Carter Copter Breaks Mu-1 Barrier

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Monday June 27, 2005 @10:18PM from the thwop-thwop-thwop-chunk-chunk-chunk dept.

tyler_larson writes "Just over a week ago, Jay Carter's CarterCopter managed to break a significant rotorcraft barrier, traveling at a mu ratio of 1. This 1-to-1 ratio (sometimes called the mu-1 barrier) represents a condition where the forward speed of the craft is the same as the speed of the tip of the rotor. This means that at a certain point, the tip of the retreating blade is "standing still" relative to the wind and producing no lift, while the rest of the blade is actually moving backwards through the air. Such a condition is normally impossible for a rotorcraft, and so the forward speed of a helicopter is limited by the the speed of the rotors. This accomplishment by the CarterCopter, which some insisted couldn't be done, proves that this new craft is not subject to that limitation."

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Heli-plane? by Anonymous Coward · 2005-06-27 22:29 · Score: 5, Interesting

Hmmm, it looks lie it blurs the line between a helicopter and an airplane. That thing has pretty darn large wings. I guess the big deal is really having the rotors not "get in the way" traveling at that speed, since the wings really are providing most if not all the lift? What happened to those experimental copters that you could actually just shut down the rotors and have them be fixed during forward flight?