Flying behind the power cure

All_In

Gold Supporter
Joined
Apr 21, 2008
Messages
16,105
Location
San Diego, CA. USA
Aircraft
Airgyro AG915 Centurian, Aviomania G1sb
Total Flight Time
Gyroplane 70Hrs, not sure over 10,000+ logged FW, 260+ ultralights, sailplane, hang-gliders
Warning all newbie’s do not think this is correct information in anyway many of my friends here think it will change with experience! It is just to teach myself and it’s a test to see how much of it changes after I have several 100 hours.

----Start----
Flying behind the power cure

So how does an aircraft fly "behind the power curve" and what happens when you do?

First lets’ answer how do you avoid it. It is simple just keep your airspeed above minimum straight and level flying speed by watching your airspeed indicator.
Flying behind the power curve means the point (airspeed) at which more power is required to maintain the same altitude and you start an uncommanded descent . The lower the airspeed the further behind the power curve you are and the faster you uncommanded decent becomes until you hit zero airspeed and you start a vertical uncommanded decent.
Now what happens and why many accidents occur in gyroplanes from not having enough power in to maintain the airspeed to maintain altitude. This is usually because the angle of attack and your pitch is too high with the power setting you have even full power when taking off and climbing out at too steep an angle which reduces your airspeed and you then will descend until you hit the ground. That is how most of these accidents occur on takeoff when the pilot does not take action by reducing pressure on the cyclic which lowers the nose and adding power, if any power left. It can also occur when turning base or final at minimum air speeds.

With full power the pilot’s only action to avoid it is to increase airspeed by reducing back pressure on the cyclic to gain airspeed. Bensen described how to get out of it as diving down. With full power in accidents I believe this scares pilots diving towards the ground and they freeze instead of reducing their pitch and fly down and level out only inches above the ground then fly parallel to the runway gaining airspeed. This last maneuver is use for short field takeoff procedures with runway without obstruction at the end.

Gyroplanes can safely fly behind the power curve it when you get trapped there that it become an accident.

It also can occur when landing and the pilot has reduced power having only enough airspeed to fly straight and level however when they bank on base or final with this low airspeed you will start to descend until you hit the ground unless you level out again which will increase airspeed back to where it was but you should add power increasing it to a safe airspeed, more on banked turns later.

Gyroplanes will not stall they will go into a decent because our airfoils will only stall when they approach supersonic airspeeds starting at the blade tips and only happens at very fast air speeds not slow air speeds However they will enter an uncommanded decent until they hit the ground.

How to experience this yourself and I suspect that your pilot operating handbook doesn't have a set of power curves so here how to have both.

The next time you fly with an instructor, if not an experienced pilot, take the time to collect data for drawing your own power curves. It's really very simple. Do this at a safe altitude with plenty of time to recover.
1. Trim the aircraft for straight and level flight at a cruise power setting. Write down both the AIRSPEED and power setting.
2. Then reduce your airspeed in 10-kt increments without changing from straight and level and continue to record airspeed and power settings.
3. Eventually, you will reach a point at which more power is required to maintain the same altitude with a NOTICEABLE slower airspeed.
4. You are now officially "behind the power curve."
5. Once you know you're on the back side, push the nose over and observe what happens. Your AIRSPEED will increase and even with the same low power setting you are no longer behind the power cure.
6. Then raise the nose and make some similar observations. Your airspeed will decree and a gyroplane will start descending. The higher the angle of attack the faster the gyroplane descends.
7. Continue to do this while maintaining altitude. When you have finished, you will know exactly how your Aircraft will act while flying under these circumstances.
8. You should also explore directional control at low indicated airspeed and practice turns as if turn base or final at different bank angles.
9. Once you have mastered how to physically fly your Aircraft behind the power curve, you can better keep from entering this flight regime unintentionally and will learn how to fly out of it.

TO AVOID IT JUST WATCH YOUR AIRSPEED INDICATOR and increase airspeed with power until full on and then lower your angle of attack and this will not happen! CANNOT happen with the correct airspeed no matter what the wind direction!

Now that you understand what flying behind the power cure mean let’s examine what happens during a banked turn where the lift on the aircraft must support the weight of the aircraft, as well as provide the necessary NEW component of horizontal force to cause centripetal acceleration. Because of centripetal acceleration the lift required in a banked turn is greater than one required in straight, level flight. All air foiled 'CLT' (center line trust) aircraft you must pull back on the stick in a banked turn. Why because any moving vehicle making a turn, it is necessary for the forces acting on the vehicle to add up to a NEW net inward force if you look at the picture there is a new horizontal force (centripetal acceleration) that is stealing some of your lift in a banked turn, examine the picture and see the yellow arrow. The more you bank the more it steals and the more power needed to hold the bank.

Gyroplanes to not stall at low airspeeds only descend too quickly and hit the ground hard often tipping over where most of the damage occur. Same in a car this force is what makes you slide off the road in a turn. Now pulling back on the stick even a little is going to increase your angle of attack increasing DRAG so a turn at LOW AIR SPEEDS will always require more power in any turn!

In all airfoil aircraft that are statically stable with respect to G-load it's necessary to use aft stick pressure to execute a level, banked turn at constant airspeed. In some HTL, statically unstable gyros, though, the fore-aft stick pressure feedback with changing G-loads is apt to be reversed. In these craft, it's necessary to add FORWARD pressure to avoid mushing out of a turn, once you've settled into your bank. Newbie’s flying uncompensated HTL in a gyro used to mush out of turns all the time and I’m told that when transitioning to a Dominator it was quite a revelation when they flew them for the first time and found it required AFT stick in a turn. The need for forward stick to hold speed in a turn is one quick way to diagnose uncompensated HTL in a gyro. It's not foolproof; much depends on the trim spring rate, head offset, spring setup and of other variables.

==============================================End of Audit below is just a copy of Dr. Bensen's =======================
To further explain curve graphs here is how Dr Bensen described them.
14. APPENDIX I
TO GYROCOPTER FLYING INSTRUCTIONS

The more technically-minded builders and pilots of Gyrocopters will appreciate the significance of this Appendix and its attached curves.

Two curves have been plotted on the following page, which describe better than words the relationship between flight speed and the engine horsepower of a typical Gyrocopter.

The first plot shows two curves, the solid one being power required to maintain steadystate level flight at a fixed gross weight, and the dashed curve shows engine horsepower available at any given forward airspeed. Several points are worth studying here. Observe first that even when turning at full throttle, engine power is zero at zero airspeed insofar as forward propulsion is concerned. This horsepower rises rapidly to the point where at 15 mph it can maintain level
flight. Beyond this point the pilot must reduce the throttle to maintain level flight. If he chooses not to do so, the craft will either rapidly accelerate to higher airspeeds, or will climb, or both, depending on what he does with his longitudinal stick control. Maximum excess horsepower occurs at 40-45 mph. Finally, at approximate!y 85 mph the “power required” curve crosses again the “power available” curve, which means that the gyrocopter here reaches its “top speed” in
level flight. Higher speeds beyond this point therefore can be obtained only at the expense of losing altitude, or diving.

The second plot illustrates this situation further by comparing it with an airplane of approximately equivalent horsepower and performance. It can be seen that the Gyrocopter performs best in the very area where an airplane quits flying because of stall, at about 40 mph. Furthermore, the Gyrocopter never really “quits flying” even below its “minimum level” speed of 15 mph, but continues to fly at a finite rate of descent. Even at zero forward speed this rate of descent is
comparable to that of a parachute.

One lesson a new Gyro pilot must learn after studying these curves is this: whenever he finds himself slowing down accidentally or on purpose to 15 mph (or if banked in a turn, to 20-25 mph), the only way he can check his descent, or initiate a climb, is to dive momentarily to 40-45 mph while opening the throttle wide open. If in a turn, also flatten out the bank as soon as possible. This may seem like an odd thing to do, especially if you are already close to the ground, nevertheless, if you want Mother Nature to cooperate, that is the proper thing to do. Your effort in will power will be richly rewarded by the gyrocopter possessing at 45 mph the rate of climb of
“a homesick angel”, pulling you out of tightest spots as it heads for the sky.

Also obvious from these curves is the “negative drag slope” below 45 mph, which means that, at a given power setting, the machine will constantly try to either speed up or slow down. To maintain constant airspeed below 45 mph then the pilot must constantly manipulate the throttle up and down to imitate governor action.

Other clarifications of the relationship between the horsepower and the airspeed will become apparent to you at length, if you take time to memorize and study the attached curves. Please note that the curves were drawn purposely not to scale to allow for the variation of performance between individual gyrocopters.

Here is an example of an accident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AheudQuxZZY
 

Attachments

  • Banked_turn.png
    Banked_turn.png
    2.6 KB · Views: 1
  • backside.jpg
    backside.jpg
    32.9 KB · Views: 1
Last edited:
Please drop the "downwind turn" bit.
 
Please drop the "downwind turn" bit.
Thank you Jon!! It's gone!
U-Rock!

PS:
Looking at the author of that... If I said who posted it; there would be some humor in the form of irony as to the author.
 
Last edited:
If I were writing this I would leave out fixed wing aircraft altogether. They seem unrelated to me and do not have the same recovery technique from a behind the power curve mush.

An uncommanded sink in a gyroplane is called recognition and recovery from a high rate of descent in the practical test standards and is a part of most people’s practical test for sport pilot or private pilot. I require a demonstration of flight at low indicated air speed before a solo signoff.

I typically explore flight at low airspeed in the first hour of dual instruction and it is part of any demonstration flight I do.

In my opinion the proper recover from an uncommanded descent at low air speed is to reduce back pressure on the cyclic and pick up air speed before adding power.

If someone is going to explore flight at low indicated airspeed I would suggest they also explore directional control at low indicated airspeed.

Hi guys… I’m back… Oh No!!! It’s true Vance PM’ed me and said he’s not telling me to stop working on my presentation. THANK YOU VANCE!!!

So I’m going to try one more time.

This is going to be part of a gyroplane PRESENTATION to teach behind the power curve and I need the pros help to find all my misunderstandings.
It is written as if teaching. Because that is what presentations do.

Do not be confuse that I’m teaching anything yet only asking for it to be change to become a teaching tool! And so I can learn. This is how I learn everything by coping the best opinions on any subject and re writing it. But only here do the pros correct it for me.

They have graciously done this for over 20 pages of questions I asked that it took me four years to ask and I took my notes and turned it into a 1 hour+ presentation so other who follow can learn quickly. Anyone can check my spelling as it should be illegal for dyslexic people to write.

Warning this is not teaching… all newbie’s do not learn from this!

----Start----
Flying behind the power cure

So how does an aircraft fly "behind the power curve" and what happens when you do?

We’ll answer the later first. Many accidents occur in both fixed wing and rotorcraft from not having enough power in to maintain the same altitude because the angle of attack/ pitch is too high. With not enough power in it occurs in straight and level flight and even with full power on if the pilot holds the stick back maintaining too great an angle of attach for any power setting you will descend until you hit the ground. That is how these accidents occur when the pilot does not take action and apply full power and lowering the nose/angle of attack at the same time.

With full power the pilot’s only action is to lower the nose/ angle of attack especially if close to the ground. I think this scares pilots and they freeze with too high an angle of attack instead of lowering the nose flying down and leveling off if even only inches above the ground then flying parallel to the runway gaining airspeed.

It also can occur when landing and the pilot has enough power on to fly straight and level. However when they bank on base at behind the power cure airspeeds you will start to descend until you hit the ground unless you push the stick forward reducing your angle of attack and apply more power, more on banked turns later.

Gyroplanes will not stall like a fixed wing aircraft and spin into the ground at low airspeeds in fact our airfoils will only stall when they approach supersonic airspeeds starting at the blade tips and only happens at very fast airspeeds.
Next what is “behind the power cure”

I suspect that your pilot operating handbook doesn't have a set of power curves.

The next time you fly with an instructor, if not an experienced pilot, take the time to collect data for drawing your own power curves. It's really very simple. Do this at a safe altitude with plenty of time to recover.

  1. Trim the aircraft for straight and level flight at a cruise power setting. Write down both the AIRSPEED and power setting.
  2. Then reduce your airspeed in 10-kt increments without changing from straight and level and continue to record airspeed and power settings.
  3. Eventually, you will reach a point at which more power is required to maintain the same altitude with a NOTICEABLE slower airspeed.
  4. You are now officially "behind the power curve."
  5. Once you know you're on the back side, push the nose over and observe what happens. Your AIRSPEED will increase and even with the same low power setting you are no longer behind the power cure.
  6. Then raise the nose and make some similar observations. Your airspeed will decree and a gyroplane will start descending. The higher the angle of attack the faster the gyroplane descends.
  7. Continue to do this while maintaining altitude. When you have finished, you will know exactly how your Aircraft will act while flying under these circumstances.
  8. Once you have mastered how to physically fly your Aircraft behind the power curve, you can better keep from entering this flight regime unintentionally and will learn how to fly out of it.

JUST WATCH YOUR AIRSPEED INDICATOR and lower your angle of attack and this will not happen in either a FW or rotor wing aircraft! CANNOT happen with the correct airspeed and angle of attack no matter what the wind direction!

Now that you understand what flying behind the power cure mean let’s examine what happens during a banked turn the lift on the aircraft must support the weight of the aircraft, as well as provide the necessary NEW component of horizontal force to cause centripetal acceleration. Consequently, the lift required in a banked turn is greater than that one required in straight, level flight is by increasing the angle of attack. The maneuver should be complemented by an increase in power, in order to maintain a safe airspeed and not start descending in the turn.

FW or rotorcraft both apply the laws of flight physics EXACTLY the same; All air foiled 'CLT' (center line trust) aircraft you must pull back on the stick in a banked turn, FW you pull back just a little even in a shallow turn.
Why because any moving vehicle making a turn, it is necessary for the forces acting on the vehicle to add up to a NEW net inward force if you look at the picture there is a new horizontal force (centripetal acceleration) that is stealing some of your lift in a banked turn, examine the picture and see the yellow arrow. The more you bank the more it steals.

The biggest difference between FW and rotor wing is FW’s stall and spin into the ground while rotorcraft descend often too quickly and hit the ground hard often tipping over where most of the damage occur. Same in a car this force is what makes you slide off the road in a turn.

Now pulling back on the stick even a little is going to increase your angle of attack increasing DRAG so a turn at LOW AIR SPEEDS will always require more power in any turn in both FW and Rotor wing!

In all airfoil aircraft that are statically stable with respect to G-load it's necessary to use aft stick pressure to execute a level, banked turn at constant airspeed. In some HTL, statically unstable gyros, though, the fore-aft stick pressure feedback with changing G-loads is apt to be reversed. In these craft, it's necessary to add FORWARD pressure to avoid mushing out of a turn, once you've settled into your bank. Newbie’s flying uncompensated HTL in a gyro used to mush out of turns all the time and I’m told that when transitioning to a Dominator it was quite a revelation when they flew them for the first time and found it required AFT stick in a turn.

The need for forward stick to hold speed in a turn is one quick way to diagnose uncompensated HTL in a gyro. It's not foolproof; much depends on the trim spring rate, head offset, spring setup and of other variables.
 
I believe more than the Downwind turn bit should be dropped.

I believe more than the Downwind turn bit should be dropped.

It seems to me that John craves attention so much he gets help from other pilots to write a presentation on a subject that he should know thoroughly before he makes a presentation on it. It would be better to learn to fly before giving presentations on the subject. That's just plain common sense.

Down through the years when I was instructing I had guys call and ask me how to fly the gyro. One fellow said he ran his gyro off into a ditch trying to taxi on a county road. " What did I do wrong ?", he asked me.

Another fellow bought a used gyro but he didn't know how to fly so he let his fixed wing brother try to fly his gyro. The brother couldn't get the blades up so he began following advice from guys who had pulled off the road to watch. One man told him he needed to go faster so the brother went faster and rolled the gyro and himself up in a ball.

One guy guy called and said he was going to fly his new gyro. " How fast do I have to go to take off ?", he asked me. To these callers I just said that I couldn't teach them to fly over the phone.

Then there was the man who paid for his four adult sons to each take a 20 minute intro flight with me . The dad had bought a used gyro , a real dog of a gyro. One of the sons said to me that his dad wanted to learn to fly but didn't want to pay for instruction so he told the sons to watch everything I did on the controls and then tell him. The dad rolled his gyro up in a ball and spent some time in the hospital Guess he didn't get all the info he needed.

Then there was a group of men who tried to fly a two place Air Command by remote control on the dry lake. One of the local gyro pilots out flying that morning saw them and he landed and talked with them about their project.
He told my husband and me that it was interesting and "go see it", he said.

I had been flying earlier and planned to do more flying so still had my flight suit on. As Docko and I walked up toward the group one man came out to meet us. "You must be the other pilot out flying here this morning", were the first words he said to me. Then he began to give me my marching orders.... "We don't want you flying in this area, We don't want you and on and on.

Well, with that greeting we turned back and didn't bother looking at their modified Air Command. Needless to say they trashed the Air Command that day.

They were back next week with the repaired and modified gyro. End of day, same story, wrecked gyro. That went on all summer then one day one of their group came to our mobile home to ask me how to fly the gyro. They had broken the nose wheel off of the machine. I had been flying that morning and he said they were hoping I would land near them so they could see how it was done. Oh yeah, they were singing a different tune now! I remembered when they didn't want me in the same county!

I said, "sounds like the guy trying to fly it doesn't know how to fly". "I WAS TRYING TO FLY IT!", he said. Then he went on to tell me that he was president of some organization of radio controlled group and that he had had gyro flight instruction . He had gone to a gyro pilot in Florida who trained people on the gyro but who was not an instructor . The man with the remote group had had two hours with the gyro pilot.

I asked him how did the gyro pilot in Florida tell him to take off in the gyro? His response was that he was not allowed to touch the controls!

I suggested he take gyro flight instruction but he didn't think he needed it. He just wanted me to tell him everything he needed to know re flying gyros. My response was, " I can't teach you to fly the gyro sitting and talking about it".

About the end of summer they totaled the Air Command once and for all. They showed one of the local gyro pilots a video of the crash. He said they managed to get it off the ground . It quickly shot up to about 15-20 feet in the air and the operator shut the engine down !!! It dropped in of course and the mast broke and , well you can imagine the wreckage.

I am a firm believer in knowing your subject if you plan to fly it or make a presentation on it. There is nothing better than hands on flight instruction to learn about the gyro.
Marion
 
Last edited:
Good post Marion !!
 
Excellent post Marion
 
If I were writing this I would leave out fixed wing aircraft altogether. They seem unrelated to me and do not have the same recovery technique from a behind the power curve mush.

An uncommanded sink in a gyroplane is called recognition and recovery from a high rate of descent in the practical test standards and is a part of most people’s practical test for sport pilot or private pilot. I require a demonstration of flight at low indicated air speed before a solo signoff.

I typically explore flight at low airspeed in the first hour of dual instruction and it is part of any demonstration flight I do.

In my opinion the proper recover from an uncommanded descent at low air speed is to reduce back pressure on the cyclic and pick up air speed before adding power.

If someone is going to explore flight at low indicated airspeed I would suggest they also explore directional control at low indicated airspeed.
Thank you Vance that helps a great deal.
You are correct Micheal taught me to go into a vertical decent for only a second then point the nose down and then add power.

Shows how thinking with FW training can get you in trouble only never did the incorrect procedure with Micheal so hope it's just that most of the how to create your power cure came form doing it in FW wings for 40 years.

Most excellent help and shows how I cannot write it with so little time in type without you pros correcting it.
 
Last edited:
Thank you Marion wise words.

As you pointed out I do not have the experience needed so that is why I ask you pros here to correct my stupidly or it could never be an online presentation without their experience.

I would prefer any other expert writhing it but me but so far no one else has the time or inclination to help all other newbie gyroplane students who follow. There is no other motive.

In any case this is the last subject that is not finished and once it's done will not have to upset anyone with my lack of experience.
 
Last edited:
Marion, I don’t know but my guess is that you learned to fly a gyro by following the Bensen syllabus, the same way that I and perhaps 1,000+ others did….Start out on the end of a rope.
 
Thank you Vance that helps a great deal.
You are correct Micheal taught me to go into a vertical decent for only a second then point the nose down and then add power.

Shows how thinking with FW training can get you in trouble only never did the incorrect procedure with Micheal so hope it's just that most of the how to create your power cure came form doing it in FW wings for 40 years.

Most excellent help and shows how I cannot write it with so little time in type without you pros correcting it.

You are welcome John.

You may be meaning this John; I feel it is not as clear as it should be.

In an uncommanded descent release back pressure to pick up indicated air speed; don’t push the nose down.

Do not add power until you have regained indicated air speed.


I feel you are going down an airplane track when you write about angle of attack that may confuse fixed wing pilots.

In a gyroplane you fly the rotor and the fuselage goes nose up or down for different reasons and has a different effect. You request a change in the angle of the disk with the cyclic and this adds to the delay in the controls compared to a fixed wing. The rotor thrust vector and the horizontal stabilizer are what affect the angle of the fuselage.

I would not even mention this except I have had several fixed wing pilots have trouble with this concept and it seemed to me once they were flying the rotor instead of the fuselage the confusion was mitigated.
 
I don’t know what the power cure is or how I would get behind it.
 
Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I did mean that but do not write well. I;ll add all of those in and see if I can describe it more clearly in the next version really appreciate it if you could check it when posted.

About 1/3 of the PRA members who join are FW pilots and those references really help us to remember the differences so I do not want them left out as it help me also.

The "in a gyroplane you fly the rotors" is also most excellent. I know this but state it in fixed wing terms. Will almost be able to copy paste most of the excellent changes.

Man thank you Bro!
 
John, No one says you have to spend time

John, No one says you have to spend time

trying to teach others to fly the gyro.
It seems you have taken on this effort on your own.

To me the obvious thing to do is for you to take flight instruction from a certified flight instructor and learn to fly the gyro. What you are doing is to me, just plain dumb and self aggrandizing.

Frankly, knowing your inexperience re gyro flying I wouldn't walk across the street to listen to a presentation by you on how to fly gyros. And yes, I would listen most attentively to a certified gyro flight instructor or to a very experienced and knowledgeable gyro pilot give a presentation on gyros. I would know that he wouldn't give me wrong information which you might possibly do since you are a beginner in gyros.

I am not good at sugar coating words and I feel very strongly about gyros so I just say it how I feel. Get the credentials if you feel you must instruct others about the frisky gyro.
Marion
 
...will only stall when they approach supersonic airspeeds starting at the blade tips and only happens at very fast airspeeds.

John, I'm no expert, but I know this to be false. The rotorblade stalls under the same circumstances as any other airfoil - when it exceeds its critical angle of attack. I suspect that the majority of gyro rotor stalls actually happen at relatively low airspeeds.
 
John, I for one really appreciate the effort you put into this presentation. I'm kind-a with Vance on the need to leave out the references to fix-wing flight comparisons. I believe Marion is a lovely lady, but a little hard on you with her opinion. Please keep up the good work. Good catch Paul "The rotorblade stalls under the same circumstances as any other airfoil - when it exceeds its critical angle of attack." And I'm no expert either!
 
John, I'm no expert, but I know this to be false. The rotorblade stalls under the same circumstances as any other airfoil - when it exceeds its critical angle of attack. I suspect that the majority of gyro rotor stalls actually happen at relatively low airspeeds.

This may be a matter of confounding of two distinct conditions for stall. At very high forward speed, the retreating blade stall possibility arises, and this is what I interpreted that comment to be addressing (although not clearly). In any event, it is not pertinent to a discussion of "behind the curve" issues because it happens at the other end of the speed envelope.

Of course, low rpm of the rotor system can lead to stalled airfoils as well.
 
Hi Marion I love it when people say it the way they believe. I do the same and it's the only way to really know what anyone is thinking.

People learn differently and that is really what the difference is our approach to learning.

Some people like to know nothing and have an instructor teach them what they need to know one thing at a time. I've found for me that I do not even know what to ask and after I've been flying solo I have to hire him again as I now know what to ask.

Some people like me need a book learning experience in everything they can learn before they even touch the controls and know what they do not know.

I started my 1st private pilot course in 7th grade learned everything in it and pass the test it had at the end.
In 10th grade I read another course and did the same.
When I started lessons with my instructor I finished a 3rd before my first lesson.

By the 3rd ground school with my instructor he said I do not know what to teach you as you answer all the questions I ask correctly. Just go take the test and I'll teach you what you do not know.
I missed only one question that had not been on any other test "What is verga"

I could ask my instructor what I did not know and so I had one of the shortest training's ever. He added 27 hours of Sheifer pencil time to my log book and I pass the flight test the 1st time.
This way works for me and I suspect that at least one half of the population wants to get all the book learning out of the way so they have real questions while they are paying an instructor.

For those who wish to learn all they can before instruction is why I write these and it is to make the world a better place at least for them which could be 50% of the people who learn this way.

The presentation will be online and without my name as the author as most of the pors wrote it I only summered their answers into more flow of a story.
 
Last edited:
John, I'm no expert, but I know this to be false. The rotorblade stalls under the same circumstances as any other airfoil - when it exceeds its critical angle of attack. I suspect that the majority of gyro rotor stalls actually happen at relatively low airspeeds.
That came from Doug's post but blew the rewrite is my bet as even I can see see that wrong the way it written now that you point it out.

Now that I read the quote it needs to be rewritten too they only stall in supersonic part that Chuck posted.

Thank you Paul I could not learn this or do this correctly without all of your help.
 
While there is obvious danger in people attempting to learn to fly from reading descriptions online, there could be value in discussing and getting clear statements about what "behind the power curve" operation entails.

A gyroplane has a particular speed at which the minimum power is necessary to maintain level flight. The surprise for many is that this is NOT the lowest point of the speed range, but actually happens faster than the minimum flight speed. To either side of that minimum power required speed, it will take more power to fly at that speed. It takes more to go faster, and more to go slower, and that last part is what catches the uniformed.

I presume that's what you meant to address, John?
 
Top