File:AutoGyro_Calidus_-_Shuttleworth_Season_Premiere_2016_(26422815634).jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
autogyro
Sign in to saveAlso known as Autogiro, Gyrocopter, Gyroplane
thumb|upright=1.36|The AutoGyro Calidus, a modern, closed-cabin, pusher-propeller autogyro in flight
An autogyro is an aircraft that uses an unpowered rotating rotor on top to generate lift while a propeller pushes it forward, combining features of both helicopters and airplanes. It matters because it offers a relatively simple and safer way to fly, requiring shorter distances to take off and land compared to traditional airplanes.
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Wikidata facts
- Image
- Bundesarchiv Bild 102-09500, Windmühlen-Aeroplan Cleaned'n'Cropped.jpg
Show 2 more facts
- Commons category
- Autogyros
- start time
- 1923-01-09
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~33 min read
Article
20 sectionsContents
- Principle of operation
- Flight controls
- Pusher vs tractor configuration
- History
- Early development
- Winter War
- World War II
- Postwar developments
- Bensen Gyrocopter
- 21st-century development and use
- Unmanned autogyros
- Helicopter autogyration
- Certification by national aviation authorities
- United Kingdom certification
- United States certification
- World records
- In popular culture
- See also
- References
- Further reading
thumb|upright=1.36|The AutoGyro Calidus, a modern, closed-cabin, pusher-propeller autogyro in flight
An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), gyroplane or gyrocopter, is a class of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. A gyroplane "means a rotorcraft whose rotors are not engine-driven, except for initial starting, but are made to rotate by action of the air when the rotorcraft is moving; and whose means of propulsion, consisting usually of conventional propellers, is independent of the rotor system." While similar to a helicopter rotor in appearance, the autogyro's unpowered rotor disc must have air flowing upward across it to make it rotate. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller.