Here are the most frequently-asked questions,
answered by Paul Bergen Abbott, longtime homebuilt rotorcraft pilot and
former editor/publisher of Rotorcraft.
- What is a rotorcraft?
- What's good about rotorcraft?
- What's bad about rotorcraft?
- Myths about rotorcraft
- What choices are there in rotorcraft?
- How do you learn to fly homebuilt rotorcraft?
- What can you do with a homebuilt rotorcraft?
- Helicopter, autogyro--what's the difference?
- Can rotorcraft be flown as ultralights?
- Do I need a Pilot's certificate to fly an
Experimental Aircraft?
Rotorcraft are the other half of aviation. They're not airplanes, but
they fly. And they do it in a way that's different, giving their pilots and
passengers a flying experience they can't get any other way.
Compared to airplanes, some rotorcraft cost more, some cost less. Some
are bigger, most are smaller. Rotorcraft look different and they fly
differently, using a small wing that spins at hundreds of miles per hour,
even when they are standing still in the air, in a hover.
Some people can't wait to fly a rotorcraft. Others wouldn't personally
care to. But everybody seems to agree on one point: Rotorcraft are
interesting and exciting, and they make the wide world of sport aviation
even wider.
Many rotorcraft pilots have airplane pilot's licenses. I know several
professional airplane pilots who fly autogyros and lots of airplane pilots
who fly helicopters. Some very competent airplane drivers have had a fling
at fling-wing aircraft. After flying some of the world's most exciting
airplanes and walking on the moon,astronaut Jim Erwin soloed an autogyro!
Today, many pilots consider sport rotorcraft to be an important part of
their aviation experience. "If I'm only flying airplanes," they figure, "I'm
missing the other half of aviation!"
What is it about rotorcraft that fascinates people? Among sport aircraft,
there's one main appeal: This is a unique flying experience. Being airborne
on spinning rotor blades is different. Since those blades are always moving,
the rotorcraft can stay in the air at any speed. Stalls, as in an airplane,
are unknown among rotorcraft.
Rotorcraft are very maneuverable. They can turn tightly, close to the
ground, to stay over a small area. Steep banks that are considered
aerobatics in an airplane are normal play for many rotorcraft. Punch the
pedals and a rotorcraft will turn to fly sideways (the rotor doesn't care
which direction the body points). Pour on the power and you'll usually find
an impressive rate of climb. This is a type of aircraft that loves to play.
Homebuilt rotorcraft are typically folding-wing aircraft. They have rotor
blades that attach to the craft with a few bolts that you can easily remove.
That means you can haul these rotorcraft on a trailer and store them in a
garage.
Some--not all--rotorcraft are inexpensive, both to buy and to maintain.
Their cost is concentrated in the rotor and control systems, so the rest of
the rotorcraft can be simple in design and materials. A bolt-together
airframe is good enough for several of the rotorcraft designs, and a
streamlined body pod can be easily bolted over this frame to complete the
picture.
Rotorcraft can fly in strong winds that keep airplanes on the ground. A
good pilot can take advantage of the rotorcraft's ability to better handle
the effects of wind and fly on days that are uncomfortably gusty for small
airplanes. Why? Rotorcraft all have the equivalent of high wing loading,
with their small-chord rotor blades doing the work of a much larger-chord
fixed wing. It's more like riding a Bonanza than a Cessna 152. And they
usually don't have much of a fuselage (some have no fuselage) to catch a
crosswind. When a crosswind or gust hits, the rotors can keep generating
lift regardless of the direction of the wind.
Rotorcraft have some disadvantages. You won't find a homebuilt rotorcraft
winning an efficiency race. Rotors aren't an efficient way to fly, since
they produce more drag than an airplane wing. They won't go very fast,
either. That's partly because it takes a lot of power to push a draggy rotor
disc through the air. It's also an unavoidable result of having a rotor
blade that's always spinning at 300 to 400 miles per hour. When you try to
add a lot of forward speed to the aircraft, you're asking the advancing
rotor blade to go even faster-- a tall order!
It's possible to make rotorcraft fairly efficient, but for sport flying
efficiency isn't really very important, anyway.
There are a lot of myths about rotorcraft. Like "They're dangerous."
"They're unproven." "They have a lot of unknown flight characteristics." Not
true.
Rotorcraft are no more dangerous than other homebuilt aircraft. It's the
builders and the pilots who are the problem in both rotorcraft and
airplanes. Anything that flies can be dangerous, regardless of whether it
beats the air into submission with whirling rotor blades or carves
glidepaths through the air with wings.
Rotorcraft seem to attract a large number of tinkerers without much
understanding of aircraft mechanics or construction techniques, and some of
them have done some foolish things. Also, when a rotorcraft tips over, the
spinning blades often splinter themselves, making a spectacle of an
otherwise uninteresting incident.
Handled right, homebuilt rotorcraft are at least as safe as any other
homebuilt aircraft. Statistics show that, for a competent rotorcraft pilot,
the most dangerous part of a flight is the automobile drive to the airport!
Do you prefer to fly with the wind in your face? Or completely surrounded
in cabin class?
With rotorcraft you can have anything from a bugs-in-your-teeth
open-frame traditional Gyroplane to a sealed-up snuggly-warm RotorWay Exec
helicopter. In the middle there are also partially-enclosed machines like
the Air Command, giving you the feel of an airborne convertible with the top
down.
The open-frame gyros are a real thrill! You sit on a simple plastic seat,
your control stick in your hand, your feet on the rudder pedals in front of
you-- and the world below you! The wind massages your face and ripples your
pants legs, you hear the sound of your engine behind you and the swish of
the rotor blades above you. This is as close to an addictive experience as
you can legally get, and some devoted open-frame pilots wouldn't have it any
other way.
If you go for a partially-enclosed rotorcraft, you can either go topless
or sideless. You can take the topless approach in an Air Command, with a
body pod that's like an open-cockpit airplane. Or you can take the sideless
approach in a Sport Copter Vortex with no doors.
There are some comfortable fully-enclosed helicopters like the RotorWay
Exec, the Hummingbird, the Baby Belle and the Ultrasport 331 (the licensed
version of the ultralight helicopter). On the gyro side there are only a few
fully enclosed machines, like the RAF 2000 and the Barnett J4B. Enclosed
rotorcraft give cabin-class comfort to your ride, and, in some cases,
year-round flying with a cabin heater.
Rotorcraft give you another choice: which engine should you pick?
Homebuilt rotorcraft use many of the same engines that are found on
airplanes. There are two-strokers like the Rotax, Arrow and Hirth, and four-strokers
like the Volkswagen and Subaru. If you insist on a type-certificated
aircraft engine, you can find rotorcraft that use a Continental or Lycoming.
Some rotorcraft use engines you don't find anywhere else, like the
custom-built RotorWay engine that powers the Exec or the two-stroke
McCulloch drone engine that many Gyroplane pilots love. Rotorcraft people
have always been adventurous in trying new engines, due to the excellent
engine-out landing capabilities of these machines. Both helicopters and
autogyros can glide to a landing in a very small area, touching down at
about zero airspeed.
You learn to fly rotorcraft just like airplanes: by taking flying
lessons.
Flight training in rotorcraft has become widely available in the past few
years. While RotorWay has run a flight school for its helicopter kit
builders for more than a decade, training in autogyros is something new.
Since the late 1980's, powered two-seat gyro training rotorcraft have been
developed, and certified flight instructors for gyros are now widely
available. Today you can hire an instructor to teach you to fly a gyro with
all the safety of dual-seat instruction. Previously, gyro pilots had to take
a very risky "teach yourself" approach that led to a high accident rate
among new pilots and a bad reputation for gyro pilots. But now it's
different, and the availability of gyro training has generated an explosion
of interest in these machines.
To learn to fly a homebuilt rotorcraft, you must have training. This is
true regardless of your previous flight experience. Fixed-wingers have to
learn how to handle an aircraft that doesn't fly like an airplane. New
pilots have to learn a whole new ball game.
Even though the autogyro is the easier to fly of the two types of
rotorcraft, it's likely to be too much for a new pilot without training. A
helicopter in the hands of an untrained pilot is a certain wipeout.
Some rotorcraft manufacturers offer dual-seat training. Pilots of other
models can learn in a rotorcraft that resembles the machine they intend to
fly, then transition to their own craft. Several instructors teach
open-frame two-seaters that resemble Bensen Gyroplanes. Manufacturers of
the small single-seat helicopters generally recommend training in a two-seat
Robinson R-22 helicopter.
Where to get training:
Helicopters
Contact a local helicopter flight training center for training in a
Robinson R-22, the smallest, lightest helicopter generally available for
training. Most manufacturers of single-seat helicopters recommend this to
prepare you for their ships. If you're planning to fly a homebuilt Exec
helicopter, contact RotorWay International, phone (602) 961-1001, fax (602)
961-1514, 4141 W. Chandler Blvd., Chandler, AZ 85226 for training at their
flight school.
Gyros
There are certified flight instructors in autogyros in various locations
in the United States and Canada. Many of them advertise in Rotorcraft
magazine, and a complete list is published each February in the annual PRA
Rotorcraft Directory of that magazine.
You can do almost anything you want to with a rotorcraft. You can fly a
helicopter from your back yard, commute to the lake, fly low over the
countryside and inspect the scenery. Rotorcraft offer many new
possibilities.
To date, most homebuilt rotorcraft have been used in one way: as sport
machines to fly in a local area, often with other people with the same
interest. But they're capable of much more.
Some pilots fly their homebuilt autogyros and helicopters regularly cross
country, sometimes from state to state. Homebuilt autogyros have been flown
coast-to coast in the United States (by Ken Brock in an open-frame
Gyroplane in 1971 and by Howard Merkel in a Barnett J4B-2 in 1989). A
homebuilt helicopter was flown coast to coast in two separate legs in 1988
and 1989, by Homer Bell in a RotorWay Exec. In July, 1996, Doug O'Connor
flew his open-frame SnoBird gyro from Galveston, Texas to Sarnia, Ontario, a
distance of over 1,400 miles. And Mark Richards flew his homebuilt Baby
Belle helicopter from Ear Falls, Ontario, Canada to Lakeland, Florida in
April, 1996.
Homebuilt rotorcraft make up a rapidly-expanding part of the sport
aviation scene. Every year there are more homebuilt autogyros, more
homebuilt helicopters and more people wanting to build and fly them. Every
year there are more people who want to be part of the rotorcraft world--the
other half of aviation!
Rotorcraft come in two flavors: helicopter and autogyro. The difference
is simple: helicopters drive their rotors with engine power, autogyros have
free-wheeling rotors. But that simple difference changes the whole flying
experience.
The helicopter is more complex mechanically, requiring more maintenance
and demanding more pilot skill than other types of aircraft. Most pilots
agree that a helicopter is the most difficult type of aircraft to fly. But
the helicopter does something no other aircraft can: it lifts off from your
back yard, from an unprepared field, or anywhere you like. And it can move
through the air virtually any way you like: forward, backward, sideways or
even completely stopped in a hover. In terms of sex appeal, some of the
helicopters are good looking enough to easily attract passengers, and I've
seen living proof that ladies go for guys who fly helicopters!
The autogyro (also called "," "Gyroplane" or just "gyro,"
depending on what it looks like and who's talking) is usually a very simple
flying machine. There's no tail rotor, and one less control (no collective)
than a helicopter, so you can fly a gyro with stick, rudder and throttle,
the same controls used in an airplane. That doesn't mean an airplane pilot
can jump in an autogyro and fly it. In fact, the unique handling of the gyro
requires that all pilots, even those with thousands of hours in airplanes,
must relearn their piloting techniques for the gyro.
The traditional open-frame Gyroplane is about the simplest thing in the
air next to a boomerang. There's not much maintenance required (although the
little maintenance that's needed is critical), and some models are fairly
low in cost. The open-frame style gyro is one of the most minimal of flying
machines, giving the pilot a very birdlike experience.
Yes, you can fly a rotorcraft as an ultralight if you like. That means
you can fly without a license and you can purchase one completely built, if
it qualifies under the FAA Part 103 ultralight regulations as an ultralight
aircraft (Note that the regs don't say ultralight "airplane" but ultralight
"aircraft," and a gyro is an "aircraft").
Under the Part 103 ultralight regulations an aircraft must weigh no more
than 254 pounds, must fly no faster than 63 miles per hour, and must carry
no more than five US gallons of fuel. There's also a minimum stall speed,
but since rotorcraft don't stall, this doesn't apply. If an
aircraft--whether it's an airplane or a rotorcraft--meets these
requirements, it can fly as an ultralight. That means it doesn't have to be
licensed or registered with the FAA, the pilot doesn't have to have a
license, and it can be purchased completely built. However, ultralight
pilots still have to fly under the FAA "rules of the road," and are subject
to FAA inspection at any time to see that they qualify as ultralights. Even
if you fly an ultralight rotorcraft, you need training.
There are a number of autogyro designs that can operate under the rules
of Part 103--the Air Command 447, the Brock KB-3 and the Gyrobee, for
example. Some gyros have been specifically designed to meet these rules and
to allow the pilot to fly without a license. Ultralight gyros have been
around since 1984, and by now some of them can provide good-enough
performance to win over some former ultralight airplane pilots.
To keep a gyro within the 254-pound ultralight weight limit, you can't
load on all the accessories you might want. For example, a prerotator to
pre-spin the rotors before takeoff isn't excluded from the weight limit by
the FAA (Although many people think this is safety equipment that should be
excluded like a ballistic parachute, the FAA has not yet agreed). That means
you may have to push the rotor blades by hand to start them.
An ultralight gyro will usually have a small engine, like a Rotax 447,
and could end up with anemic performance. The little power plant is usually
needed both to keep the weight down and to keep the top speed under the
ultralight maximum of 63 miles per hour. If the pilot is a big person, this
may not be enough oomph for good performance. However, some more
average-sized pilots are reporting satisfactory performance from a 447. And
the Brock KB-3 gyro is light enough to use a big 65-horsepower Rotax 582,
limiting the top speed by increasing the pitch of the rotor blades.
"They'll never make an ultralight helicopter." That used to be a common
belief, but today a helicopter that appears to meet the ultralight
regulations is now available. Say hello to the Ultrasport 254, the world's
first ultralight helicopter. To make this ship an ultralight, the designers
built it almost entirely of carbon-fiber composites, even using titanium
instead of steel for the main rotor drive shaft. To get performance from a
light engine, the rotor system was made extremely efficient, so it can
produce lots of lift from limited horsepower. This ultralight helicopter
appears to be performing quite nicely, and it opens up the helicopter flying
experience to a whole new group of people who will only consider an
ultralight aircraft.
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