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Anita C. Infante, 309 853-5328
For Immediate Release 4/04

The CarterCopter is Back in the Air!


CarterCopter Back in the Air
Photo by Jason Bynum

Wichita Falls, TX - After eight months of restoration and modification the CarterCopter (CC) is back in the air! The CarterCopter is the gyroplane prototype of Carter Aviation Technologies (Carter) of Wichita Falls, TX. The CC's very first test-flight since the restoration was taken on Saturday, December 6, 2003 at 4:32 PM. The flight lasted just a few minutes, but the Carter technicians present for the flight were elated. It was the first time that the CC had been in the air since it was damaged in a wheels-up landing last spring.

The extensive damage from the accident took months to repair and required rebuilding the rear fuselage, tail booms, wings and rotor. A new propeller and spinner were also built. While completing these major repairs, Carter took the opportunity to modify and improve several operating systems. All sensors were rewired. A boosted cyclic control, automatic flapping control, and an automatic spindle trim for RPM control were added. A new automatic collective control was also installed. It has three modes: take-off, pitch vs. rpm and pitch vs. mu. At take-off, the control quickly moves the collective to a preset pitch and holds it there until the rpm crosses over the pitch vs. rpm curve. The controller then uses that curve until it crosses over the pitch vs. mu curve. At that point it switches to that mode for the rest of the flight including landing. Once the new automatic controls are perfected they will greatly reduce the pilot workload and simplify future flight-testing.

Eight months of work condensed into a few short sentences is deceiving. Each time a system is changed or improved it requires modifications to other systems and ultimately to the software that quantifies the data from each flight-test. During a Carter test-flight there are 84 channels of information being fed back to computers on the ground. In addition to the basics of engine RPM, horsepower, oil temperature, and propeller RPM, the sensors monitor such things as propeller pitch, thrust and efficiency. Rotor RPM, L/D, blade pitch, flapping and mu ratio are also calculated along with aircraft L/D, true air speed and another 70 channels of data. The testing and re-testing of systems with added refinements makes progress slow, but the result will be a revolutionary aviation technology that makes gyroplane flight both safe and simple.

Carter has scheduled a series of short test patterns for the CarterCopter before more strenuous flight-testing begins. In test-flights from January 2004 through March 2004 the CC reached a speed of 142 mph and a mu of .62. After the most recent flight, Chief Test Pilot, Larry Neal, stated, "It's (CC) flying better than ever. With the automatic flapping control it's almost like riding in a sailplane."

Carter is again focused on breaking the mu -1 Barrier. Prior to the wheels-up landing the CC had achieved level flight at mu - .87. However, in order to break mu - 1 the aircraft needed an increase in horsepower. A new engine has also been added. The previous 347 cu. in. engine was replaced with a 427 cu in. engine and a turbo-charger has been added. Much of the down time in recent months has been a result of modifications to the new engine. There is no stock engine that will work in the CarterCopter. Each new engine has to be modified to fit the exacting requirements of powering the propeller and the rotor for take-off. The timing becomes critical. Then, after the engine is set, the computer has to be programmed for each different combination of RPM and torque - a painstaking process. The new engine and turbo-charger were pit tested and now have been tested in flight. Minor modifications are still being made. The engine is now producing 400 HP @ 1 psi boost and the analysis indicates that it can hold 400 HP to 20,000 feet. The CC's best rate of climb, thus far, at 4000 lbs test weight has been 750 fpm with the landing gear extended.

With the restoration complete and the necessary modifications in the final stages the Carter crew is outlining a test schedule to assault the mu - 1 Barrier. mu - 1 has eluded rotorcraft engineers for decades. Jay Carter Jr., Carter President, commented, "We now have the horsepower, prop efficiency and rotor configuration that should allow us to break mu - 1. However, if it was an easy task it would have been done long before now. We don't want to just break the mu - 1 barrier. We want to establish safe, high- mu flight." Plans are still in place to attempt to break mu - 1 during a public event at the Texas Motor Speedway. The exact date will be announced as flight-testing progresses.

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NOTE: The CarterCopter is the gyroplane prototype used to demonstrate the slowed-rotor/compound aircraft technology of Carter Aviation Technologies (Carter). Carter built the prototype to prove that an aircraft with vertical take-off and landing capability could also fly efficiently at high speeds and high altitudes. For more specific information on the CC and high-mu flight please check the Carter Website.

Carter Aviation Technologies
Anita C. Infante, GA Marketing & Licensing
9729 E. 3000th Street, Kewanee, IL 61443
Phone or Fax 309 853-5328