Gyroplane/gyrocopter vertical descents & errors 

Hi Kirk, In the UK the minimum number of hours you need prior to applying for the licence is 40. In the USA the minimum is 20 but actually I think that is quite low. All these videos are aimed to either highlight things pilots struggle with or things you'll do in training.

@@gyrocopterflyingclub6148 That sounds quite doable . Thanks for the reply. I'm getting very interested in Gyrocoptors. It looks like a LOT of fun.

@@kirkjohnson9353 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UI2ueRQBiM0.html great fun

Hi - so you can not bump the mast in a gyroplane because it doesn't have a drive shaft to the rotor. There is a very good film on mast bumping on RU-vid here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LPPQGwkxJLs.html whilst a gyroplane does not suffer from mast bumping it is still not tolerant to low g flight because control is lost in much the same way as described in the linked film except rather than a tail rotor a gyroplane is the influenced by its propeller. Retreating blade stall is ultimately a factor in all rotorcraft however it will occur later in a gyroplane than a helicopter because of the effective lower AoA effectively because forward thrust is produced by the propeller in a gyroplane whilst with the helicopter it is the main rotor. It is why recent rotorcraft developments in high speed flight have been bias towards compound helicopters.

Contrary to the comment above, mast bumping is possible on any two bladed teetering design rotor system. The absence of a powered mast does not prevent this. It’s excessive flapping causing the blade root or part of blade root to hit the bump stops with each revolution of the blade that is the definition of mast bumping. Whether that bump stop is located on the mast or some other part of the rotor head (such as a yoke arrangement typical of small Autogyros) makes no difference it’s still mast bumping.

The limit is really how much height it takes to either recover to fly level and avoid terrain or to gain airspeed to land - if you are doing it well 2-300ft AGL is likely a sensible minimum for landing. The rotor speed is stable once in a Vertical descent

@@gyrocopterflyingclub6148 Thanks!

I think it was nothing more than reporting the bare facts of the matter...

I’m sure you correctly speak. My apologies for being overly sensitive to pointing out failures