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


Cross wind landings in a gyro are done like a fixed wing: tip the
rotor into the wind, keep the aircraft straight over the runway
during and after touch down.

L D Mueller

True, but why would you want to land cross wind? After all a runway is just a very short but wide landing area.
The joys of Gyro flight are a mystery to most stiff wing pilots!
If you get tempted into flying gyros regard your fixed wing experience as a handicap.

If a Gyro is needing to land cross wind the only time there would be no rudder authority would be a dead stick landing. If aiming for a no roll landing the stick would be back and into the wind, nose high, power on. I.e a high drag configuration. That is why you are able to land short.

John Evans


The Rotary Engine free News Letter. Powered by Linux. If you want
off the list PLEASE let me know and I will remove  you.  ACRE NL web
site. http://www.rotaryeng.net You Tube http://tinyurl.com/beqqxas
Copyright 1998-2017 All world wide rights reserved.