The North American Rotorwerks Pitbull II 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 ...

, designed and produced by North American Rotorwerks of

Tukwila, Washington Tukwila ( ) is a suburban city in King County, Washington, United States, located immediately to the south of Seattle. The population was 21,798 at the 2020 census. Tukwila is a community of communities, with residents of many diverse origi ...

. When it was available the aircraft was supplied as a kit for amateur construction, but by 2013 production had been suspended.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', page 184. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485X

Design and development

The Pitbull II is a two-seat development of the North American Rotorwerks Pitbull Ultralight. It was designed to comply with the US ''Experimental - Amateur-built'' 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 ...

open cockpit with a windshield,

conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

and a four-cylinder, air and liquid-cooled, four-stroke,

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 Terms, ...

Rotax 912S The Rotax 912 is a horizontally-opposed four-cylinder, naturally aspirated, four-stroke aircraft engine with a reduction gearbox. It features liquid-cooled cylinder heads and air-cooled cylinders. Originally equipped with carburetors, ...

engine in

tractor configuration In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher co ...

. The Subaru EA-81 and Subaru EA-82 auto-conversion powerplants are optional. The aircraft's rotor has a diameter and the cockpit has a width. The

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyropla ...

is strut-braced and an electric pre-rotator is standard. A small baggage compartment with a capacity of and a volume of is fitted. The recommended power range is . With its empty weight of and a gross weight of , the useful load is . Construction time from the factory assembly kit is estimated at 100 hours. The aircraft is intended to resemble the autogyros of the 1930s and as such it uses a

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ...

-style round

cowling A cowling is the removable covering of a vehicle's engine, most often found on automobiles, motorcycles, airplanes, and on outboard boat motors. On airplanes, cowlings are used to reduce drag and to cool the engine. On boats, cowlings are a cove ...

, rounded rudder, barrel-shaped fuselage and other antique styling details.

Specifications (Pitbull II)

References

External links

* {{North American Rotorwerks aircraft 2000s United States sport aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Single-engined tractor autogyros