rtfm
Well-Known Member
Hi,
I've long been enamored with gyros - but I have to say, the glut of pusher gyros either on the market or on various drawing boards leave me cold.
The reason there are so many pushers, I think, comes down to two things:
So I have been thinking along the lines of a rear-engined tractor gyro. A bit like this:
Essentially what we end up with is a basic pusher-type gyro underpinning, with:
Sure, we need to be careful about torsional vibrations in the shaft, but we know about this issue already, and as an engineering challenge, this has been solved in various ways for decades now. So it's not an issue
I really can't see too many issues with the basic design.
I'd add stub wings (maybe 10ft span) sufficient to act as
I'd also partially power the rotor with a 150cc-sized electric motor. Great as a pre-rotator also. And powered by a generator driven by the gas engine.
For the gas engine, I'd be looking at something like the Mowhawk GT-4 (150hp, 125 lbs, liquid-cooled, 4-cylinder, 4-stroke, heated carburetors, magneto-fired individual (4) spark coils, fully redundant dual impulse fuel pumps.). Plenty of power for both propulsion and the generator.
Thoughts?
Duncan
I've long been enamored with gyros - but I have to say, the glut of pusher gyros either on the market or on various drawing boards leave me cold.
The reason there are so many pushers, I think, comes down to two things:
- The need to keep the occupants as close to the CG as possible. If you put the people just in front of the mast, and the engine directly behind it, most of your CG issues have largely been solved. In a tractor with the engine up front, the CG falls somewhere between the engine and the pilot. Add another 200lbs of passenger, and the CG moves waaay rearward.
- Design inertia. By this I mean that the eye becomes accustomed to a certain configuration, and it is difficult to see anything else as "right". Just look at the almost universal sameness of most cars on the road. Every SUV every made looks just like all the others in the class. Most pusher gyros are variations on a theme.
So I have been thinking along the lines of a rear-engined tractor gyro. A bit like this:
Essentially what we end up with is a basic pusher-type gyro underpinning, with:
- A lightweight, non-loadbearing composite airplane fuselage shell wrapped around it
- A prop up front with a driveshaft passing between the two occupants.
Sure, we need to be careful about torsional vibrations in the shaft, but we know about this issue already, and as an engineering challenge, this has been solved in various ways for decades now. So it's not an issue
I really can't see too many issues with the basic design.
I'd add stub wings (maybe 10ft span) sufficient to act as
- Fuel tanks
- Mounts for the main gear
- To provide perhaps 20% of the total lift at cruise speeds
- Small enough not to interfere with the rotor downwash
I'd also partially power the rotor with a 150cc-sized electric motor. Great as a pre-rotator also. And powered by a generator driven by the gas engine.
For the gas engine, I'd be looking at something like the Mowhawk GT-4 (150hp, 125 lbs, liquid-cooled, 4-cylinder, 4-stroke, heated carburetors, magneto-fired individual (4) spark coils, fully redundant dual impulse fuel pumps.). Plenty of power for both propulsion and the generator.
Thoughts?
Duncan
