Could a human powered autogyro work?

[andygates]

Could we cheat a little, and use a small electric motor to spin up the rotor before takeoff? 

[Adam]

That'll add weight.

I did think of mounting an engine on a separate cart with a long propshaft and having an exposed connector linked to the rotors, so that could then spin them up.  However immediately you disconnect you'd lose rpm, and you need forward motion to maintain rotor rpm.

[LEE]

No



Is the answer we're looking for.

The problem with an autogyro is that you are dragging a huge air-brake (the rotors) while you attempt to get them up to speed.  I'd be surprised if you could get up to 10mph towing rotor blades beefy enough to cope with the job of lifting you.  If you made the rotors very light (you'd need to make everything very light) then you'd lose all rotational mass and your descent may not be as controlled as you'd like if you stopped pedalling (you could treat this as an incentive to keep pedalling hard).  I suspect Autogyros are not very efficient when compared to things like the Gossamer Condor or mylar Flying wings.

Why not start with a powered parachute?  I've seen people whizzing about in Parachutes with electric fans strapped to their backs.

Surely we are closer to being able to power a fan. 

Personally I am keener on the idea of my aircraft being a Parachute than an big Egg-Whisk

[andygates]

Why not start with a powered parachute?  I've seen people whizzing about in Parachutes with electric fans strapped to their backs.

Electric?  I've only seen two-strokes.   Ooh yes, looky:  Electric Paramotor and Powered Paraglider

"100 lbs of thrust" is the dealio.  Now, how much thrust did that propellor trike produce?

[Wobbly John]

How about a human powered tow rope to get it up to take off speed? 

Anybody know the rules for being the first Human powered autogyro? 

[nuttycyclist]

My thoughts would be to power the rotor off the wheels, or the wheels & rotor directly for taxi/takeoff.

[Adam]

How about a human powered blimp!

They tried to fly it across the Channel last month but it was too windy.

[clarion]

I was thinking you could have a launch vehicle (HPV of course!), which would propel it to launch speed, when it could separate, and the pilot take over.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Just use Sutton Bank airfield.

http://www.ygc.co.uk/oursite.php 

[boB]

 Since this question is old will anybody read how it should be done? The standard single rotor & keel mast airframe would require more Hp than a human could develop even in a sprint.

 But if a airframe were to be built as arches of airfoil shapes and light as in under 20 pounds,
then this could be a birotor autogiro and use parafoil rotor blades with inflateable spars & ribs, along with airbering hubs in an nanolight aircycle.

 Not saying this is going to be cheap since most of the airframe is kevlar/carbonfiber and the
parafoils need to be ultrasonically wielded, but in production an under $10,000 price could still
yield profitable return.

 If someone wants to build I have a design, just not the funds to get it off the drawing board.

[Julian]

O.o

[andygates]

The existing attempts at the Sikorsky HPH prize have been multi-rotor quadcoptor type critters.