Another advantage of Autogyros is that they don't generate anywhere near the amount of downwash that a similar sized heli does.
The Fairey Rotodyne was a beast well in advance of its time. I'm sure there is a lot of potential left in that concept, glad to see that Groen Bros might develop a similar aircraft one day.
One thought is that the tip-jet design might be improved with respect to noise pollution by using blade slots rather than a tubular jet (move more air but slower) and a modern, more powerful turbine driven aircraft could perhaps divert sufficient compressor air through the blade spar to power the rotor without combustion being necessary. The noisy "tip jets" could perhaps be retained as an emergency measure in the event of an engine failure so that an OEI landing could always be made to the hover. A very useful bonus of that method would be simple main blade de-icing.
That tilt-rotor thing suddenly looks far too complicated in comparison!
Last edited by ShyTorque; 12th Dec 2004 at 22:26.