The GEN H-4 is a Japanese

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

under development by

GEN Corporation GEN Corporation of Japan developed a personal helicopter named the GEN H-4, but production was deferred pending large enough orders to make the aircraft economical.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 20 ...

Nagano Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Universi ...

. The aircraft is intended to be supplied as a kit for amateur construction.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', page 191. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485XTacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', page 207. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015.

Design and development

The H-4 was designed to comply with the United States

FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles Ultralight aircraft in the United States are much smaller and lighter than ultralight aircraft as defined by all other countries. In the United States, ultralights are described as "ultralight vehicles" and not as aircraft. They are not req ...

rules, including the category's maximum empty weight of . The aircraft has a standard empty weight of . It features two contra-rotating main rotors, a single-seat open cockpit without a windshield, four-wheeled

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...

and four twin-cylinder, air-cooled,

two-stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a Thermodynamic power cycle, power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being comple ...

, GEN 125-F engines to provide operational redundancy since the aircraft cannot autorotate in the event of a power failure. The aircraft

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

is a simple open frame with a seat mounted on it. Its two coaxial, contra-rotating two-bladed rotors have diameters of . The main rotors are both of fixed pitch design, with no articulation in any axis. Steering is accomplished by pivoting the rotor head on a gimbal using a control handle, in a similar manner to a weight shift

hang glider Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

. Climb and descent is controlled by increasing and decreasing the throttle. The aircraft lacks a tail rotor, as the coaxial, contra-rotating main rotors produce zero net torque. Yawing motion is produced and controlled by electronic gyroscopically-controlled differential electric braking of the main rotors. With its empty weight of and a gross weight of the H-4 has a useful load of . With full fuel of the payload is . The company indicated that it had suspended production plans by 2012 due to lack of dealers outside Japan and put the cost of a single H-4 at ¥7,500,000.00 (about

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

80,887.59 in 2013). The company stated that it could build the aircraft economically only in lots of ten and at a discounted rate only in lots of one hundred. To facilitate future production, the company indicated that it was "looking for sponsors, investors and partners".

Variants

;H-4 :Initial model powered by four twin-cylinder, air-cooled, two-stroke, GEN 125-F engines ;H-4E :Electrically-powered model under development ;H-4R :Remote-control model under development

Accidents

On 29 June 2000, the prototype H-4, registered JX0076, was on a test flight at the company plant in Matsumoto-City,

. The pilot was hovering, when the H-4 was hit by a wind gust and contacted the building, to the northwest and then impacted the ground. The pilot was injured and the airframe damaged.

Specifications (H-4)

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://en.gen-corp.jp/
Official videos of H-4 test flying
2000s Japanese sport aircraft 2000s Japanese helicopters Homebuilt aircraft Four-engined piston helicopters Coaxial rotor helicopters