Installed the rotor head complete with the automatic collective pitch control for our new 4-place prototype into the rotor.
Completed assembly of the seat frames in the aircraft. Cut out high-density foam padding to cover seats. Temporarily installed padding on the pilot seat & one rear seat.
Completed the tilting mast. Installed the tilting mast, along with the prerotator gearbox & the air/hydraulic cylinder for controlling the mast into the aircraft to verify clearances. The mast will be proof tested with a special fixture, then tested on the test stand before final installation in the aircraft.
Installed the rudder pedals & associated brake and front wheel steering hardware.
Modified the sliding canopy to increase its rigidity and make it roll more freely.
Began making the mold for the instrument panel.
Installed the control stick & associated hardware up to the tilting mast.
Received parts from machine shop & assembled the rotor head for our new 4-place prototype.
Laid up the frames for the seats. High-density foam padding will be installed on the frames, and then the whole seat will be covered with upholstery. The frames for the pilot & co-pilot seats weight just 3 lbs. each.
Assembled the prerotator gearbox & the air/hydraulic cylinder for controlling the tilting mast. Installed both on the test stand in preparation for testing.
Laid up the skins for the tilting mast. Completed the tooling for and laid up the shear webs. We are nearly ready to bond both halves together; we are awaiting one metal part from the machine shop that needs to be bonded in place.
We've updated our highlight video. It now focuses more on aircraft concepts, and spends less time on individual technologies. To see this latest version, visit the Carter Highlight Video page.
Installed the cam locks and nutplates around the joints where the engine cowling and removeable panels will attach. Installed the hinges for the cowl flaps.
Bonded the carbon tape on the seams between the fuselage halves.
Made the plug for the instrument panel.
Began the plug for the outboard vertical stabilizers.
Completed the new windshield mold. As described in the previous update, there was a setback and the old molds were unsalvageable. We completed a Caul board that will be used to fabricate the windshield. We also made a splash off the fuselage plug, which will be used to align the windshield to the fuselage when it is installed.
Completed the molds for the seats.
Performed another ultimate static test of the composite main gear, and made further modifications to the layup based on the test. Note we increased the energy absorbing capability of the first tested design by a factor of 1.5 times and achieved 90% of our goal. We hope to exceed this goal on the next test.
In an upcoming episode of Modern Marvels on the History Channel, titled Mega Machines, the original CarterCopter and our new PAV 2+2 prototype will be among the vehicles featured. The episode is set to air September 20th. Please check your local listings for the show times in your area.
Bonded both halves of the fuselage together, and removed the part from the mold. This included bonding in the strongback, and for the last of the ribs in the tail boom, vertical stabilizer, and rudder - making those molds, corresponding parts, and bonding them in place. The completed fuselage, tailboom, and rudder weighed 185 lbs, 15 lbs over the design weight. As a production version using prepreg (versus wet layup for the first prototype), we should easily make this design weight.
Completed
Fuselage
Completed
Fuselage-
Front View
Engine Cowling
Light Enough to
be Removed by
One Person
Engine
Compartment
-All Covers
Removed
Canopy Forward
& Tilted for
Easy Entry
Vertical
Stab &
Rudder
Strongback
Between Fuselage
Molds Prior to
Final Bonding
Completed the prop thrust beam that will be used in the aircraft (the previous thrust beam was a test specimen, only). The part weighs 2.5 lbs.
Prop Thrust Beam
Performed another static proof test of the composite main gear, and made further modifications to the layup based on the test. We have also decided to increase the design capacity of the landing gear arm and torque tube, so that they should now be able to operate at a load 1.5 times that encountered during the highest drop test.
Began laying up the Caul board that will be used to bond in the windshield. We've experienced a setback in getting the windshield done. We had sent the male preform plug and the female vacuum mold to a company that makes stretched acrylic parts. To bond & cure a silicon seal to the female mold, they heated the mold higher than normal. During that process, a blister developed in the mold, and it is unsalvageable. We will have to make a new mold before the windshield can be completed.
Modified the rudder / nose gear steering mechanism ,so the nose gear is direct acting when the nose gear is extended, but disengages as the gear is retracted.
Update 2007-08-07 We've completed drop testing the landing gear. We reached our goal of 18 ft/s (1080 fpm) with a 2400 lb test weight. The landing gear performed well, with a nearly constant decceleration over the entire stroke, over the entire range of tested impact speeds from 4.1 ft/s to 18 ft/s. At 2000 lbs, the landing gear would be able to absorb a 24 ft/s impact with equivalent loads. Our static proof load on the landing gear was equivalent to a 26 ft/s impact at 2400 lbs.
Landing Gear
Drop Test Video
(267 kB)
We took the CarterGyro Demonstrator/Trainer to this year's EAA Airventure at Oshkosh. We gave a demonstration "center stage" on the main runway on Friday, performing a jump takeoff and a zero roll landing, as well as numerous demonstrations at "Chopper Town" over the weekend. Also, company president, Jay Carter, gave a forum that Saturday.
Following Airventure, we took the CarterGyro to the 2007 PRA International Convention in Mentone, Indiana, and performed several demonstration flights at that event.
Completed static proof testing of the strongback. Load was applied to the attachment points for the tilting mast (34,000#) and the landing gear (29,000#) . The strongback was not bonded to the fuselage shell as it will be in the aircraft and did not benefit from the added stiffness, so additional unidirectional strands of carbon were bonded to the aft of the strongback to keep it from deflecting too much. These strands have been removed and additional tests will be conducted once the strongback is bonded to the fuselage shell. These tests verified that all of the bonded in joints will be able to handle the proof loads. A few changes were made to the strongback as a result of these tests.
Strongback
Proof Test
Additional
Unis for
Strongback
Proof Test
Completed laying up a test version of the Propeller Thrust Beam, and completed static testing to 6,000 lbs, more than three times the static thrust that could be produced with a 400 HP engine. A few changes were made to the design as a result of this testing. We are nearly completed with the thrust beam that will actually be used in the aircraft.
Prop Thrust Beam
Proof Test
Modified the tilting mast mold per the latest design revision. Previously, we were going to use an internal metal frame with a thin composite fairing. Now, the fairing itself will be laid up strong enough to carry all of the loads with no need for an internal frame. This results in a significant weight savings.
Tilting Mast Mold
We modified the design of the composite landing gear arm and tested another test specimen to failure. It failed in the "dogleg" of the gear at a force equivalent to that necessary to decellerate from a 34 ft/sec impact. We are currently laying up a modified version to perform another test. Our goal is to reach a force equivalent to 36 ft/sec.
Continued working on tooling for the internal components of the rudder.
Began drop testing the landing gear. These tests use the old design metal landing gear arm, which are still worthwhile as they test all of the other components of the landing gear system, and the mockup center wing section that was constructed using the same composite layup as will be used in the flying version. To date, we have achieved a 16 ft/s (960 fpm) impact with a 2400 lb test weight. We have made several modifications to the landing gear during the course of this testing. Our goal is to reach a 18 ft/s (1080 fpm) impact velocity.
We've made a few more changes to the design for our 6-9 Place Business Air Vehicle (BAV). For more information, pictures, and performance, go to the 6-9 Place Business Aircraft page.
Carter Aviation Technologies is taking the CarterGyro Demonstrator/Trainer to this year's EAA Airventure at Oshkosh. We will be there Friday the 27th through Saturday the 29th, and will be giving demonstration flights to show the jump takeoffs and zero roll landings. Also at this year's Airventure, company president, Jay Carter, will be giving a forum on Saturday the 28th at 2:30 in the afternoon at the 01 Dake Corporation Pavilion.
We will then be taking the CarterGyro to the 2007 PRA International Convention in Mentone, Indiana. The convention officially runs from Wednesday, August 1 through Sunday, August 5, but we will be arriving a little early that Monday. We will give demonstration flights at this event, as well.
Laid up both halves of the strongback and test fit the parts in the fuselage. There is still some remaining work bonding on additional parts that aren't part of the composite layup.
Strongback
Lowering Co-Pilot
Side of Fuselage
for Strongback
Test Fitting
Strongback in
Fuselage - note
that parts are
laid on sides
Worked on tooling for the internal components of the rudder.
Completed the mold for the Propeller Thrust Beam, the support for the propeller that will attach to the aft of the fuselage, and began laying up the actual part.
Completed the layup of the first composite landing gear arm and tested it to failure. It failed in shear at the bond between the arm and the torque tube at a force equivalent to that necessary to decellerate from a 24 ft/sec impact. Our goal is to reach a force equivalent to 36 ft/sec.
Composite
Landing Gear in
Static Test
Completed static test in the drop test fixture to loads equivalent to 2160 fpm @ 2000 lbs, or 1.5 times the normal operational limit. These tests use the old design metal landing gear arm, which are still worthwhile as they test all of the other components of the landing gear system, and the mockup center wing section that was constructed using the same composite layup as will be used in the flying version. To perform the static test, the frame was anchored to the concrete as pressure was increased on the cylinder until a force of 9366 lbs was achieved on each wheel. These loads were applied with the landing gear both nearly fully extended and nearly fully compressed.
Static Test of
Landing Gear in
Drop Test Fixture
We've updated the design for our 6-Place Business Air Vehicle (BAV). For more information, pictures, and performance, go to the 6-Place Business Aircraft page.
A fan of Carter Aviation Technologies, Mat Recardo, has put together a video highlighting the CarterGyro Demonstrator Trainer, which he did entirely on a volunteer basis. All of us here think he did a really good job. Just click on the YouTube video below to watch it.
We trained another test pilot, Rusty Nance, to fly the CarterGyro Demonstrator/Trainer. In addition to George Mitchell, we now have two pilots qualified to fly the aircraft. Rusty had previously been one of our test pilots for the CarterCopter, and is currently an Apache pilot for the Army (more info on all of our test pilots). During some of his flights, Rusty flew with a helmet mounted camera. Two jump takeoff videos from that viewpoint are avaiable below, along with another video of the second jump takeoff, with an inset showing the external view.
Video - Jump
Takeoff from
Helmet Cam
(362 kB)
Video - Another
Jump Takeoff
(329 kB)
Video - Jump
Takeoff w/ Inset
(321 kB)
Laid up the fore, co-pilot side of the fuselage, which will slide forward to act as the aircraft entry, and will be removeable for maintenance. This marks the completion of the entire fuselage shell, from nose to tail. We've also made the access panels that will go on the top of the tail boom, the plugs for the ribs of the fuselage, the plug for the prop thrust beam, and the two halves of the rudder, which will still need to be bonded together.
Fuselage - CoPilot
Side
Prop Thrust
Beam Plug
CoPilot Half
of Rudder
Completed the strongback plug, laid up the molds, and completed all the metal parts that will bond into the strongback. We've started the first stage of the layup for the pilot side of the strong back, which we will complete today.
Strongback
Being
Laid Up
Completed the static proof tests on the landing gear. With the landing gear fixed in the test fixture, pressure was applied to the cylinder for loads equivalent to 2160 fpm @ 2400 lbs, or 1.5 times the normal operational limit. We've begun installing the center wing section/landing gear assembly into the drop test fixture. We've completed the plug for a new composite landing gear arm that will replace the current metal one. This will not invalidate the current testing we are performing, as it is still testing all of the other components of the landing gear system.
Landing Gear
Test Stand
Completed the male preform plug and the female vacuum mold for the stretched acrylic windshield.
Windshield
Preform Plug &
Vacuum Mold
We apologize for not posting this update yesterday. Our webmaster was busy with an important engineering project.
Laid up the fore, pilot side of the fuselage. This whole portion will slide forward to act as the aircraft entry, and will be removeable for maintenance. This marks the completion of the entire pilot half of the fuselage shell, from nose to tail. The co-pilot side should be completed this week.
Fuselage - Pilot
Side
Continued work on the plug for the strongback (the main structural member running from the firewall forward) and the firewall. The plug shape has been completed. The surface of the pilot half is ready for laying up the mold.
Strongback Plug
Test fit the landing gear in the center wing section that will be used for landing gear drop testing. The drop tests will go up to 1440 fpm @ 2400 lbs, which will be the equivalent loading of 1020 fpm @ 4000 lbs, or 840 fpm @ 6000 lbs. With the landing gear fixed in the test fixture, pressure will be applied to the cylinder for a static proof test with loads equivalent to 2160 fpm @ 2400 lbs, or 1.5 times the normal operational limit. Note that the wing was upside down for this test fit.
Landing Gear in
Center Wing
Section -
Retracted
Landing Gear in
Center Wing
Section -
Extended
Worked on the mold and form for the stretched acrylic windshield. All that remains is the final 250º post cure. Shown in the picture below is the male form inset into the female mold. The acrylic will be heated and drooped over the male form for initial shaping, and then put into the female mold and a vacuum applied to get the final shape. Note that the windshield has a circular cross section no matter which way you look at it. This allows the acrylic to be stretched without any distortion.
Windshield Mold
Performed a pressure test on the main landing gear strut. We made some modifications to the strut based on that test.
Unveiled a new design for a 2-Place Personal Air Vehicle, a new aircraft designed with the intent of it being an entry level Carter rotorcraft. For simplicity, it has been designed as a pure autogyro. It will have a rotor and prop very similar in design to those used on the Carter Gyro Demonstrator Trainer (CGD/T), allowing jump takeoffs and zero roll landings similar to those of the CGD/T, while having a top speed of around 130 mph.
2-Place PAV
Completed the mock-up of the wing center section of the PAV 2+2. It is nearly identical to that section of the wing in the actual aircraft.
Wing Center
Section with
Tooling
Wing Center
Section Ready
for Final Bond
Continued work on the plug for the strongback (the main structural member running from the firewall forward) and the firewall. The plug was installed in the fuselage mold along with the mock-up center wing section, to ensure a perfect fit and to align the wing attachment hardware. The strongback plug was then removed, and we are currently finalizing the plug in preparation for making the mold.
Wing Center
Section in
Fuselage Mold
Strongback
Plug in
Fuselage
Mold
Received landing gear arms back from heat treat and powder coating, and began assembly of parts. Completed assembly of main gear and nose gear struts. Assembled nose gear in jig, and began assembly of rudder pedals and other controls in the nose.
Landing Gear
Partially
Assembled
Main Gear &
Nose Gear
Struts
Nose
Gear &
Rudder
Pedals
Completed machining on prerotator gearbox housing.
Prerotator
Gearbox Housing
Continued modifying the test stand. Completed the steel mockup of the tilting mast frame.
Continued work on the fuselage and rudder of the PAV 2+2. The aft main fuselage section has been completed for both halves of the aircraft.
Continued making the tooling for the internal components of the wing of the PAV 2+2. We are currently building a mock-up of the wing center section that will be identical to that section of the wing in the actual aircraft. This mock-up center section will be used in making the "strongback" mold to ensure that the strongback and wing interface properly, for testing the landing gear, and is also helping to refine the layup procedures for the actual wing. The skins have been laid up for this center section, the tooling has been completed for the internal components, and nearly all the ribs & shear webs have been completed.
Continued work on the fuselage and rudder of the PAV 2+2. The aft main fuselage section is completed for one half of the aircraft, and we are working on the other half.
Continued making the tooling for the internal components of the wing of the PAV 2+2. The rib location tooling has been completed for the wing center section.
All landing gear parts have been made, and assembly has begun.
Completed modifications to the test stand to enable testing of the new propeller once it's completed. Additional modifications will be made for testing the new rotor and prerotator.
We continued flight testing the CTD-T. We've completed 50 hours since adding the new rotor, fulfilling an FAA requirement so that we can now fly the aircraft outside of our home airport. The gross weight of the aircraft, including the pilot and fuel, was 700 lbs, and the aircraft was powered by the 60 HP Rotax 582 engine. Some of this flight testing involved cutting the throttle to simulate an engine failure at various stages of the flight, including immediately after takeoff, to demonstrate the safety of the high inertia rotor. Another series of tests included lifting off, climbing straight up until the rotor rpm had dropped to the normal flight rpm, and then descending back to the point of takeoff, to demonstrate just how much energy is stored in the rotor. In the videos below, we've included a few that were shot from far away and zoomed out, to give a better perspective of just how high the aircraft is climbing during the jump takeoff. In the first video below, the rotor was only prerotated to 460 rpm, but with this engine, we can prerotate to 490 rpm. The rotor was tested to 670 rpm, so a more powerful engine could give even better takeoffs. In the video showing the test where the throttle was cut immediately after takeoff, the rotor was only prerotated to 410 rpm, so the test was simulating a worst case jump takeoff. For those videos marked with an asterisk (*), there is a high res version available through a link at the bottom of the video page.
Jump Takeoff to
Zero Roll Landing-
Long View (2,474 kB)*
Jump Takeoff to
Zero Roll Landing-
Close View (1,280 kB)*
Jump Takeoff-
Long View (638 kB)
Jump Takeoff-
Close View (847 kB)*
Simulate Engine
Failure at
Take Off (782 kB)
Simulate Engine
Failure After
Initial Climb (913 kB)
Takeoff from Mud
After Simulated
Emerg. Landing (483 kB)
Go-Around on
Short Final (870 kB)*
High Speed
Fly-By (556 kB)*
Continued work on the fuselage and tail boom of the PAV 2+2. We've laid out and cut the honeycomb for the aft main fuselage section.
Continued making the tooling for the internal components of the wing of the PAV 2+2. We've begun laying up the center section to use for a landing gear test, and have refined the wing design per this layup.
Several months ago, we contracted a company to build the new propeller we designed for the PAV 2+2. We've begun modifying the test stand to be able to test this propeller once it's completed.
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