This is all understood, Nick. My point is that the prime mover, turboshaft say, could be backed up by a brushless motor design. These really have no parts to wear and are as reliable as FBW, often being critical parts of those systems. The motor could act as a generator/motor in a parallel hybrid or as with a seperate generator in a series hybrid. There would have to be a power store like a battery (or better flywheel motor/gen), with sufficient energy to get the crew down safely from ceiling height.
I accept that this design will never have the appeal of a machine that can autorotate, and i'm not trying to justify that. What i am saying is that for applications where exposed rotors are just to risky, another solution has to be found - albeit less cost effective. I am just suggesting a possible method to generate a wrinkle rather than an outright frown from the FAA/JAA.
Mart
Last edited by Graviman; 9th September 2006 at 17:23.