I know it is not a gyro, but ....

[msmfi]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1248068.stm

Enjoy!
Mirek

[Gyrobound]

Great, one more obstacle aviation enthusiast would have to encounter and avoid. Could see a real problem at night if the cables aren’t lit up like a Christmas tree to help avoid them. Something tells me that it’ll be just like WWII and the barrage balloons that were carried aloft to hinder strafing aircraft. Hope the electricity generated will far out weigh the accidents I’m sure will claim lives.

Scott

[MikeBoyette]

Hey,
RAF needs to take notice of this machine it even has a horizontal stabilizer.

[John Stahl]

This is another unrealistic idea that will not work. They want to put the craft in the air 14,000 feet!! The weight of the electric cable will be several tons I doubt if the craft would have the capability lifting that much weight.

I find the single blade rotor interesting???
Why is he using a counter balance weight that dose not create lift?
Wouldn’t a two bladed rotor be more efficient?

He is using a BRAG (bi rotor auto gyro) rotor set up I find this most intriguing.

[Cobra Doc]

Should be a big hit with the airlines. Several big hits.

[gyrofly]

That has to be one of the dummest ideas I have ever heard of...outside of the bridge to the moon idea.
It says he has spent 20 years of his life developing this,... unbelievable.

[Hognose]

If it works, it's actually a good idea.

1. Winds aloft are almost always higher than winds near the surface. Friction with Earth's surface slows the winds down. Yet stalk-mounted wind turbines, like the ones near Mojave and the ones Ted Kennedy is trying to keep from being planted south of Martha's Vineyard, can only be so high and can't take advantage of this. Plus, the higher you build a stalk, the more structure you need just to hold the stalk up.

2. The single-bladed rotor (or propeller) with counterweight is, in theory, the most efficient blade design. Your tip losses are halved, for one thing! Your wright is a wash. There are some changes in how asymmetry of lift works on your rotor shaft. It's been done, and it's been flown. I bet, of forum members, Bruce Charnov and Dave Jackson know about this in detail.

3. We already have some tethered aerostats that fly this high. They are marked on a chart and NOTAM'd; they provide radar services for homeland/ADIZ security. There's one in Virginia, one in the Florida Keys, that I've seen.

This thing would only fly in cooperation with airspace authorities. Plenty of places to put it where airlines don't go. The real risk is not IFR traffic (which ATC must and can separate from such hazards) but low, NORDO, VFR traffic stooging through the area.

4. Some of the separation from VFR/recreational aircraft in ensured just by the nature of the beast. You need wind for this to work, and the more wind the better. In Britain, these will go up in the Orkneys before they go up in Wiltshire. In France... they're just too ugly. The French would rather live in the dark than have something this ugly in la belle France (who can blame them?), and they have excellent and modern nuclear power plants which provide most of their power needs. In the USA, there are lots of places where air traffic is nil and land is of little value.

Anyway, it has the potential to make electric power without burning stuff, especially stuff we have to buy from terrorist crazies. The Brazilians can make alcohol and run on that. The French have their nukes. Britain has bad weather!

Apart from its power potential, this could also be one hell of a communications relay platform.

Just my opinions.

cheers

-=K=-

[Heron]

Alchool, Bio Diesel and H-Bio now . . . :)
The farmers are happy!
There are mini plants you can buy and produce your own fuel and sell the over stock, around 50.000 dollars.
Wind power and sea power are also in use for electrical, cheaper and efficient.
The Cell phone industry is thinking about Zeppelins for their antenae, more range and easy to maintain.
Micro production of energy is the next step, inviromental friendly and less investment.
thanks
Heron

[gyrofly]

Can you imagine a failure, maby a wing break...and it going out of control with the cable snagging around the legs of the rest...they would all get tangled and come down kinda in a domino effect.

[Heron]

Mini energy plants are the future!
I have been planning a house self supporting in energy.
Plug ins with government controled supliers only if necessary.
Water, gas and electric all local.
The Sugar & Alchool industry is selling electric energy as by-product and only buy it off season for maintenance only.
Steam turbines run the show.
Some brazilian smart guy created a mini plant powered by the ocean, the waves tilt this long pontoon and the up and down movement creates energy, so it is part ocean part gravity powered.
Here in my city the University students created a water heater that runs out of the fridge radiator, it helps saving energy.
So, in a house there are lots of wasted energy that can be harnessed for reuse.
thanks
Heron