[HN Gopher] Gyroplane Accidents 1985-2005
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Gyroplane Accidents 1985-2005
Author : simonebrunozzi
Score : 22 points
Date : 2021-02-22 20:56 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
(TXT) w3m dump (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
| mrfusion wrote:
| Why aren't autogyros more popular as drones? It seems like they
| would have a lot of advantages for photography and package
| delivery.
|
| And they could be cheaper to build and easier to operate?
| geocrasher wrote:
| Drones are typically quad or hexacopters that can take off and
| land vertically even in a stiff breeze. If you're talking about
| some other kind of drone then maybe you could specify it. But
| compared to quad or hexacopter an auto gyro would have a lot
| more loiter time just as a fixed wing would, and it could come
| down vertically at least to a point, but would not be able to
| take off or land vertically.
|
| There is one particular brand of autogyro that can take off
| vertically by pre-spinning the rotor and then applying
| collective at the same time as disconnecting power from it.
| They tend to leap off the tarmac. But that is not the norm.
| Standard autogyros require a takeoff roll just as a fixing
| aircraft plane does. People often look at the rotor and think
| that it is like a helicopter but in fact it is more like a
| fixed wing aircraft in the sense that air must be passing over
| the wings / rotor in order to produce lift.
|
| That being said, an autonomous autogyro does sound very
| interesting. One could pre-spin the rotor with a typical
| brushless motor and then leave it unpowered during flight. It
| does require collective control to be able to do that but even
| hobby helicopters have collective and cyclic control, so adding
| just collective control seems very approachable.
| jandrese wrote:
| I've read that Gyroplanes are dangerous to beginners because if
| you get in trouble the instinct to pull back on the stick like a
| traditional aircraft can be fatal to gyro pilots. They have to
| un-learn one of the most basic skills they learned as pilots.
|
| Edit: I mean push on the stick. Sorry, had a brainfart. Good
| thing I'm not a pilot.
| Wistar wrote:
| Not sure about gyrocopters but fixed-wing pilots who later
| transition to, or add, a rotary wing license are intensely
| counseled to resist the baked-in urge to push the nose over to
| counteract a stall or imminent stall.
|
| In almost all single-rotor helicopters, pushing the nose over
| -- fixed wing style -- runs a high risk of causing the tailboom
| to rise and collide with the main rotor. The rare rigid rotor
| ships (BO-105s, mostly) are less likely to have this happen.
| elihu wrote:
| That was alluded to in this old xkcd commic, though it doesn't
| go into the details: https://xkcd.com/1972/
|
| I kind of assumed that "the one thing you instinctively do to
| escape a stall" is to push forward on the stick. Some answeres
| here seem to confirm that:
| https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/49865/why-does-...
| phkahler wrote:
| The comic says it never stalls, but then says if it does you
| should not do the instinctive thing. ;-)
| minieggs wrote:
| FWIW during my PPL pulling back during (un?)expected situations
| instinctually was very much discouraged.
|
| edit: this parent comments makes more sense if instead the
| author meant push on the stick, as another pointed out.
| [deleted]
| abeppu wrote:
| Should a lot of vehicles have fundamentally different controls
| now than when they were first invented? In particular, should
| we move away from controls which map onto how control surfaces
| or other physical parts move, and instead focus on controls
| that describe the desired motion? Quad-copters are pretty easy
| to fly, but they would be really really hard to fly if you were
| supposed to manage the thrust on each motor. I've never flown
| one, but I understand helicopters are challenging to fly, and
| controls do map onto actually actuating the swashplate and tail
| rotor.
|
| I don't understand how a gyroplane flies, or why pulling back
| on the stick causes immediate problems. But ... should
| autogyros have controls where you describe the motion you want,
| and let a computer figure out the actuation?
|
| I think there's an analogy to software here, where generally
| we're less error-prone and more productive if we can specify
| what we want by expressing higher-level, declarative
| relationships, rather than demanding that humans always think
| in terms of the low-level operations that will need to occur.
| garaetjjte wrote:
| >in trouble the instinct to pull back on the stick like a
| traditional aircraft
|
| You mean _push_ on stick? (that 's what is done to avoid stall
| in normal aircrafts)
|
| Anyway, https://xkcd.com/1972/
| akavel wrote:
| What does "perception-based performance breakdown" mean?
| _s wrote:
| Most light sport aircraft are day VFR only, with an altimeter
| and airspeed indicator being the primary instruments. Some
| ultra lights don't even have those, and you use visual cues and
| the "feel" of the craft to judge your energy/speed/height - and
| our perceptions are not the most reliable.
| stevecalifornia wrote:
| Well I have an oddly specific contribution to this thread: My
| first boss was absent all the time. He'd show up to the office
| and lock himself away, leave and then not come back for another 6
| months. He hated software and computers and didn't want to be a
| part of the software product we were building-- which is self
| evidently strange.
|
| He used to race experimental cars. He was in a horrific crash on
| one of those salt flats and his personality was permanently
| changed. He went from being pleasant to the person I knew him
| as-- cold, strange and reclusive.
|
| Turns out he was coming in to the office just long enough to use
| Excel to run a calculation. He was designing a helicopter where
| the jet engines were on the tip of the rotors and you stood in a
| can above the whirling blades. We called it GarbageCopter.
|
| Anyways, he eventually gave up and bought a gyrocopter. He flies
| that thing all day, every day. Just circling in the pattern at
| our airport at 1,000 feet and 20 knots.
|
| He is very old and blind on one side. I have no idea how he got
| his health check. I am pretty sure he will be a statistic
| someday, but at least he's doing something he likes.
| julian_ap wrote:
| Fascinating. I have so many questions. How did this manager
| manage to not get his position terminated? Was he able to run
| Excel calculations for the GarbageCopter outside his office
| machine? I will stop here for now. Thank you.
| BuildTheRobots wrote:
| Tip jet [1] helicopters have been a thing, but it's never taken
| off commercially. The Fairey Rotodyne being a good example. [2]
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip_jet
|
| [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_Rotodyne
| rtkwe wrote:
| For a Gyrocopter you only need a Thrid Class Medical
| certificate or to comply with BasicMed neither of which list
| eyesight as a disqualifying condition.
|
| https://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/medical_certificat...
|
| https://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/airmen_certificati...
| tjohns wrote:
| The standards for a third class go beyond just what's on the
| official "disqualifying" list. It's definitely not a walk in
| the park. Not even close.
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(page generated 2021-02-22 23:00 UTC)