CarterCopter

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jul 19th 2005 at 10:01AM

It's still a prototype with no immediate plans for production but the CarterCopter is definitely an intriguing idea. It is a hybrid between an airplane and a rotorcraft, combining the wings of a plane with the rotor of a helicopter. In the CarterCopter, as the aircraft speeds up and the wings begin producing more of the lift, the rotor slows down. The CarterCopter uses a small, simple wing because the wing only needs to support the aircraft at high speeds. The combo of the slowed rotor and the smaller wing let the CarterCopter take off vertically like a helicopter but fly like a plane. Like one of our other favorite projects, the Moller Skycar, the CarterCopter was recently featured in a CBS story about the new flying cars. Eventually, the CarterCopter should sell for around $300,000.

Filed under: Wings

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Steamboat Springs Info Dec 18th 2005 6:02PM

If they can really do this and it's safe, I could really use one for Real Estate. My concern is that it would be too expensive to maintain since it has a heli setup in addition to normal plane systems. If they can crack that nut they will keep very busy. Given some of the recent advances and fresh looks at design maybe they can.