AeroBalsa Mike

All,

Don't know how many of you have seen these videos yet, but the jump takeoffs are very cool.

http://www.cartercopters.com/

JoelW

Hello Mike,

Thats good information, I wasn't aware a rotor could turn at such a slow RPM and be of any use to the pilot. He must be a brave pilot!


See you in September in Morris the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd?

Joel

AeroBalsa Mike

Joel,

How about that rotor RPM! It's amazing the altitude the gyro gets from just a pre-spin!

The Sept Autogyro Fun Fly is shaping up for Morris, and it is scheduled for the 7th, 8th and 9th. I'll be posting more info here and on my website as I get the plans finalized.

billf

Hi Mike...
I 'm puzzled over the fact that the torque of the rotor didn't cause the fuselage to rotate like a helicopter would without the tail rotor.
Do you suppose that the prerotation is turned off at the point of jump off? If so then the rotating inertia of the rotor must be sufficient to carry the plane to the remarkable height that the video shows. Or, maybe there was sufficient wind blowing to make the plane appear to hover stationery????

BillF

rcflyerfl

My Feedback: (1)

Mickey,
Have you been giving Carter Copters some of your small GWS motors so they can do the JUMP TAKEOFFS?

Jim

floridagyro

I've been to a few of full scale autogyro meets and it's very impressive to watch the things those guys do. The pre-rotors that I have seen are a friction disk that is manually or semi-automaticly engaged. I don't think they apply much torque as it takes a lengthy time to get the rotor up to speed. I believe they compensate the torque with the rudder. If you notice most have a large rudder and it's so close to that pusher prop it must have tremendous control with the prop wash. Also, in these videos thay had 10 to 15 mph winds.

Bill, when you get here to Florida, I'll fix you up with a ride in one of the twin seat gyros and you can witness it up close.

Phil

billf

Phil..
Thanks for your kind offer! I'll be most happy to observe you and the pilot doing the jump take-off!! <G>

Bill

mnowell129

Hey Phil&Bill,
To the best of my knowledge they disengage the pre-rotator before the wheels leave the ground.
As long as the wheels are in contact with the ground anti-torque isn't an issue.
For non jump-takeoff pre-rotators the amount of torque is fairly small, Bensen
writes of having someone takeoff with the pre-rotator engaged and only noticing that
they were having to hold some rudder trim.
I think Bensen went on to design a model with a partially powered rotor
that just needed rudder to counter the torque.
mickey

billf

Hi Mickey...

What you say makes sense. But then the question: What is the source of energy that carries the plane so high while appearing stationary?
There likely was some breeze blowing so that the plane appears to "hover"???

Bill

mnowell129

Stored energy in the rotor system.

AeroBalsa Mike

I thought I read somewhere that Carter Aviation has used depleted uranium in the blade tips in their 500mph high-tech autogyro (the pic on their home page at the top) to take advantage of the inertia... not sure if they used it in the small gyro in these videos, however. If the jump takeoff displayed in the videos is a true jump takeoff (as in setting the blade pitch to zero or neutral, over-revving the rotor, disengaging power and then making a collective blade pitch change to make the jump) then based on the altitude achieved there's a good chance they've got lead or depleted uranium in them thar blade tips.

Here's Carter's explanation of a jump takeoff: http://www.cartercopters.com/faq-gen...tml#question8b

Here's a good pic of the rotor used on the ultra-light autogyro in the videos: http://www.cartercopters.com/images/...ight_rotor.jpg

Note the configuration of the blade tip. The stuff they're doing is high tech, for sure.

This link may have been posted previously somewhere on this forum, but I'll share it again here. In addition to the highlights of their Carter Copter and the PAV 2+2, there's a Pitcairn PA-36 "Whirlwing" performing a jump takeoff in 1939 at the end.
http://www.cartercopters.com/highlight_video.html

One other note about Carter Aviation, they reached a milestone in rotary wing history on June 17, 2005 with their Carter Copter. Their aircraft's forward speed exceeded the tip speed of the rotorblade (relative to the aircraft) in forward flight. (I think I explained that correctly. See their FAQ page for more detail.) That had never been done before. They did it by slowing down the rotor rpm and allowing the small wing to provide the lift necessary for maintaining flight at high speeds.

Their website has some really cool pics, videos and info if you've got some time to browse around.

floridagyro

Hi Mike,

I would like to try a set of the new rotor design blades. Can I get a set for the gyro fun fly at the end of Feb. and yes the one this year?

Phil