June 20, 2005
CarterCopter
Well, I logged on to get a quick look at what was going on back up in Maryland, and found this site empty. So, just to put something down, take a look at the CarterCopter Website for the latest update on our progress. We finally broke mu-1 (there's an explanation of why that's important on the website), so that's pretty good. We broke the aircraft later that day, which sucks, but it was unrelated to the mu-1 flight, and at least we broke mu-1 before we broke the aircraft.
Posted by Fatboy at June 20, 2005 04:50 PMYou sound like my dad and his hot-rod buddies. Yeah, some car made it to Louisville or some shit, but it threw a rod, busted a radiator hose, and bent a 4-bar link on the way back. But, like whatever the hell a mu-1 is, making it there is the point. I have no idea what you are doing, but keep it up Fatty.
Posted by: Chris at June 20, 2005 08:32 PMNeat. I like your explanation. Is there anything you can do at mu1+ that you can't do at lower mus, or was this just a record that was ready to be broken?
Posted by: Rick at June 21, 2005 09:47 AMWell, it basically all comes down to efficiency. Strap a big enough engine onto something, and you can make anything fly fast. Actually, Bell Helicopters did that with a Huey way back to get up around 315 mph, but it burned fuel so fast that it could only fly for 15 minutes. Slowing the rotor down reduces drag a lot, so the more you slow it down, the more efficiently you can fly fast, or the faster you can go for a given engine. The other problem you have to worry about is that at some point drag really starts to go up if you let the advancing rotor blade reach supersonic speeds. That's really why you have to slow it to mu ratios greater than 1 for efficient flight. And to answer what probably seems to be the obvious question, "Why not just stop the rotor," read that section in our FAQ.
Posted by: Fatboy at June 21, 2005 10:18 AM
Muuu!
Yeah, I'm with John.
Talk about beer, football, or, ideally, a combination of both. Nerds.
Posted by: Chris at June 21, 2005 06:11 PMNeat! There is a somewhat recent photo of Fatboy if you click on the "The Crew on the Day of the Historic Flight" photo. I think it is Fatboy, it could be the old Brawny Paper Towel Man . Also, I think anytime you fly the thing and it doesn't crash, it should also count as a "Historic Flight." And if it does crash, it should count as a "Historic Crash." According to the website, you managed a Historic Flight and a Historic Crash in the same day. Kudos!
Posted by: John at June 22, 2005 04:10 PM