Here's one gigundus effing autogyro! Four stories tall at the mast, rotors 1/2 the length of a football field, drive a Greyhound bus right on board up the tail ramp, take off straight up, fly as fast as a C-130...









www.cartercopters.com/heliplane_overview.html#overview

CarterCopters, L.L.C. of Wichita Falls, Texas, is proud to announce its design study for a revolutionary VTOL aircraft. Called the CarterCopter Heliplane Transport, the rotorcraft takes off, hovers and lands like a helicopter. At speeds above 100 MPH, the CCH-T converts to a CC high-technology gyroplane by unloading its rotor onto very efficient high-aspect ratio wings and (in the process) slows its rotor to minimize profile drag and maximize flight efficiency.

The CCH-T would be the largest rotorcraft ever flown. Its size, design and capabilities are impressive by any standard. The aircraft is taller than a four-story building. The main wheels are six feet tall, the two props are 24 feet in diameter and the rotor is one-half the length of a football field. A fully loaded Greyhound bus can be driven up its ramp and parked inside (with room to spare), and then flown away - straight up. Once airborne, the CCH-T converts into a CC gyroplane with flight efficiencies equivalent to fixed-wing aircraft. The CCH-T is designed to cruise at 450 MPH at 30,000 ft altitude and carry a 45,000 lb payload for 1500 miles with a 45-minute fuel reserve.

Range and gross weight can easily be increased. For Example, when the CCH-T is operated as a short takeoff and landing aircraft (STOL as opposed to VTOL), its max gross weight (MGW) at 8,000 ft. density altitude increases from 155,000 lbs. up to 200,000 lbs. (see Graphs under index for more details). With an additional 25,000 lbs of fuel, the range increases to 2,400 miles. A VTO without hovering at higher density altitudes is possible by using stored energy in the high-inertia rotor to provide the additional HP required until the aircraft accelerates to its minimum flight speed.

The Heliplane design represents a new class of aircraft, not just the size transport portrayed in the study. The same, patented CC technology can be used to build a Heliplane of almost any size. The CCH-T is comparable in payload and speed to the most advanced C-130J-30 Hercules, with almost twice the cargo compartment volume. Even larger Heliplanes are possible. At the opposite end of the scale, a Heliplane less than one-third the size of the CC gyroplane prototype (4500 lb MGW) can be built for military unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programs.

The only new technology used to design the CCH-T has been flying on the CC gyroplane prototype since September 1998. The CC prototype was built as a proof-of-concept demonstrator for both the CC ultra-high-inertia rotor and the control system interface between the rotor and wings. Other innovations on the prototype include the CC high efficiency prop with a computerized prop controller, and the extreme-energy absorbing landing gear. On the CCH-T, the 24-ft diameter 4-bladed version of the same prop will produce over 40,000 lbs of static thrust (per prop x 2 props). The CCH-T version of the same landing gear will be able to absorb landing impacts up to 50 feet per second without damage to the aircraft or occupants.

And now the civvie version:



I likey!

Might make a nice COD Aircraft.  Or maybe a front line transport.

However, I see one HUGE problem.

In flight refueling.... As far as that rotor sticks out, getting that beast refueled in midair would be a bitch and a half.  

Reminds me of the Fairey Rotodyne (which IMHO was one of the coolest looking aircraft ever).

Quoted: Might make a nice COD Aircraft.  Or maybe a front line transport. However, I see one HUGE problem. In flight refueling.... As far as that rotor sticks out, getting that beast refueled in midair would be a bitch and a half.

PAVE Hawk pilots manage it....

Wow, that looks pretty damn cool.

I hope it works out, made by a Texas company too, cool.

Quoted: Might make a nice COD Aircraft.  Or maybe a front line transport. However, I see one HUGE problem. In flight refueling.... As far as that rotor sticks out, getting that beast refueled in midair would be a bitch and a half.

In the technical profile it specifies a telescoping refueling boom.

A much better concept than the Osprey.  

Looks like the History Channel CG versions of the WWII Japanese test bed aircraft.  IIRC they were the first to use a Helo in combat.

You better save those drawings if you like Carter's ideas because that's all you'll ever see of that machine.

Jay Carter makes outrageous claims about the possible performance of his vehicles that can't stand even a cursory engineering analysis; the easiest to debunk are his speed and range claims.  Also, Carter will never build any commercial machine, he's strictly in the game to license his companie's inventions, particularly the high inertia rotor blades.

But, he's probably having fun.

Quoted: You better save those drawings if you like Carter's ideas because that's all you'll ever see of that machine. Jay Carter makes outrageous claims about the possible performance of his vehicles that can't stand even a cursory engineering analysis; the easiest to debunk are his speed and range claims.  Also, Carter will never build any commercial machine, he's strictly in the game to license his companie's inventions, particularly the high inertia rotor blades. But, he's probably having fun.

Yeah, but do you think such a flying machine would WORK?

Quoted: Quoted: You better save those drawings if you like Carter's ideas because that's all you'll ever see of that machine. Jay Carter makes outrageous claims about the possible performance of his vehicles that can't stand even a cursory engineering analysis; the easiest to debunk are his speed and range claims.  Also, Carter will never build any commercial machine, he's strictly in the game to license his companie's inventions, particularly the high inertia rotor blades. But, he's probably having fun. Yeah, but do you think such a flying machine would WORK?

These machines can be built and flown, they just won't have the performance that Carter claims; they can't, unless all our aeronautical knowledge of the last 75 years is wrong (it's not).

Here's an easy experiement - compare the appearance of the Voyager airplane and it's fuel fraction to the "round the world" vehicles shown on the CarterCopter web site.  The differences are obvious.  Voyager had a little spare fuel remaining at the end of the flight, but it was no more than a tiny margin to meet the requirements of the mission.  Or, compare any long range, high endurance airplane to the Carter configurations - it's a qualitative measure, but it's valid.

Are you talking about their range estimates, top/cruising speeds, or payload capacity? Or all of them?

Damn. A vertical-takeoff C-130 would be cool!

I watched their test pilot buzz the airport at Olney, TX showing off a much smaller example of that design to some Army brass a couple years ago.

He was flying pretty low over the buildings and other aircraft on the ramp, including mine while we were loading passengers. I was not impressed.

I was considering a phone call to the FAA when we got back to home base. But, as we were departing the pattern their test pilot landed the gyro-thingy gear-up. Staff on the ground was shouting over the radio to "go around" but too late. Saw it all from the cockpit window. No one was hurt and we laughed our asses off all the way home. Justice was indeed served that day.

I have no pity for an unsafe aviator....

Be safe or don't fly at all,

Flyer

Quoted: Might make a nice COD Aircraft.  Or maybe a front line transport. However, I see one HUGE problem. In flight refueling.... As far as that rotor sticks out, getting that beast refueled in midair would be a bitch and a half.

Not if it refueled unconventionaly.  If it refueled from and elevated position and the refueling plane was underneth and it pumped the fuel up.

Quoted: Might make a nice COD Aircraft.  Or maybe a front line transport. However, I see one HUGE problem. In flight refueling.... As far as that rotor sticks out, getting that beast refueled in midair would be a bitch and a half.

The rotor appears to be only slightly longer than the nose. With a boom mounted on the fuselage it should be possible to rfuel them mid-air.

I'm still hoping for a return of the Kaspian Monster.