From: Doug Jones (random@qnet.com)
Date: Thu Nov 18 1999 - 12:26:01 MST
Chuck Kuecker wrote:
> It's not a true helicopter, in that it has no blade pitch controls.
> It's essentially two big propellers that you hang from. If all the
> engines quit, it could autorotate you straight down, without much
> control sideways. I believe they were going to put a ballistic
> parachute on top of the rotors, in case of catastrophe.
If the collective blade pitch cannot be lowered to a negative value, the
rotors will *not* autorotate at all, but will simply slow down until they
stall. At this point you're flying a rock and a chute is the only way to
avoid being street pizza.
-- Doug Jones Rocket Plumber, XCOR Aerospace http://www.xcor-aerospace.com
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