Raven Rotorcraft (also called Raven Redrives and Raven Rotorcraft & Redrives, Inc.) is an American
aircraft manufacturer
An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology industry.
...
based in
El Prado, New Mexico
El Prado is an unincorporated suburb and census designated place on the north side of Taos, in Taos County, New Mexico, United States. It is generally bounded on the south by the town of Taos, to the east by Taos Pueblo lands, to the north by ...
and formerly of
Boulder Colorado
Boulder is a home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 census, it is the most populous city in the county and the 12th-most populous city in Colorado. It is the ...
. The company specializes in the design and manufacture of
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 ...
s in the form of kits for
amateur construction and
reduction drive
A reduction drive is a mechanical device to shift rotational speed. A planetary reduction drive is a small scale version using ball bearings in an epicyclic arrangement instead of toothed gears.
Reduction drives are used in engines of all kinds ...
s for three and four cylinder
Geo Metro
The Geo Metro was a variation of the Suzuki Cultus available in North America from 1989 through 2001 as a joint effort of General Motors (GM) and Suzuki. In the US, the Metro carried a Geo nameplate from 1989 through 1997, and a Chevrolet namepl ...
and
Honda
commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...
automotive engines for aircraft use.
[Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', pages 77 and 327-328. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998. ]
The company produced a very simple single-seat autogyro design in the 1990s, the
Raven Explorer I for the US
FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles
Ultralight aircraft exist outside of the United States. In most countries, ultralights are a class of aircraft. A completely different legal concept is valid within the USA. The FAA makes explicitly clear that ultralight vehicles are not air ...
rules. This was followed by the
Raven Explorer II two-seater for the US ''Experimental - Amateur-built'' aircraft category. By the 2010s these were both out of production. The company is engaged in developing a new winged autogyro, designated the
Raven Rotor-Plane, for the cargo,
search and rescue
Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...
and aerial survey roles.
The company also produces complete aircraft engines for installation in homebuilt aircraft, such as the
Raven 1000 UL,
1300 SVS Turbo and
1600 SV.
[Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', pages 242-243. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485X]
Aircraft
References
External links
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{{Raven Rotorcraft aircraft
Aircraft manufacturers of the United States
Ultralight aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft
Autogyros