Slope Soaring a Helicopter - Video
Youtube user Jakes van Heerden posted this video back in 2012 showing him sloping an RC helicopter.
Even Helicopters Enjoy Lift
We've all heard the saying, "If you put enough power in it, you can fly a brick." Well I have a new saying, "If you have enough wind, you can slope a heli." This is an older video, but I've never seen it before and maybe many of you haven't either or even knew this was possible. Youtube user Jakes van Heerden posted this video back in 2012 showing him sloping an RC helicopter.
No power was used to turn the rotor, other than the wind of course. You can see in the video that the wind was ripping, it was able to turn the blades fast enough to provide lift. He essentially auto-rotates in the wind and it keeps the heli aloft and under control. It's pretty amazing to watch and while it's not super practical to go out sloping helicopters, it is a great showcase of what is possible with the power of wind. What's the craziest thing you've ever sloped?
| Slope flying a Heli (2 min 27 sec) |
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Good find! Slope soaring a heli is definitely a neat trick.
Now to auto-rotate and slope soar a quadcopter...  (kidding)
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Very cool.
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Thread OP
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Dan, I was thinking the same thing! No way I would hold that thing.
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Isn't it just a autogyro/gyrocopter at this point? Using wind instead of a rear propeller ?
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yupQuote:
You are looking at a "Auto-rotation" just with a low disk-loading resulting in a descent rate below the vertical air speed resulting in gaining altitude relative to ground. |
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I have an old gyro copter, never built. Alfa models, maybe. I'm going to put in some servos and try it!
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Thread OP
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Video that please!
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How was yaw controlled or did you lock the one way bearing on the rotor shaft?
Gene |
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