The Rotorwing-Aero 3D-RV 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 Monte Hoskins and produced by Rotorwing-Aero of

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

, introduced in 1989. Now out of production, when it was available the aircraft was supplied in the form of plans for amateur construction.Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 331. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998.

Design and development

The 3D-RV was designed to comply with the US

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 when equipped with a

Rotax 503 The Rotax 503 is a , inline 2-cylinder, two-stroke aircraft engine, built by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG of Austria for use in ultralight aircraft.Raisner, William: ''LEAF catlog'', pages 6-105. Leading Edge Airfoils, 1995. As of 2011 the Rot ...

Rotax 582 The Rotax 582 is a two-stroke, two-cylinder, rotary intake valve, oil-in-fuel or oil injection pump, liquid-cooled, gear reduction-drive aircraft engine manufactured by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG. It is for use in non-certified aircraft operating ...

engine. With heavier engines it can be registered in the US ''Experimental - Amateur-built'' category. The 3D-RV features a single main rotor, a single-seat open cockpit without 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 ...

with hydraulic

disk brake Disk or disc may refer to: * Disk (mathematics), a geometric shape * Disk storage Music * Disc (band), an American experimental music band * Disk (album), ''Disk'' (album), a 1995 EP by Moby Other uses * Disk (functional analysis), a subset of a ...

s, 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, ...

. The acceptable power range is and the standard engines used are twin cylinder, air-cooled,

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

, single-ignition

engine and the twin cylinder, liquid-cooled, two-stroke, single-ignition

engine, mounted in pusher configuration. 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 aircraf ...

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 ha ...

tubing and welded 4130 steel tubing. Its two-bladed rotor has a diameter of and may use either manufactured metal blades or homemade ''Gyrotor'' wooden blades. The prototype was originally flown with wooden blades of each, with a hub bar, for a diameter of . In this configuration the aircraft flew acceptably, but did not climb well on hot days at higher

density altitude The density altitude is the altitude relative to standard atmospheric conditions at which the air density would be equal to the indicated air density at the place of observation. In other words, the density altitude is the air density given as a ...

s. The minimum control speed is The initial propeller used was a two bladed ground adjustable unit, but the plans specify a three-bladed ground adjustable design of diameter. The prototype used a conventional low landing gear design, but this was later developed into a high landing gear to set the vertical

center of gravity In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force ma ...

to the prob hub height to prevent longitudinal stability issues and bunt "push-over" accidents. The final design features a tall aluminium

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...

. 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 and baggage is . The standard day, sea level, no wind, take off roll with a engine is . The manufacturer estimated the construction time from the supplied plans as 400 hours.

Operational history

By 1998 the company reported that 35 sets of plans had been sold and three aircraft were completed and flying. One builder reported an eight-month completion time.

Specifications (3D-RV)

References

{{reflist

External links

Photo of a Rotorwing-Aero 3D-RV in flight
3D-RV 1980s United States sport aircraft 1980s United States ultralight aircraft 1980s United States civil utility aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Single-engined pusher autogyros Aircraft first flown in 1989

Design and development

Operational history

Specifications (3D-RV)

See also

References

External links