autogyro
Sign in to savethumb|upright=1.36|The AutoGyro Calidus, a modern, closed-cabin, pusher-propeller autogyro in flight
AI overview
An autogyro is an aircraft that uses an unpowered rotating rotor on top to generate lift while a propeller pushes it forward, combining features of both helicopters and airplanes. It matters because it offers a relatively simple and safer way to fly, requiring shorter distances to take off and land compared to traditional airplanes.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
20 sectionsContents
- Principle of operation
- Flight controls
- Pusher vs tractor configuration
- History
- Early development
- Winter War
- World War II
- Postwar developments
- Bensen Gyrocopter
- 21st-century development and use
- Unmanned autogyros
- Helicopter autogyration
- Certification by national aviation authorities
- United Kingdom certification
- United States certification
- World records
- In popular culture
- See also
- References
- Further reading
thumb|upright=1.36|The AutoGyro Calidus, a modern, closed-cabin, pusher-propeller autogyro in flight
An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), gyroplane or gyrocopter, is a class of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. A gyroplane "means a rotorcraft whose rotors are not engine-driven, except for initial starting, but are made to rotate by action of the air when the rotorcraft is moving; and whose means of propulsion, consisting usually of conventional propellers, is independent of the rotor system." While similar to a helicopter rotor in appearance, the autogyro's unpowered rotor disc must have air flowing upward across it to make it rotate. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller.