More Inventions
The world's simplest helicopter
First I will show you the original world's simplest helicopter. It was the Hiller Flying platform.
It had a 50 hp engine driving two contra-rotating fans in the base. The pilot steered it by shifting his weight. Absolutely dead-simple. Actually it was literally dead-simple beacuse if the engine quit at altitude it was curtains for the pilot.
Here is my almost as simple helicopter. This one has a standard sized rotor and can therefore autorotate - i.e effectively glide to a soft landing in the event of engine failure. The pilot stands within the frame and steers by weight shifting.
The two engine/prop units drive the rotor via freewheeling unit - the rotor will keep turning if they stop.
