MadSci Network: Engineering |
Ok I've got a ridiculously detailed question on gyrocopters, that's been bothering me for a while. When a gyrocopter travels through the air, the leading wing will travel faster relative to the air, hence will have more lift. The trailing edge will travel slower and will lose lift. Therefore you might naively expect the aircraft to lean over. But that's too easy. The rotor is a big gyroscope really. Pushing up on one side of a gyroscope usually causes movement 90 degrees away. Therefore I would expect the front of the plane of rotor to lift and cause the aircraft to kind of 'stall'. That doesn't appear to happen. How come? Is it just that the pilot pulls back on the stick to compensate or something? Or does this happen, but it just results in more lift/drag? What's really happening here? Am I missing anything?
Re: Why don't gyrocopters stall?
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