Curiosity of the first order

The bad news.

Most modes of transportation have changed relatively little during the past
70 years. For example, the automobile had, and it still has; four wheels, an
enclosed heated passenger compartment, a reciprocating engine and a steering
wheel. In addition, the speed limit has not changed, whereas the speed limit
of the computer doubles every two years. In part, this slow development is
because the transportation industry is a mature one.

This is inability to improve is particularly apparent in the field of
rotorcraft. Boeing has stated " The Chinook was developed in the late 1950s,
less than a decade after the B-52 bomber entered service. Since then, two
follow-on bombers have been fielded, but no new heavy-lift helicopter."

This lack of significant advancement in rotorcraft has resulted in a
diminishing number of people being involved in rotorcraft R & D. In
addition, this small collection of people is thinned out even further by
their diversity of interests. Jokingly, at one extreme are the few whose
'research consist of discovering whether a NC nut or a NF nut is used on a
NF bolt. At the other extreme are the few whose research consists of
modeling the blade vortex in 5D.

This reduced activity at the various levels of rotorcraft development
manifests itself in many ways. One of these is in the peripheral support
industries, such as publications. How many times can the same ideas be
regurgitated?


The good news;

I am convinced that the field of rotorcraft has fallen behind that of other
modes of transportation. There is an opportunity to catch-up, but, it will
only come about when its leaders step out of the box. This box is the
mindset that has embraced the abominable tail-rotor and excluded the more
efficient latterly-located-twin-main-rotors.

Frustrated defense departments and some industry leaders are now starting to
look in this direction. They are also looking at very-light rotorcraft, to
be used as UAVs,

There is absolute no reason why the recreational/experimental side of
rotorcraft cannot experience a developing and exciting future by moving in
the same direction.


This posting may appear to be self-serving, but there is no commercial
interest on my part.

Dave J. http://www.UniCopter.com




"Stuart Fields" wrote in message
...
I'm quite curious about this groups response to an announcement of a new
magazine about experimental helicopters. There has been essentially no
response. I'm sure surprised. Is there a basis for this group that I'm
unaware of that would create a total lack of curiosity or comment? I'm
at
a loss to understand this.