Kaman KSA-100 SAVER

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The Kaman KSA-100 SAVER (Stowable Aircrew Vehicle Escape Rotorseat) is an American aircraft-stowable gyroplane escape device designed and built by the Kaman Aerospace Corporation for the United States Navy. Designed to be used in naval combat aircraft to deploy as part of the ejection sequence, only one was built and it did not enter service. It was the first jet-powered gyroplane.

Design and development

The United States Navy Air Development Center awarded a number of contracts to aerospace companies to find a method for ejected aircrew to escape from the scene of the crash. Kaman proposed a turbofan powered gyroplane it called the Stowable Aircrew Vehicle Escape Rotorseat or SAVER. The SAVER was an aircraft ejection seat with a Williams WRC-19 turbofan engine and a two-bladed non-powered rotor attached to the seat structure, the blades being telescopic and folded into the seat during normal use. When the pilot ejected, the seat would leave the aircraft and a drogue parachute would slow the seat and deploy the blades within four seconds. After an additional two seconds, the turbofan would run up to full power and the seat would fly as a gyroplane. Kaman made over 1500 air drops to test the self-deploying rotor system and a full-scale un-powered SAVER was tested by NASA in the Ames Research Laboratory wind tunnel in 1970. For flight testing, the SAVER was equipped with a ground handling frame which was a tricycle landing gear and support frame as well as basic flight instrumentation. The SAVER first flew in a towed flight on 28 December 1971 and the following day made a free flight, although it was fitted with a 16 ft non-telescoping rotor. Fitted with the 14 ft telescopic rotor, it first flew 10 January 1972. The SAVER used a Williams WRC-19 turbofan which was too powerful for the seat but was available "off the shelf." The program was to test the seat unmanned in an air launch but the program was cancelled as the military did not think the idea was a viable proposition.

Specifications

See also

References

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Popular Science, July 1972

{{Kaman aircraft

1970s United States experimental aircraft
KSA-100
Autogyros
Pusher aircraft
Single-engined jet aircraft
Aircraft emergency systems
Ejection seats