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This video offers a great introduction to gyrocopters: The video points out that most gyrocopters come from kits, and some “can be built in just 50 hours”. Flying a gyrocopter is fairly easy, and this video (while not the greatest quality) will take you through the steps: Part 2 Some gyrocopters come with a system [...]
The Flynano airplane has been getting incredible publicity over the last couple of days because it is such a revolutionary airplane. It is small, extremely light (70 kg/154 pounds), relatively inexpensive (less than $40K) and, in theory, anyone can fly it without a license. Here is some of the coverage: – http://dvice.com/archives/2011/04/carbon-fiber-fl.php Constructed out of [...]
This fascinating video of a seagull ornithopter appeared on the web this week: If you watch closely, even the head moves to control flight. What is the goal? It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s … a New Seagull-Like Robot Spy Drone! The photo in the article shows you the size of the bird robot. [...]
Let’s imagine that you would like to do something like mail drop-off and pickup in a remote area where no landing strip is available. Or imagine that you would like to extract a soldier from a remote area where there is no landing strip. The traditional way to solve this problem is by using a [...]
As this article points out: NASA shows off the aircraft of 2025 Late last year, NASA awarded contracts to three teams — Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing — to develop advanced designs for the year 2025. While all final designs have to meet rigid criteria for noise, exhaust and fuel consumption, the three concepts [...]
World Record #143 – The Sikorsky X2 helicopter breaks 250 MPH
by Marshall Brain | August 3, 2010
The V-22 Osprey aircraft exists because of a fundamental problem with helicopters; Helicopters have a low top-speed. “The Osprey’s top speed is 315 mph (507 kph), which is twice as fast as a helicopter’s top speed.” The idea behind the V-22 is to have the ability to take off and land vertically like a helicopter and then turn into an airplane to fly faster.
One goal of the Sikorsky X2 is to create a helicopter technology that can keep up with with the V-22. Initial tests show that Sikorsky is close….
The CH-47 Chinook helicopter has been around for nearly 50 years, but 50 years later it is still an amazing aircraft. Here are a few of the things that make it amazing:
- Twin 60 foot rotors give the helicopter amazing lift – it can haul up to 28,000 pounds of cargo either inside or attached to exterior hooks.
- It can carry up to 33 seated passengers, 37 people total with crew. Given it’s cargo rating, you could cram on a lot more people.
- It has two gas turbine engines producing nearly 4,000 horsepower to drive the rotors.
- Just over 1,000 gallons of fuel on board give it a range of over 400 miles.
- Lack of a tail rotor makes it more stable in windy conditions and also allows for a rear cargo ramp.
The rear cargo ramp makes certain things possible that would be impossible for just about any other aircraft. For example, the CH-47 can hover over water and a boat can drive right in for water extraction, like this…
World record #117 – The 10 fastest planes in the world
by Marshall Brain | December 7, 2009
The top 10 fastest planes in the world: World’s 10 Fastest Aircrafts – Sky’s No Limit For Them At #1 is the Space Shuttle, at #2 is the X-43, and at #3 is the X-15. All are interesting but they aren’t really airplanes. They are rockets, and none of them can take off from a [...]
A Boeing 747 uses approximately one galloon of fuel per second — over the course of a ten hour flight, it might burn 36,00 galloons of fuel. How does this compare to a car? Check out this HowStuffWorks podcast to learn more about airplane mileage.
Aircraft carriers contain some of the most advanced technology in the world. Learn more about aircraft and aircraft carriers in this podcast.
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