Gyroplane Development and Demonstration using a Unique Bearingless Rotor System

It is well known that an outstanding way to achieve a reduction in landing and takeoff speeds is with a hybrid rotary wing and fixed wing aircraft, such as a gyroplane. However, while there are two U.S. companies pursuing development of gyroplanes, Groen Brothers and Carter Copter, neither has included a rotor system that is easy to fly or can adequately control rotor blade flapping during the critical flight conditions. A far superior rotor for gyroplanes is the Hanson Elastic Articulated (EA) bearingless rotor that grew out of Lockheed California in the early 1960s for light commercial helicopters. It was later further developed on an autogyro by Mr. Tom Hanson.Georgia Tech ASDL has been working with him in evaluating and analyzing the EA bearingless rotor. The inherent features of the EA Rotor look just as promising today, and can provide the missing link in making gyroplanes true PAVs. This proposal seeks to fulfill the promise of the gyroplane as a personal air vehicle. In Phase I the scientific, technical, and feasibility of the proposed innovation will be demonstrated. It will include a sound business plan outline for production, with a technical plan providing for compatibility with the emerging National Airspace System architecture and a certification plan. This will be accomplished with the assistance of two other organizations in addition to ASD, LLC. These are the Georgia Tech ASDL and Eagle Aviation Technologies Inc.Based on the demonstrated technical feasibility demonstrated in Phase I, the Phase II program will be used to demonstrate through flight testing the innovative gyroplane concept. This will include testing that can be used in conjunction with the certification and business plan developed in Phase I.