AeroScooter

http://www.airscooter.com/pages/airscooter_main.htm

This guy got an MIT invention award and a gushing story on CBS news.

But the bloody thing has a single engine and does NOT auto rotate,
having fixed pitch blades, so you either have a ballistic parachute that
somehow doesn't get tangled in the rotor or you die when the engine
quits above 10 or 20 feet or so.

Why do people come up with such insane contraptions...

Why wouldn't it auto rotate?... The blades are no different than a
gyrocopter's fixed blades and they autorotate...
I can confidently predict that like Moeller's Skycar they will still be
pitching it to "investors" for years to come... PT Barnum was a
genius..

denny

J.Kahn wrote:
http://www.airscooter.com/pages/airscooter_main.htm

This guy got an MIT invention award and a gushing story on CBS news.

But the bloody thing has a single engine and does NOT auto rotate,
having fixed pitch blades, so you either have a ballistic parachute that
somehow doesn't get tangled in the rotor or you die when the engine
quits above 10 or 20 feet or so.

Why do people come up with such insane contraptions...

Denny wrote:
Why wouldn't it auto rotate?... The blades are no different than a
gyrocopter's fixed blades and they autorotate...
I can confidently predict that like Moeller's Skycar they will still
be pitching it to "investors" for years to come... PT Barnum was a
genius..

denny


Don't know the technical reason but their own website has this to say in the
FAQ.

Question: Does the AirScooter auto-rotate?

Answer: The AirScooter is designed for the recreational sport flyer and as
such does not auto-rotate. The AirScooter is designed for recreational
flying at low altitude where even traditional helicopters have little
benefit from auto-rotation. Design efforts have been done on a ballistic
emergency chute for the AirScooter. To be included for future email updates
on this issue click here to join our email list.

In article . com, Denny says...

Why wouldn't it auto rotate?... The blades are no different than a
gyrocopter's fixed blades and they autorotate...
I can confidently predict that like Moeller's Skycar they will still be
pitching it to "investors" for years to come... PT Barnum was a
genius..

The gyrocopter is always in a state of autorotation, that is the flow goes thru
the rotor from the bottom to the top.A helicopter goes from the top thru the
bottom .So in order to change flow direction and autorotate the pitch must be
changed . In a fix pitch design this cant be done .So in the event of an engine
failure the royor(s) will slow down and lose lift.

Chuck (ex Scheutzow Helicopter employee) S

Yup, about 1 millisecond after I hit send my brain got an extra
molecule of oxygen and I remembered the difference in blade pitch... I
cringed because I expected to get blasted by the group, but so far
everyone has been kind...
I still expect this machine to fail in the marketplace...

denny

ChuckSlusarczyk wrote:
In article . com, Denny says...

Why wouldn't it auto rotate?... The blades are no different than a
gyrocopter's fixed blades and they autorotate...
I can confidently predict that like Moeller's Skycar they will still be
pitching it to "investors" for years to come... PT Barnum was a
genius..

The gyrocopter is always in a state of autorotation, that is the flow goes thru
the rotor from the bottom to the top.A helicopter goes from the top thru the
bottom .So in order to change flow direction and autorotate the pitch must be
changed . In a fix pitch design this cant be done .So in the event of an engine
failure the royor(s) will slow down and lose lift.

Chuck (ex Scheutzow Helicopter employee) S

Denny wrote:
Yup, about 1 millisecond after I hit send my brain got an extra
molecule of oxygen and I remembered the difference in blade pitch... I
cringed because I expected to get blasted by the group, but so far
everyone has been kind...
I still expect this machine to fail in the marketplace...

denny

ChuckSlusarczyk wrote:
In article . com, Denny says...
Why wouldn't it auto rotate?... The blades are no different than a
gyrocopter's fixed blades and they autorotate...
I can confidently predict that like Moeller's Skycar they will still be
pitching it to "investors" for years to come... PT Barnum was a
genius..
The gyrocopter is always in a state of autorotation, that is the flow goes thru
the rotor from the bottom to the top.A helicopter goes from the top thru the
bottom .So in order to change flow direction and autorotate the pitch must be
changed . In a fix pitch design this cant be done .So in the event of an engine
failure the royor(s) will slow down and lose lift.

Chuck (ex Scheutzow Helicopter employee) S


But not before our ignorant media convinces a few people to buy them...

In article , J.Kahn says...
Why wouldn't it auto rotate?... The blades are no different than a
gyrocopter's fixed blades and they autorotate...
I can confidently predict that like Moeller's Skycar they will still be
pitching it to "investors" for years to come... PT Barnum was a
genius..
The gyrocopter is always in a state of autorotation, that is the flow goes thru
the rotor from the bottom to the top.A helicopter goes from the top thru the
bottom .So in order to change flow direction and autorotate the pitch must be
changed . In a fix pitch design this cant be done .So in the event of an engine
failure the royor(s) will slow down and lose lift.

Chuck (ex Scheutzow Helicopter employee) S


But not before our ignorant media convinces a few people to buy them...


I'm sure if they advertize on ANN zoom would give it rave reviews and a puff
piece on how well it flys. That's what he has done before.

See ya

Chuck S

In article . com, Denny says...

Yup, about 1 millisecond after I hit send my brain got an extra
molecule of oxygen and I remembered the difference in blade pitch... I
cringed because I expected to get blasted by the group, but so far
everyone has been kind...
I still expect this machine to fail in the marketplace...


Naaahh we're not that bad. You only get blasted around here if ya act like jaun
LOL!!! Like you I don't think it will fly in the marketplace either even if it
does fly..First engine out and that's the end of story .

See ya

Chuck S

("Denny" wrote)
I cringed because I expected to get blasted by the group, but so far
everyone has been kind...


We're still typing...


Montblack :-)

Denny wrote:
Why wouldn't it auto rotate?... The blades are no different than a
gyrocopter's fixed blades and they autorotate...
I can confidently predict that like Moeller's Skycar they will still be
pitching it to "investors" for years to come... PT Barnum was a
genius..

There's no clutch on the blades to allow them to free spin in case
of the engine loss of power.