Carter Copter at Oshkosh

[slowrotor]

I watched the Carter autogyro perform a "jump takeoff" last friday at Oshkosh. The pilot gets the rotor up to a high rpm in flat pitch then pulls the lever to lift straight up about a hundred or two hundred feet then transitions into forward flight.
Jay Carter said each blade weighs 80lbs and 40lbs is tip weight.

Just a few minutes after the jump takeoff demo a pair of P-51 mustangs doing a formation landing got tangled up and one pilot was killed when his plane pitched up and snap rolled onto the runway and burst into flames.

I think this was the only fatal accident this year.

There was an interesting variety of unusual aircraft including the Goodyear blimp, the U2 spyplane, F-22 Raptor and much more.

Kit helicopters flying were: Rotorway, Safari, Mosquito, several of each.


slowrotor

[Shawn Coyle]

Was the Pawnee Chief there this year? It looked pretty near complete last year.

[slowrotor]

Shawn,
I am not sure. There was a helo across the field with a yellow cab I think, they were limiting access so I was unable to go there. The Carter copter was in the restricted area also when I was there. They may have moved it later for public viewing.

[Graviman]

Great shame about the P51 pilot.

Are Carter marketing their machine as recreational, or do they see non hover applications? I can't imagine the autogyro would be that much cheaper to operate than a teetering heli.

[slowrotor]

Graviman,
In the current issue of "CONTACT" magazine for aircraft designers, a press release says Carter has designed a 6-7 place Business Air Vehicle (BAV), for true point-to-point air travel.

The Carter team has done some amazing experiments but they seem to be more focused on trying new stuff rather than actual aircraft sales.

[Graviman]

Hmmm, certainly does seem that way. There is nothing like a customer requirement to focus the minds of a development team...