maneuvers. The autorotation of rotorblades allows the aircraft to descend, flare, & set down at zero-to-little rollout, under full control.

Autorotation flight (meaning the rotorblades are not powered) is full time in a gyroplane. In a helicopter, it is practiced, in order to be ready for a real situation when the engine, transmission, or tail rotor has problems.

Kevin Richey



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