The Showers Skytwister Choppy is an American
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 ...
that was produced by
Showers-Aero
Showers-Aero (also called Ben Showers Aero) was an American aerospace design firm based in Milton, Pennsylvania. The company specialized in the design of helicopters in the form of plans for amateur construction.Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Ho ...
of
Milton, Pennsylvania
Milton is a borough in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States, on the West Branch Susquehanna River, north of Harrisburg, located in Central Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River Valley. It is approximately 10 miles upriver from the mouth ...
, introduced in 1992. Now out of production, when it was available the aircraft was supplied in the form of
CAD
Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...
plans for
amateur construction.
[Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 331. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998. ]
Design and development
The Skytwister is a modernized and updated version of the
Adams-Wilson Hobbycopter, also called the "Choppy", as redesigned by Ben Showers.
The Skytwister was designed to comply with the US ''Experimental - Amateur-built'' aircraft rules. It features a single main rotor, a two-bladed tail rotor, a single-seat open cockpit with a windshield and skid-type
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 ...
. The standard engine used is a twin cylinder, liquid-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 ...
,
dual-ignition Rotax 582 powerplant with a 2.58:1 reduction drive, which replaces the original Choppy's motorcycle engine.
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 made from bolted-together
aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...
tubing. Its two-bladed Fleck 2706 aluminium alloy main rotor is made as an extrusion and has a diameter. The tail rotor has a diameter of . The aircraft has an empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of . With full fuel of the payload for pilot and baggage is .
The designer estimated the construction time from the supplied plans as 300 hours.
Operational history
By 1998, the company reported that 200 sets of plans had been sold and 12 aircraft were completed and flying.
By April 2015, no examples were
registered in the United States with the
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...
, although a total of one had been registered at one time.
Specifications (Skytwister)
See also
*
List of rotorcraft
This is a list of rotorcraft, including helicopters, autogyros, rotor kites and convertiplanes.
A
A-B Helicopters
* A-B Helicopters A/W 95
American Aircraft International
* AAI Penetrator
Aero
* Aero HC-2 Heli Baby
Aero-Astra ...
References
{{reflist
External links
Photo of the Skytwister
Skytwister
1990s United States sport aircraft
1990s United States helicopters
Homebuilt aircraft
Single-engined piston helicopters