Fixed-wings can autorotate... Real inventors never stop !

[Awright]

Maybe some helo pilots should help this guy with his patent application... :8

EMERGENCY LANDING SYSTEM - FIXED WING AIRPLANE

Abstract The purpose of this invention is to prevent and/or reduce the loss of life during an emergency landing of an airplane away from an airport environment. This is possible by eliminating one of its wings and using the other wing to perform in the same manner as the rotor of a helicopter. Thus, the whole airplane will spin because of its momentum imbalance, and a transferring linear momentum into angular momentum. The airplane will in effect be in a controlled auto-rotation and the altitude and ground approach velocity will be greatly reduced to a near zero speed upon touchdown. The result can be achieved by placing controlled explosive devices coupled with a rocket or jet inside one of the wing structures. The explosives devices and the rocket/jet engine, with the direction of thrust to the front, will cause the wing to separate from the fuselage and provide a very strong lateral impulse or spin on a horizontal plane. This lateral spin with one wing remaining will provide the centrifugal force required to maintain auto-rotation and the remaining wing will provide the control surface to maintain lift necessary to maintain the horizontal attitude of the airplane until it reaches the ground.

Here is the link to the full text on the US Patent Office site, you gotta read the description of the "system" :ok::
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220060108473%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20060108473&RS=DN/20060108473

I'm still wondering if the author really believes in his stuff or just has time/money to waste for a good joke :ugh:

(I'll try to extract the drawing if you can't access the "images" section of the USPTO website)

[Arm out the window]

'Meanwhile, the occupants will have their bodily fluids and organs separated in the manner of a centrifuge.'

[IHL]

Why not just install ejection seats?

[topendtorque]

Does his name start with Osama?

Something like Osama-Bin-Stupid
or
Osama-Bin-Get-Em-Again!

[eagle 86]

Just out of interest - a fixed wing that is in a spin is in fact in autorotation.
GAGS
E86

[212man]

b/a, and all that!:ok:

[bayou06]

Sounds like the cure is almost as bad as the ailment.

[Flingwing207]

fOLKs..
.
WEEEee'lll...
.
beEEEE...
.
on
.
THEuhh...
.
grROUND and ROUND..
.
SHORTly!
:eek:

[IHL]

During WW I flight instruments had not yet been invented. Aviators were taught to spin through cloud if they were caught on top of a cloud deck.

Those old WW I aircraft were very stable in a spin and proper technique was required to recover ( It wouldn't work with a C172 as they are almost impossible to hold in a spin past 1 rotation).

[Disguise Delimit]

The spin is a combination of roll, pitch and yaw, in a stable fashion. You need 2 wings for it to be stable.

One wing, uncontrolled roll, no stable spin. :sad: you are dead:uhoh:

What kind of idiot thinks up these things?

What kind of checks are done in the patent office? Obviously, only to see if anybody has done it before, then take the money. No check to see if it is feasible.:{

[Arm out the window]

Not so sure you need two wings for a stable spin - how about a sycamore seed for example?
Still, it is a silly idea!

[nzmarty]

i can just see the forced landing pax briefing:

"as you can se it's all gone quiet up front, and we're going to have to land in a paddock below. just hold on a minute though while i blow one of the wings off please..."

[Dave_Jackson]

http://www.unicopter.com/Blowup.gif

[Spheriflex]

How can you practice?
"Okay we'll do an autorotation from 1500' with a recovery at 200' "
:cool:

[Arm out the window]

It'd be a bit like that Larson cartoon - pilots in the cockpit looking at buttons labelled 'Wings Fall Off' and 'Wings Stay On'.

[crispy69]

Has this guy seen any old WW2 footage?? Most of the plane's I have seen lose a wing tumble patheticaly before nosing it in.
Or maybe I am just missing the importance of the rockets begining the rotation.
If he wants to put a rocket in it would it not be easyier just to have a big rocket go off just before you hit the ground stoping you a nice 3ft up.( he must not have seen Thunderbirds either)

Crispy :confused:

[Hilico]

Fair enough, blow one wing off and you autorotate. Once below cloud / in sight of the surface, press the second button, blowing the other wing off and thus restoring stability.

[Keep it straight]

i think that the parachut on the likes off the cirrus would be my prefered options. never been keen on spinning myself. any volunteer testpilots out there to try this spinning on one wing??

[topendtorque]

Just out of interest - a fixed wing that is in a spin is in fact in autorotation.
GAGS
E86

Just maybe when I was learning to spin a Victa airtouror that is where the bright ideas came from to fly these infernal machines. 1500 feet per turn if i remember rightly, makes a robbie stabalised at 2500'/min look very tame.

[puntosaurus]

The inventor has surely missed the point. It's not the descent after an emergency that kills you it's the last couple of inches. He doesn't really seem to have a solution to that one !

TET I think you need to check your weight and balance if your robbie is going down at 2500fpm :eek: !