Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-02

sary motion through the air is provided by the
circular movement of the rotor vanes; the rest
is supplied by the forward motion of the whole
craft, including the disc surface created by the
revolving rotor. While the rotor Is turning the
autogiro can stay in the air at a speed which
would be fatal to ordinary plane. A con-
ventional plane can fly safely at minimum
speed of SO miles an hour and must land not
slower than IS miles an hour. If speed drops
below this minimum the plane falls at once,
out of control and to a certain crash. But the
autogiro can fly safely at 20 miles hour
less and can land with so little forward motion
that its wheels hardly make a complete revolu-
ton before tine ship is at a standstill.
This Is enormously important to aviation, as
Mr.. Edison recognized at once. 1t provides
certainty and safety for the most difficult and
dangerous of an airplane's maneuvers-the
banked turn and the landing, which must be
done at a good speed or they cannot be done at
all in safety. plane that banks too slowly
will skid or sideslip; a slow landing may mean
the "pancaking" of the ship But the autogiro
is safe under such conditions because 1t has
flying speed even when 1t isn't going anywhere
The flying speed is in the spinning rotor
THERE is no possibility Of vertical descent in
an ordinary airplane, except the sort which
ends IN crash. But the autogiro can come
straight down almost exactly at the speed Of q
parachute because the thrust of air against
the rotor keeps it turning and supplies the
equivalent of a minimum flying speed
To the trained aviator it is extremely star
Ting to see the autogiro ny safely a few feet
from the ground at low speeds, make figure
eight turns in small space, hang nearly
notionless in the air and jump off the ground
like a grasshopper.
He is also startled to discover that It can
travel with an ordinary motor at speeds above
100 miles an hour, keeping pace with many
commercial craft of similar power
These are the technical fundamentals of the
new flying machine, as far as they can be SIM
ply stated. But imagination gets easily away
from them to wonder what effect the autogiro
will have on the future of aviation There is
no longer any doubt that it viii rapidly be
accepted by the public and the professional
flyer as a practical machine While it was be-
ing developed in Spain and England it was q
freak; when 1t first came to America in the
Winter OF 1928 it was curiosity, and since
then the patient silence of its owners and de-
veiopers has made 1t a mystery ship. But
nearly two years have been devoted to correct
ing its minor defects and tendencies to lad
behavior
One must revise his previous ideas on air.
ports. f1rst-class flying field today needs a
thousand feet of runways in several directions
and as much freedom as possible from obstruc-
tions in the neighborhood. The autogiro can
land nearly anywhere; it could come down
safely on half-acre lawn and even on a space
no bigger than a tennis court. 1t can get out
Of a field that is only fraction of the size at
present needed for an airport. This means that
the biggest and busiest city could spare enough
central space for an autogiro landing field,
though the price of real estate nearly always
compels the present type of airport to spread
itself in the suburbs far from citys center. )
1t also makes possible and probable the provi-
sion of landing fields on the tops of large
buildings.
This forecast supposes, of course, that the
business man knows how to fly an autogiro
There is no good reason why he shouldn't
Harold F. Pitcairn, president Of the Pitcairn
Cierva Co. of America thinks that an intelh-
gent student can learn to fly an autogiro In
two hours The ordinary plane requires about
10 hours before the student is competent to
solo, The difference is largely matter of the
elimination Of risk in landing and making air
turns, which are the students most difhcult
problem and his instructors chief anxiety.