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Old April 5th 05, 05:39 PM
Kevin O'Brien
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On 2005-04-05 03:20:13 -0400, "Kensandyeggo" said:

Kevin O. answered everything perfectly. 138 in a gyro? I'd have to
see that. A McCulloch J-2 with a 180 horse Lyc only cruises at around
80, despire the old brochure claims of 95.


And not to pile on, but Carter Aviation Technologies claimed that their
CCTD would be good for 400 kt (I believe) on a six-cylinder auto motor.
The 3.8 six has been replaced by a 5.7 eight making ~380 HP and they
are flying at about 160 mph -- not knots.

They will go faster, I am sure. But I don't see 400. And they get speed
by unloading and slowing the rotor, and flying on lift from the wings.
The concept of the CCTD is to use the rotor not as the principal
lifting surface but as the mother of all low-speed lift-enhancing
devices on what's functionally a fixed-wing in cruise.

An experienced gyro entrepreneur is claiming 150 for a new design of
his, to be introduced next week. I believe that RAF claims 100 for the
RAF 2000 GTX SE. That's as credible as the fourteen year olds who write
into Road and Track about their imaginary Ferraris.

Gyro designers and marketing operations used to be mostly on the
up-and-up. Then came Dennis Fetters and the first Air Command (I have
to stress that the current Air Command is a whole different operation,
that makes a safe gyro and as far as I know sells it honestly).
Dennis's gyro had the best specs in the industry, thanks to Dennis's
skills.

Skills at typing press relases and performance charts....

Unfortunately, when his numbers got loose in the wild, people believed
them. "Gee, why would I buy a gyro that cruises at 65 when this Air
Command goes 110?" That set off an arms race of spiraling, bogus
performance claims. For other gyro makers, none of whom ever got rich
at this thing, it was "lie or die." I think many of them don't even
KNOW what the true performance numbers of their sheenry is.
(I can only think of one gyro manufacturer that has actually
instrumented a test aircraft the way, well, professionals do). Not
meaning to dampen anyone's ardour for gyros, they're great fun and safe
as houses with a little training and judgment (some are safer than
others to be sure). Just trying to get things onto a factual basis. I
would not trust the Barnett 138 nor the RAF 100 (RAF's can go that
fast, but it is not IMHO in a safe flight regime at that point).

cheers

-=K=-

Rule #1: Don't hit anything big.