UFO HeliThruster and IFR?

On Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:46:35 -0500, "Gig 601XL Builder"
wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net wrote in
:

The issues that Gyros have with negative G's make them less IFR capable than
a similar helicopter or fixed wing aircraft.

Is this claim a Mollerism?

http://www.cartercopters.com/
I have heard that two-bladed, teetering rotor systems have a
reputation for something called "mast bumping" in low-g flight.
What is mast bumping, and why is the CarterCopter not susceptible
to this problem?

Mast bumping is caused in helicopters by a lack of control of the
aircraft due to the rotor not producing much lift or negative
lift. During a zero-g maneuver, when the rotor is unloaded, it
does not create any lift force, so it does not have any force to
apply to the helicopter to control it. In this situation, if the
pilot moves the cyclic to try and control the aircraft, the rotor
will still tilt, but since it is producing no net lift, it will
not have a reaction on the rest of the aircraft. If the pilot
inputs more control because he does not feel the aircraft
responding, he makes the rotor tilt even more, until it hits the
mast. The tail rotor can aggravate this problem. Because it is
still producing a force, it pushes the aircraft to the side, and
if it's not directly on the centerline, causes the aircraft to
roll as well. The pilot feeling this movement will try to counter
it with the stick, causing the problem outlined above, with the
tail rotor pushing the fuselage in the opposite direction of the
rotor.

In the CarterCopter, because of the dual control system (airplane
as well as autogyro), the pilot always has control of the
aircraft, as long as he has sufficient airspeed. During a zero-g
maneuver, with the rotor unloaded and producing no lift, the
elevators and ailerons are still effective. When the pilot moves
the stick, the ailerons or elevator will control the fuselage,
keeping it in approximately the same relative position compared to
the rotor, so mast bumping is not a problem.

"Jim Stewart" wrote

OTOH, since I've never seen a pilot in a
standard certificated fixed-wing aircraft
wearing a helmet, I must assume that the
helmeted gyrocopter pilots are feeling a
greater degree of risk than the fixed-wing
pilots.

My take is that in the case of an engine failure, the gyro driver has the
"autorotate" maneuver as his emergency landing option. The chance of a
survivable but hard landing is a real possibility. A helmet would possibly
help that hard landing be survivable.

On the other hand, a fixed wing emergency landing is likely to be relatively
smooth, (no helmet needed) or so hard that a helmet would not likely help
much.

That's my guess, anyway.
--
Jim in NC

"Steve R" wrote


Don't assume that the gyro is automatically going to be a hard landing and
the airplane is automatically going to be a smooth one. It's just not
that simple.

I take from the tone that you are an autogyro guy. :-)

I know and understand how an autogyro handles an engine failure. It is a
smooth landing, and slow, _if_ the pilot does everything right, and if
sufficient altitude and forward speed exist at the time of the failure.

If the pilot misjudges the flare, bump. If the engine craps at a low
altitude, and there is not enough time to trade altitude for airspeed and
rotor speed, bump. Helmets help bumps.

If a fixed wing has good altitude and speed, he has a chance to get a smooth
landing, if there is suitable room for a landing. No need for helmet,
perhaps. Not enough room, probably, a helmet won't help.

If there is not sufficient altitude and airspeed, and there could be a
stall-spin, also, there will probably be little left that a helmet could
help.

If anything, I'm coming down on the side of a gyro accident being (possibly)
more survivable, and a helmet would definitely help, when it comes right
down to the last seconds.

Lastly, I know these are all probably's. No solid rule holds for everything
in life.

It just my gut feeling that a helmet is likely to do you more good in an
autogyro than a fixed wing. Not in an enclosed cockpit fixed wing?
Probably going to want a helmet, for one of those, too. That also reminds
me of another reason so many autogyro drivers wear helmets. The majority of
autogyros probably are open cockpit, too.
--
Jim in NC

"Jim Carter" wrote in message
...
I think it was built by Aerospace Industries if I remember right, and it
carried an N-number registration. I'm pretty sure it would cruise above 100 mph
because it had a pretty small rotor diameter.

Probably this:
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaver.../5249/a18a.htm

Vaughn

"Vaughn Simon" wrote in message
...
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaver.../5249/a18a.htm

Another certified autogyro, the McCulloch J-2:
http://dayton.hq.nasa.gov/IMAGES/SMA...000-001904.jpg

Vaughn

I have heard that two-bladed, teetering rotor systems have a
reputation for something called "mast bumping" in low-g flight.
What is mast bumping, and why is the CarterCopter not susceptible
to this problem?

It really isn't "mast bumping." It is "mast bump." It only happens once,
destroys the helicopter and you with it.

Karl
Helicopter mode

Vaughn,

everyone and their brother must have hit that geocities URL because it
is now "down" due to exceeding its bandwidth.

--
Jim Carter
Rogers, Arkansas
"Vaughn Simon" wrote in message
...

"Jim Carter" wrote in message
...
I think it was built by Aerospace Industries if I remember right, and it
carried an N-number registration. I'm pretty sure it would cruise above
100 mph because it had a pretty small rotor diameter.

Probably this:
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaver.../5249/a18a.htm

Vaughn

"Jim Carter" wrote in message
et...
Vaughn,

everyone and their brother must have hit that geocities URL because it is
now "down" due to exceeding its bandwidth.

I just got it OK, but that probably locked it out for a while. Anyhow, just
Google "Air & Space 18A" and there are probably other sites out there. In fact,
here is a good picture of one in flight:
http://www.thejumpingfrog.com/si/1208795.html

Vaughn

On Sat, 29 Sep 2007 02:09:00 GMT, "Vaughn Simon"
wrote in
:


"Vaughn Simon" wrote in message
...
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaver.../5249/a18a.htm

Another certified autogyro, the McCulloch J-2:
http://dayton.hq.nasa.gov/IMAGES/SMA...000-001904.jpg

Vaughn


And, of course, there is this early autogiro:

http://www.aviation-history.com/airm...t-Autogiro.htm
Pitcairn PCA-2 Autogiro
Amelia Earhart’s second Autogiro crash is known from a single
source, a letter39 to author Susan Butler from Helen Collins
MacElwee, sister of Amelia’s New York, Philadelphia and Washington
Airway Corporation (NYPWA) colleague Paul Collins. Paul Collins
and his sister Helen witnessed the second accident. After a
"rather erratic" Autogiro flight she made after taking off from
the airfield in Camden, New Jersey, she "finally landed on a
fence. Amelia stepped out frustrated and furious, and announced,
"I’ll never get in one of those machines again. I couldn’t handle
it at all." Earhart’s third accident in an Autogiro occurred
during her subsequent Beech-Nut tour while at the Michigan State
Fair in Detroit, Michigan on September 12, 1931. Attempting a slow
landing in front of the grandstand, she failed to level off in
time and dropped twenty feet to the ground. She wrote her mother:
"My giro spill was a freak accident. The landing gear gave way
from a defect and I ground-looped only. The rotors were smashed as
usual with giros, but there wasn’t even a jar."


Photographs of ten gyrocopters he
http://www.gyrosaway.com/MoreAbout.htm


The Magni Gyro M-16 is in current production in Italy, and available
for purchase in the US: http://www.magnigyro.com/
Photographs:
http://www.airliners.net/search/phot...nct_entry=true

"Vaughn Simon" wrote in message
...

"Jim Carter" wrote in message
...
I think it was built by Aerospace Industries if I remember right, and it
carried an N-number registration. I'm pretty sure it would cruise above
100 mph because it had a pretty small rotor diameter.

Probably this:
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaver.../5249/a18a.htm


I saw one of these at the Hill Top Fly-In. Prettty neat. I think it sold
while it was there.