Gyrocopters / AutoGyros

[erdnase]

I just saw one of these on TV, and have been reading about them online. I always remember wanting one as a kid, and I've been watching some great youtube videos.

I had no idea the main rotor is unpowered! Apparently the lift is created by autorotation? In that respect, they're more than just mini helicopters - which is what I thought they were. They're totally different machines. Would that be why they don't seem to have tail-rotors, which are needed in helicopters to counteract the torque and stop the whoel body of the craft spinning? They're fascinating machines.. the sort of thing I can imagine knocking together in my garage like a mad professor.

Has anyone here flown one, or even better, own one? I have images of myself flying around in one of them when I'm retired, like an old eccentric



Here's a good clip, although the main rotor seems to get up to speed while the gyro is stationary. Why is that happening?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYacJbLA1Hk

Edited by erdnase on Thursday 5th August 19:00

[Rocksteadyeddie]

A chopper with a couple of bits bolted on. What could possibly go wrong?

[NoelWatson]

erdnase said:

I just saw one of these on TV, and have been reading about them online. I always remember wanting one as a kid, and I've been watching some great youtube videos.

I had no idea the main rotor is unpowered! Apparently the lift is created by autorotation? In that respect, they're more than just mini helicopters - which is what I thought they were. They're totally different machines. Would that be why they don't seem to have tail-rotors, which are needed in helicopters to counteract the torque and stop the whoel body of the craft spinning? They're fascinating machines.. the sort of thing I can imagine knocking together in my garage like a mad professor.

Has anyone here flown one, or even better, own one? I have images of myself flying around in one of them when I'm retired, like an old eccentric

My Father has just bought one and retired - he will be flying round like an old eccentric!

http://www.skyranch.de/autogyro.htm

[erdnase]

Rocksteadyeddie said:

A chopper with a couple of bits bolted on. What could possibly go wrong?

If you drive a TVR, you wouldn't be asking that question

[freecar]

erdnase said:

Here's a good clip, although the main rotor seems to get up to speed while the gyro is stationary. Why is that happening?

There is usually a little handle that engages with the rotor to spin it up for take off, posher ones have a little dremel drive type affair from the engine to do it for you!

I too want one!

[v8will]

I built a RC one years ago with my father, does that count?

It was a pig to fly and after I binned it for the 4th or 5th time we gave up. Electric Helicopters came down in price and the battery performance improved so I started flying those instead.

We used to have some old video in the house that my dad shot at an airshow, It was Ken Wallis having a crash in the Little Nellie Autogyro, I think it was built for a James Bond movie. I can't remember where it was but I'm sure it was before I was born.

[Ayahuasca]

v8will said:

I built a RC one years ago with my father, does that count?

It was a pig to fly and after I binned it for the 4th or 5th time we gave up. Electric Helicopters came down in price and the battery performance improved so I started flying those instead.

We used to have some old video in the house that my dad shot at an airshow, It was Ken Wallis having a crash in the Little Nellie Autogyro, I think it was built for a James Bond movie. I can't remember where it was but I'm sure it was before I was born.

Is this it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2YOFcZr2tM&fea...

[erdnase]

This one looks so cheap and cheerful!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyx2Ykj6UV8

[v8will]

Ayahuasca said:

v8will said:

I built a RC one years ago with my father, does that count?

It was a pig to fly and after I binned it for the 4th or 5th time we gave up. Electric Helicopters came down in price and the battery performance improved so I started flying those instead.

We used to have some old video in the house that my dad shot at an airshow, It was Ken Wallis having a crash in the Little Nellie Autogyro, I think it was built for a James Bond movie. I can't remember where it was but I'm sure it was before I was born.

Is this it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2YOFcZr2tM&fea...

It is indeed! (isn't youtube wonderful!!) I had to ring Dad to check but he said it was at Newtownards which is a little bit outside Belfast. It must be 30 years ago, everyone was amazed Wallis walked away from that. I hadn't seen that clip for maybe 20 years until today.

[Mr Dave]

v8will said:

Ayahuasca said:

v8will said:

I built a RC one years ago with my father, does that count?

It was a pig to fly and after I binned it for the 4th or 5th time we gave up. Electric Helicopters came down in price and the battery performance improved so I started flying those instead.

We used to have some old video in the house that my dad shot at an airshow, It was Ken Wallis having a crash in the Little Nellie Autogyro, I think it was built for a James Bond movie. I can't remember where it was but I'm sure it was before I was born.

Is this it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2YOFcZr2tM&fea...

It is indeed! (isn't youtube wonderful!!) I had to ring Dad to check but he said it was at Newtownards which is a little bit outside Belfast. It must be 30 years ago, everyone was amazed Wallis walked away from that. I hadn't seen that clip for maybe 20 years until today.

It was the year before I was born iirc so 1986, yes it was at Newtownards airfield which is about 300 yards from my house.

Autogyros are for the insane or "eccentrics" if they are a bit posh as well as insane. They will kill you and everything you hold dear and destroy all that is around you.

[erdnase]

I just read that "Unlike a helicopter an autogyro cannot hover, take off or land vertically."

Interesting! I still want one

[Ayahuasca]

erdnase said:

I just read that "Unlike a helicopter an autogyro cannot hover, take off or land vertically."

Interesting! I still want one

Ah, the young and foolish!

[v8will]

Mr Dave said:

v8will said:

Ayahuasca said:

v8will said:

I built a RC one years ago with my father, does that count?

It was a pig to fly and after I binned it for the 4th or 5th time we gave up. Electric Helicopters came down in price and the battery performance improved so I started flying those instead.

We used to have some old video in the house that my dad shot at an airshow, It was Ken Wallis having a crash in the Little Nellie Autogyro, I think it was built for a James Bond movie. I can't remember where it was but I'm sure it was before I was born.

Is this it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2YOFcZr2tM&fea...

It is indeed! (isn't youtube wonderful!!) I had to ring Dad to check but he said it was at Newtownards which is a little bit outside Belfast. It must be 30 years ago, everyone was amazed Wallis walked away from that. I hadn't seen that clip for maybe 20 years until today.

It was the year before I was born iirc so 1986, yes it was at Newtownards airfield which is about 300 yards from my house.

Autogyros are for the insane or "eccentrics" if they are a bit posh as well as insane. They will kill you and everything you hold dear and destroy all that is around you.

I would have been 4 years old then but I don't remember being there. Maybe me not being there is why my old man thought it was longer ago. I wouldn't fancy trying an autogyro, maybe a weight shift at a push....

[erdnase]

I thought PH would be all over the autogyro ethos! To me, they're like flying TVRs.. raw, minimalist and for the dedicated.

[AnotherClarkey]

They often have a clutch allow the engine to spin the rotor up to speed but this is always disengaged before the wheels leave the ground - otherwise they would be prone to the same torque effects as helicopters and need a tail rotor.

It is possible to make a 'jump' vertical take off by using the momentum of the rotor and it is also possible to make a vertical landing but with reduced margin for error. The US postal service used to operate them from the top of skyscrapers in the 1930's, I think they were Kellets.

Apparently the main thing to watch for is the position of the thrust line relative to the C of G. Many recreational giros can be prone to unrecoverable 'push over' if too much power is applied suddenly and the rotor control speed is low.

[ooo000ooo]

There's a bloke flying round the world in a gyrocopter at the moment

[ben10]

My dad has just sold his for quite a tidy profit:

[pic]|http://thumbsnap.com/KtsFsfCI[/pic]

And has just swapped it for the upgrade:



They are awesome fun, can take off in about 100-200m and land in about 50m if that.

In regards to the rotor turning whilst on the ground, they have what is called a pre-rotator which is to aid faster/shorter take off. It is just driven by the engine and only until take off is completed.


He regularly buggers off to the other side of the country for breakfast or a coffee.

[ben10]

Oh and also, they aren't as dangerous as everyone thinks, even if you turn the engine off/it cuts out they will glide for quite a while.

last winter my Dad was caught in a sudden snow storm. one second the sky was clear and the next it was just a white wash, he just looked for a field (you are generally instructed to fly over non-residential areas where possible) and landed until the snow cleared and then took off again and flew home. (The only "incident" he has ever had.

[Ayahuasca]

I still cannot fathom how an autogyro generates lift - for autorotation to occur the rotor's angle of attack needs to be negative, but if it is negative it cannot generate positive lift.

[eharding]

erdnase said:

I thought PH would be all over the autogyro ethos! To me, they're like flying TVRs.. raw, minimalist and for the dedicated.

No, the land-based equivalent of an autogyro would be a 200bhp 200mph motorised unicycle. Yes, it looks cool, but you know it's going to end badly.

Ken Wallis - the Godfather of British Autogyros - came down the flying club a few winters ago to give a talk - and fascinating it was too. However, when someone asked him what he thought of the safety record of autogyros in the UK, his answer was succinct. "Abysmal"

Anyway - Yaks are the TVRs of the sky - ferocious appetite for fuel and maintenance, sound fantastic, handling that can get vicious when provoked, but are sociable beasts which like to congregate and move as a herd.