November 22, 201312 yr I heard a rumor that an Autogyro may be coming into the area and it might be available for training. I'm not too comfortable with helicopters and I've never flown in one. I've done some reading on Autogyros and understand the differences and have done a lot of reading about autorotation in relation to my stall/spin training. I have to wonder about PR hype I am reading when I see comments claiming that "these aircraft are impossible to stall". Bunting sounds scary, especially since it is triggered by the fairly reflexive fixed wing pilot reaction to unload the wings when stalling. What are your opinions and thoughts on these things? Have any of you ever flown one? Would you fly one?
November 22, 201312 yr For the same reasons I'm not fond of helicopters, the same applies to auto-gyros. Too many little parts, and those skinney little rotating blades, that don't have near the structure of an aircraft's wing. My excuses might be flimsy, but that's the way it is.
November 22, 201312 yr Hi. It seems to me that what you heard is correct: you can't stall a rotor that is autorotating as the rate of rotation is independent of the airspeed. The whole vehicle slows down... you just descend, like an infinitely soft stall. When you start to worry, keep your mind on the engine speed not the collective. On the other hand, it's still perfectly possible to fly one into the ground. That leaves you with only two potential sources of danger: the pilot and the mechanic. If you trust them, you've nothing to worry about. D
November 22, 201312 yr Hi, I used to own an Aircommand single seater, and it was great fun! The trick is to hold the controls very lightly and dont overeact to light oscillations that might occur. Rule is: throttle to climb/sink and stick to vary speed. I would recommend you have a demo flight in a double seater if you can . Actually its safer than an aircraft as it cannot stall. The big no no is the abrubt stick forward movement which can unload the rotor and cause you to tumble and die! Most deaths occured in the past with pilots building a gyrocopter and then flying it without training. With some good trainning youll be okay! The wind becomes your friend as it is less sensitive to strong winds than other ultralight aircraft. Downside is that it needs a lot of power to fly and that your crusingspeed is not very high depending on your model, around 100km/h. http://www.aircommand.com/faq.php http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwgarUnyPs4#t=1599
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