The Carter PAV (

Personal Air Vehicle A personal air vehicle (PAV) is a proposed class of passenger aircraft providing on-demand air transport. The emergence of this alternative to traditional ground transport methods has been enabled by unmanned aerial vehicle technologies and elec ...

) is a two-bladed, compound

autogyro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), gyroscope, gyrocopter or gyroplane, is a class of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. A gyroplane "means a rotorcraft whose rotors are not engine-d ...

developed by Carter Aviation Technologies to demonstrate slowed rotor technology. The design has an unpowered

rotor ROTOR was an elaborate air defence radar system built by the British Government in the early 1950s to counter possible attack by Soviet bombers. To get it operational as quickly as possible, it was initially made up primarily of WWII-era syst ...

mounted on top of the fuselage, wings like a conventional

fixed-wing aircraft A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using aerodynamic lift. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft (in which a rotor mounted on a spinning shaft generate ...

mounted underneath, and a controllable pitch

pusher propeller In aeronautical and naval engineering, pusher configuration is the term used to describe a drivetrain of air- or watercraft with propulsion device(s) after the engine(s). This is in contrast to the more conventional tractor configuration, whic ...

at the rear of the fuselage. Heavy weights ( each) are placed in the rotor tips to enhance

rotational energy Rotational energy or angular kinetic energy is kinetic energy due to the rotation of an object and is part of its total kinetic energy. Looking at rotational energy separately around an object's axis of rotation, the following dependence on the ob ...

and to reduce flapping.

Development

When the CarterCopter was damaged in 2005 due to a gear-up landing caused by pilot error, the cost of repair was deemed higher than the cost of making a new aircraft with the added benefit of incorporating lessons learned from the first aircraft. Design of the PAV was begun during 2005."" ''Carter Aviation'', 2 January 2006. Retrieved: 7 August 2010. Quote: "For the past several months, Carter has been designing a new aircraft"CarterCopter prototype in the works
" ''Texomas'', 20 December 2006. Retrieved: 26 January 2014. Several changes and development problems occurred along the way; twin boom was deemed unnecessary, so a single boom was constructed, and flaws in rotor blades and hub were revealed during testing and then corrected.

Jane's Information Group Janes is a global open-source intelligence company specialising in military, national security, aerospace and transport topics, whose name derives from British author Fred T. Jane. History Jane's Information Group was founded in 1898 by Fred T. ...

''Jane's All the World's Aircraft'', 20 July 2010. Retrieved: 9 September 2010
Archive
/ref> ''Carter Aviation'', 2003–2010. Retrieved: 7 August 2010. On 16 November 2009, the

AAI Corporation AAI Corporation is an aerospace and defense development and manufacturing firm, located in Hunt Valley, Maryland, US. Formerly a wholly owned subsidiary of United Industrial Corporation, AAI was acquired by Textron in 2007. It currently opera ...

(a division of

Textron Textron Inc. is an American industrial Conglomerate (company), conglomerate based in Providence, Rhode Island. Textron's subsidiaries include Arctic Cat, Bell Textron, Kautex, Textron Aviation (which itself includes the Beechcraft and Cessna b ...

) signed a 40-year exclusive

license agreement A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...

Textron Subsidiary To Develop Carter Rotor Technology
''AVweb'', 18 November 2009. Retrieved: 1 May 2010.Page, Lewi
VTOL gyro-copter flying car mates with killer robot
''

The Register ''The Register'' (often also called El Reg) is a British Technology journalism, technology news website co-founded in 1994 by Mike Magee (journalist), Mike Magee and John Lettice. The online newspaper's Nameplate_(publishing), masthead Logo, s ...

'', 20 November 2009. Retrieved: 1 May 2010. with the company concerning all

unmanned aircraft system An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Drone ...

s, one of which was intended to deliver of cargo similar to the unmanned

Kaman K-MAX The Kaman K-MAX (company designation K-1200) is a helicopter with intermeshing rotors (synchropter) designed and produced by the American manufacturer Kaman Aircraft. Developed during the 1980s and 1990s, the K-MAX builds on the work of the Ge ...

, but over a future range of compared to the demonstrated or more of the K-MAX.Team K-MAX demonstrates successful unmanned Helicopter Cargo resupply to U.S. Marine Corps
, Lockheed Martin press release, 8 February 2010. Retrieved 14 March 2010. The agreement committed CarterCopters to developing the technology to maturity, in exchange for exclusive rights to develop UAVs for the next 40 years. The first product in the AAI agreement was to be an

autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organizations or institutions are independent or self-governing. Autonomy can also be defi ...

slowed rotor/compound (SR/C) aircraft based on the Carter Personal Air Vehicle.Textron and Carter Aviation or Lockheed Martin might build DARPAs flying Hummer
''Next Big Future'' 29 August 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2010. "Critical Design Review" (CDR) for AAI Corporation was performed around January 2010 when the prototype was already being built. Usually a CDR is performed before a vehicle is built. ''Carter Aviation'', 5 January 2010. Retrieved: 7 August 2010. In 2014, Carter said they bought back the license from AAI and is seeking production partners outside USA, hoping for production 3–5 years later.Moore, Jim.
Carter seeks factory
''

Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) is a Frederick, Maryland-based American non-profit political organization that advocates for general aviation. AOPA's membership consists mainly of general aviation pilots in the United States ...

'', 21 May 2015. Retrieved: 16 July 2015
Archived
on 22 May 2015.

Testing

The PAV was taxi tested in autumn of 2010 at Olney Airport after FAA Special Airworthiness CertificateWood, Janice
Carter PAV heads to flight testing
''General Aviation News'', 25 October 2010. Retrieved: 15 November 2010
Archived
on 7 January 2014. on 27 July 2010, and performed traffic pattern movement on 2 December 2010, piloted by Larry Neal at the controls and co-pilot Robert Luna.Aircraft Completes First Phase Of Flight Testing
''

KAUZ-TV KAUZ-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Wichita Falls, Texas, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the western Texoma area. It is owned by American Spirit Media, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) wit ...

NewsChannel 6'', 26 January 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2011
Archived
on 3 November 2013. Larry Neal was also one of the pilots of the CarterCopter at Olney in 2005.You Say You Wanna Revolution? Carter Copter Tests New Rotor
''Aero-News'', 6 April 2005. Retrieved 3 January 2011
Archived
on 5 April 2012.Crosbie, Katie
Carter Aviation Technology announces new contract
''Texomas'', 7 October 2010. Retrieved 3 January 2011
Archived
on 2 October 2011. The first flight occurred on 5 January 2011 at Olney without wings and lasted 36 minutes, which qualified Carter for a milestone payment.Wood, Janice
Carter PAV hits first milestone
''General Aviation News'', 17 January 2011. Retrieved: 21 January 2011
Archived
on 18 February 2014.Carter PAV Completes 1st Funding Milestone Flight
''Aero-News'', 18 January 2011. Retrieved: 21 January 2011
Archived
on 5 April 2012.Paur, Jason
New autogyro is an alternative to flying cars
''

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

'', 21 January 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2011
Archived
on 4 March 2014. Carter stated that the PAV performed its first zero-roll jump take-off on 18 January 2011, to a height of . Eight jump take-offs were performed. There are some electrical issues with the aircraft, and it is not in volume production.ANN Special Feature: Carter PAV flight test update – 01.20.11
''Aero-News'', 20 January 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2011.Guyot, Fareed
Carter Personal Air Vehicle completes Phase-One flight testing
'' EAA Air Venture'', 21 January 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2011. The PAV flew traffic patterns with wings at Olney in January 2012, and has since flown winged test flights. It flew a few hours at a time, but its flight certificate restricted it to within of Olney.Shores, Gary et al
"Minutes of the Wichita Falls Economic Development Corporation"
page 3, 21 June 2013. ''

Wichita Falls Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita Counties. According to ...

Economic Development Corporation An economic development corporation ("EDC") is an organization common in the United States, usually a 501(c)(3) non-profit, whose mission is to promote economic development within a specific geographical area. These organizations are complementary ...

''. Retrieved: 2 September 2012. As of June 2012, development of the PAV is a year behind scheduleShores, Gary et al.
"Minutes of the Wichita Falls Economic Development Corporation
p2, 18 April 2012
Mirror, page 12
''

''. Retrieved 20 July 2012. due to various technical problems,Shores, Gary et al
"Minutes of the Wichita Falls Economic Development Corporation"
29 June 2012. ''

''. Retrieved: 29 November 2012. and a delay of a further year was caused by rotor

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

software control issues. Carter received funding from the

in 2010 to complete the PAV.Shores, Gary et al.
Minutes of the Wichita Falls Economic Development Corporation
p1-3, 18 June 2012. ''

''. Retrieved: 20 July 2012.Shores, Gary et al
"Minutes of the Wichita Falls Economic Development Corporation"
p2, 4 June 2012. ''

''. Retrieved: 26 November 2012.Shores, Gary & Carter, Jay
Resolution 132-2009mirror
''City of

Wichita Falls, Texas Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls metropolitan area, Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Archer County, Tex ...

'', 6 October 2009. Retrieved: 4 January 2011. Carter views the lack of a PAV

flight simulator A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...

as a mistake, and attempts to build one. The previous CarterCopter was designed using a flight simulator. Carter says that the PAV has a

lift to drag ratio In aerodynamics, the lift-to-drag ratio (or L/D ratio) is the lift generated by an aerodynamic body such as an aerofoil or aircraft, divided by the aerodynamic drag caused by moving through air. It describes the aerodynamic efficiency under give ...

of 10–15, and reached an advance ratio of 0.85 in 2012. According to Carter, the PAV reached Mu-1 on 7 November 2013. It also achieved a speed of , and the rotor was slowed down to 113 rpm. The PAV flew its first public show flight outside Olney when it flew to Wichita Falls later that month. Carter says the PAV has achieved a speed of at an altitude of , a Mu of 1.13Carter Aviation Considered for Multi-Billion Dollar DOD Contact
" ''Texomas'', 24 January 2014. Retrieved: 26 January 2014. and an L/D of 11.6-15. Carter has applied to the FAA to change the PAVs certificate from research and development to demonstration. The second PAV (called PAV-II, registration N210AV) was flight approved in March 2014, and demonstrated at

Sun 'n Fun Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo (officially styled SUN 'n FUN) is a nonprofit organization in Lakeland, Florida dedicated to the promotion of aviation education. It is best known for the annual week-long fly-in and airshow at Lakeland Linder Intern ...

air festival and

MacDill Air Force Base MacDill Air Force Base (MacDill AFB) is an active United States Air Force installation located 4 miles (6.4 km) south-southwest of downtown Tampa, Florida. The "host wing" for MacDill AFB is the 6th Air Refueling Wing (6 ARW), assig ...

in 2014, both in Florida. In July 2014, it was displayed at

Oshkosh Airshow EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at the Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wisco ...

. Carter says it has flown at . The first non-Carter pilots flew the aircraft in 2015.

Design

Computer aided design and X-plane flight simulation were used during development.Guevarra, Daniel
Carter PAV Is Getting Plenty Of Attention At EAA AirVenture
''AvStop Online Magazine'', 29 July 2009

on 13 April 2015.Fisher, Mark

'' X-Plane'', 2002
Archived
on 16 March 2012. Unlike the twin-boom CarterCopter, the PAV has a single tailboom.
''

Jane's all the world's aircraft ''Janes All the World's Aircraft'' (formerly Jane's) is an aviation annual publication founded by John Frederick Thomas Jane in 1909. Long issued by Sampson Low, Marston in Britain (with various publishers in the U.S.), it has been published by ...

'', 25 November 2008. Retrieved: 9 September 2010. Carter PAV nearly complete
''AirPlanes'', 7 August 2008. Retrieved 1 January 2011. A tilting mast allows the rotor to be tilted 15 degrees forward and 30 degrees aft to allow different centres of gravity and wing

angle-of-attack In fluid dynamics, angle of attack (AOA, α, or \alpha) is the angle between a reference line on a body (often the chord line of an airfoil) and the vector representing the relative motion between the body and the fluid through which it is mo ...

s. Helicopter rotors are designed to operate at a fixed

Croucher, Phil
Professional helicopter pilot studies
page 2-11. . Quote:

otor speed Otoraplin is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''OTOR'' gene. The protein encoded by this gene is secreted via the Golgi apparatus and may function in cartilage development and maintenance. A frequent polymorphism in the translation sta ...

"is constant in a helicopter".John M. Seddon, Simon Newman
Basic Helicopter Aerodynamics
p216, ''John Wiley and Sons'', 2011. Retrieved: 25 February 2012. . ''Quote: The rotor is best served by rotating at a constant rotor speed'' (within a narrow range of a few percent), whereas Carter uses RPM ranges between 100 and 350.Moore, Jim.
Carter seeks factory
''

'', 21 May 2015. Retrieved: 28 May 2014
Archived
on 22 May 2015. Most aircraft have two energy parameters (speed and altitude) which the pilot can trade between, but Carter technology attempts to use rotor rotation as a third energy parameter.Marker, Doug

2 November 1999. 1A+B ''Carter Aviation'', 24 March 1999. Retrieved 25 September 2011. The purpose of the Slowed Rotor/Compound aircraft is to enhance the

flight envelope In aerodynamics, the flight envelope, service envelope, or performance envelope of an aircraft or spacecraft refers to the capabilities of a design in terms of airspeed and load factor or atmospheric density, often simplified to altitude. The ...

compared to fixed-wing aircraft,

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

s and traditional

s, by minimizing the dangerous areas of the stall speed diagram/ height-velocity diagram as well as moving the speed limit up. The PAV has traditional airplane-like controls (Vernier type), but the

stick Stick, sticks or the stick may refer to: Thin elongated objects * Twig or branch * Walking stick, a device to facilitate balancing while walking * Shepherd's crook * Shillelagh * Swagger stick * Digging stick * Swizzle stick, used to stir drinks ...

also controls the rotor. Most controls were automated in 2011,Page, Lewis
'Personal Air Vehicle' VTOL jump-copter in key flight test
''

'', 24 January 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2011. and jump-takeoff is performed at the push of a button. Materials used include glass fiber, aluminum, titanium, and steel, as well as

autoclave An autoclave is a machine used to carry out industrial and scientific processes requiring elevated temperature and pressure in relation to ambient pressure and/or temperature. Autoclaves are used before surgical procedures to perform steriliza ...

d carbon/epoxy prepreg with

aramid Aramid fibers, short for aromatic polyamide, are a class of heat-resistant and strong synthetic fibers. They are used in aerospace and military applications, for ballistic-rated bulletproof vest, body armor cloth, fabric and ballistic composites ...

honeycomb A honeycomb is a mass of Triangular prismatic honeycomb#Hexagonal prismatic honeycomb, hexagonal prismatic cells built from beeswax by honey bees in their beehive, nests to contain their brood (eggs, larvae, and pupae) and stores of honey and pol ...

core Core or cores may refer to: Science and technology * Core (anatomy), everything except the appendages * Core (laboratory), a highly specialized shared research resource * Core (manufacturing), used in casting and molding * Core (optical fiber ...

on the PAV-II. The tip weights had been made of

tungsten Tungsten (also called wolfram) is a chemical element; it has symbol W and atomic number 74. It is a metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively in compounds with other elements. It was identified as a distinct element in 1781 and first ...

, while the current (2013) are made of steel."" ''Carter Aviation'', 29 August 2013. Retrieved: 2 September 2013. Suppliers for the aircraft include Blue Mountain Avionics for

avionics Avionics (a portmanteau of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the ...

and air-to-ground video and

telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', 'far off', an ...

, and Sky Ox Oxygen Systems as the PAV is not pressurized.Plack, Paul
Carter Aviation Technologies announces development partners
''Aero-News'', 1 August 2008. Retrieved 3 January 2011
Archived
on 5 April 2012. 60 channels of information convey sensor measurements from the aircraft to a ground computer, and 4 video cameras tape the flights. The engine is equipped with a performance enhancement system by Nitrous Express.

Operation

The PAV has flight characteristics similar to other Carter aircraft. When stationary on the ground, the engine powers up the flat pitch rotor to 370 RPM, and the engine is then disengaged from the rotor to provide full power to the propeller. The rotor now has substantial

due to the tip weights (usable temporary eng1 equivalent to ),What a Concept!
" ''Aerospace manufacturing engineer'', 26 May 2010. Retrieved: 18 October 2014. and the rotor blades are pitched to push air down and lift the aircraft in a jump takeoff.Carter autogyro revealed
''Loop'', 27 July 2009. While altitude is reached, the aircraft transitions into forward flight using the pusher propeller, and the rotor shifts to

autorotation Autorotation is a state of flight in which the main rotor system of a helicopter or other rotary-wing aircraft turns by the action of air moving up through the rotor, as with an autogyro, rather than engine power driving the rotor. Bensen, Igor ...

(windmilling) with air flowing up through the rotor. As speed increases, the air flow increases rotor RPM like other autogyros. Once sufficient

airspeed In aviation, airspeed is the speed of an aircraft relative to the air it is flying through (which itself is usually moving relative to the ground due to wind). In contrast, the ground speed is the speed of an aircraft with respect to the sur ...

is reached (around )Warwick, Graham.
VIDEO: Carter's Hybrid VTOL Flying
" ''

Aviation Week ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'', often abbreviated ''Aviation Week'' or ''AW&ST'', is the flagship magazine of the Aviation Week Network, a division of Informa. The weekly magazine is available in print and online, reporting on the aeros ...

'', 31 January 2011. Retrieved: 9 March 2014. for the small wings to provide lift, rotor blades are feathered to reduce rotor speed to 100 RPMInterview with Jay Carter at Oshkosh 2009
(1m0s) ''Aero-TV'', 27 July 2009. Retrieved 5 January 2011. and minimize drag, and lift is provided mostly by the wingsWarwick, Graham
Carter flies VTOL hybrid
''

'', 26 January 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2011. when speed reaches . Rotor lift is reduced to 10%, and flight efficiency is somewhat below that of a commercial jet plane.Warwick, Graham
Compound Concept
''

'', 28 February 2011. Retrieved 1 March 2012
Paper edition or paywall
/ref>

Specifications (PAV)

References

;Notes ;Bibliography
Flight International article

External links

* {{ external media , float=right , image1
PAV
at

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at the Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wiscon ...

, image
PAV on display
at Oshkosh 2010 , image3={{usurped,
PAV with wings
} {{usurped,
Archive
} , image4 ={{usurped,
PAV "hop"
} {{usurped,
Archive
} , image5

{dead link, date=May 2025, bot=medic{{cbignore, bot=medic 2010s United States experimental aircraft Autogyros Wichita Falls, Texas Pusher aircraft Slowed rotor Single-engined piston helicopters Aircraft first flown in 2011