JJ Campbell
Junior Member
When the stick is all the way forward, the rotor is level (or close to it) and there is no elevator. So, why does the nose pitch down when the stick is pushed forward?
Vance - Rotor looks so close to the tail in the second photo.
That's because you're looking through the disc at the aircraft "below" (with respect to the viewer). Notice how the gyro is rolled toward the viewer and how much of the upper surface of the horizontal stabilizer you can see. You can't really appreciate the depth between the disc and the tail at that angle.
If you picture it this way it might help with your visualization.
imagine Your gyro is always flying straight land level.
in this imaginary gyro we are flying at 60 and the stick is neutral. Push the stick forward and the rotor disc moves forward but the hinged body can’t move all the mass that fast, so it lags a bit then assuming you keep that stick position, you speed up but are still flying level to the relative wind So the nose of the gyro body appears to pitch down,Losing altitude in the process.
if you were to add power at this point without introducing a relaxation of forward stick pressure , you would continue to fly very stably into the ground with the gyro at the same attitude to the relative wind.
pull back or relax the forward pressure and instantly the rotor tilts back, but the body will lag just a bit before the nose eventually comes back to straight and level climbing flight with the same rotor carriage angle to the relative wind. (For a given airspeed)
If you establish a dive with stick still forward And never neutralizing it just continuing to hold it forward in your dive the carriage and the rotor will reach an equilibrium just as if it’s in level flight. Where am I wrong. Adding power at that point will just make you hit the ground faster
In any steady-state flight at any acute angle of your path to the horizontal (whether up, down, or level) that you can achieve, adding power, without any other change, will cause a clockwise rotational motion of the needle on your vertical speed indicator. How far it moves depends on how much power you are able to add.So if you were in a dive- not a glide- dive dive dive! Lol
And you are let’s say max power max speed a setting that would be fastest available speed in level flight-
Are you still going to climb out of that dive?