- #211
KyleFoster
- 4
- 0
ok first off i didnt read every post. I am an Airframe and Powerplant mechanic, certified to work on anything that can fly and is certificated by the FAA.
Normal helicopters have around a 30 foot rotor diameter with the blades being approximately 15 feet long and around 1 foot wide. Normal rotor speeds on most helicopters is around 390 rpm's. To produce enough lift to lift a 500 pound helicopter with a ~200 pound pilot you would need about 200 rpm's of rotor speed.
Through gearing and designing a working flight control system you could do it with a normal person working the controls and pedals. Remember work smarter not harder.
With 4 axis controls it could be done.
If you build the frame from Plastic Tubing it would be strong enough and light enough for a short flight, just secure the glue joints with screws to increase the strength.
If you use gearing like a 18 speed bike to drive the main rotor and have a shaft go from the main "gearbox" to the tail gear it would be easy enough for a person of normal physical abilities to power it, and with the 4 axis controls you can regulate the amount of thrust and you will be able to keep it within the "square" so to speak.
The design would end up looking more like a modern helicopter than a weird science project gone bad.
So this being said...it would be possible to fly it across the channel if you have someone that knows how to fly it right since once its in flight you could basically autorotate, no power, for a certain distance then apply power climb to a few hundred feet and auto rotate again, the light weight of the frame and the aerodynamics of the blades would keep the aircraft in flight like a glider over longer distances.
Sorry for the long post.
Normal helicopters have around a 30 foot rotor diameter with the blades being approximately 15 feet long and around 1 foot wide. Normal rotor speeds on most helicopters is around 390 rpm's. To produce enough lift to lift a 500 pound helicopter with a ~200 pound pilot you would need about 200 rpm's of rotor speed.
Through gearing and designing a working flight control system you could do it with a normal person working the controls and pedals. Remember work smarter not harder.
With 4 axis controls it could be done.
If you build the frame from Plastic Tubing it would be strong enough and light enough for a short flight, just secure the glue joints with screws to increase the strength.
If you use gearing like a 18 speed bike to drive the main rotor and have a shaft go from the main "gearbox" to the tail gear it would be easy enough for a person of normal physical abilities to power it, and with the 4 axis controls you can regulate the amount of thrust and you will be able to keep it within the "square" so to speak.
The design would end up looking more like a modern helicopter than a weird science project gone bad.
So this being said...it would be possible to fly it across the channel if you have someone that knows how to fly it right since once its in flight you could basically autorotate, no power, for a certain distance then apply power climb to a few hundred feet and auto rotate again, the light weight of the frame and the aerodynamics of the blades would keep the aircraft in flight like a glider over longer distances.
Sorry for the long post.