The Vortech Shadow is an American

autogyro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. Whi ...

that was designed by Tyler Flight, Inc. and produced by

Vortech Vortech, Inc. is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Fallston, Maryland. The company specializes in the design and manufacture of rotorcraft in the form of plans and kits for Homebuilt aircraft, amateur construction. Some of their design ...

Fallston, Maryland Fallston is a census-designated place (CDP) in Harford County, Maryland, Harford County, Maryland, United States. The population was 8,958 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, up from 8,427 in 2000. Fallston is a semi-rural community c ...

. The aircraft is supplied as a kit and also in the form of plans for amateur construction. Vortech also supplies rotor blades for the design.Downey, Julia: ''2005 Trikes 'Chutes and Rotorcraft Directory'', Kitplanes, Volume 22, Number 2, February 2005, page 60. Belvoir Publications.

Design and development

The Vortech Shadow was designed to comply with the US ''Experimental - Amateur-built'' aircraft rules. It features a single main rotor, a two-seats-in

side-by-side configuration Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

enclosed cockpit with a windshield,

tricycle landing gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle g ...

, plus a tail

caster A caster (or castor) is an undriven wheel that is designed to be attached to the bottom of a larger object (the "vehicle") to enable that object to be moved. Casters are used in numerous applications, including shopping carts, office chairs, t ...

. The acceptable power range is . The standard engine used is the four cylinder, air-cooled,

four-stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directio ...

dual-ignition Dual Ignition is a system for spark-ignition engines, whereby critical ignition components, such as spark plugs and magnetos, are duplicated. Dual ignition is most commonly employed on aero engines,Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

Lycoming O-320 The Lycoming O-320 is a large family of naturally aspirated, air-cooled, four-cylinder, direct-drive engines produced by Lycoming Engines. They are commonly used on light aircraft such as the Cessna 172 and Piper Cherokee. Different variants ...

powerplant in

pusher configuration In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in nor ...

. 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 tubing and composites. Its two-bladed rotor has a diameter of . The aircraft has a typical empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of . With full fuel of the payload for the pilot, passenger and baggage is . The standard day, sea level, no wind, take off with a engine is and the landing roll is . The manufacturer estimates the construction time from the supplied kit as 250 hours.

Operational history

By 1998, the company reported that four kits had been sold, completed, and were flying. In January 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 ...

Specifications (Shadow)

References

External links

* {{Vortech aircraft

Shadow A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, o ...

1990s United States sport aircraft 1990s United States civil utility aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Single-engined pusher autogyros

Design and development

Operational history

Specifications (Shadow)

See also

References

External links