I was planing to enclose the engine area as close to the original design as I can, to reduce overall drag, like that matters much.
I was goofing off and made some comparisons between powered parachutes, gyro-copters and fixed wing light sport aircraft and made the following notes:
Powered Parachute
High wing
High drag wing
Fuselage independent from wing
55HP typical engine for a 2 seat aircraft
Glide ratio is about 4 to 1.
27 MPH forward speed
2.03 HP per MPH expended
Engine out straight down descent speed 600 to 750 Feet per minute (FPM)
42000 Feet per hour is 7.95 miles per hour at impact.
Straight down descent crash is easily survivable
Gyro-copter
High wing
Moderately high drag wing
Fuselage independent from wing
130HP engine typical for a 2 seat aircraft
Glide ratio is about 5 to 1
70 MPH forward speed
1.85 HP per MPH expended
Engine out straight down descent speed 1000 FPM (for the Hollman HA2M)
60000 Feet per hour is 11.36 miles per hour at impact
Straight down descent crash is easily survivable, but might hurt some.
Fixed wing
Low or high wing
Fuselage attached to wing
100 HP engine typical for 2 seat aircraft
Glide ratio of 16 to 1 or greater is typical
115 MPH forward speed typical
0.86 HP per MPH expended
Engine out straight down descent is not recommended, but could exceed 175MPH
16,600 feet per minute, is right at 1 million feet per hour or 189(ish) MPH.
Straight down descent crash is probably not at all survivable
I know, I know, a flat spin stalled FW will not descent at 189MPH, but will still kill you...
Analysis is that the gyrocopter is for all practical purposes a high performance powered parachute. A gyro-copter will descend straight down a little faster than a guy in a parachute.
Pretty cool...