The CarterCopter Breaks the m -1 Barrier!
Olney, TX – At 7:40 AM today, June 17, 2005, while flight-testing out of Olney Airport in Texas, the CarterCopter, unofficially, broke the m -1 (Mu-1) Barrier*. This is the first time in history that any rotorcraft has exceeded m -1. The barrier was breeched during normal flight-testing while collecting data on a newly developed speed controller for the rotor. The milestone attempt was not planned but evolved as flight-testing proved the rotor to be very stable as the rpm was decreased. Test pilot, Larry Neal, was decreasing rotor rpm in small increments when he neared m -1. With all systems stable the decision was made to proceed above m -1. Data from the flight shows that the airspeed was 170 mph and the rotor was slowed to 107 rpm giving a cockpit displayed m value of 1.02. Previously, the lowest rotor speed achieved was 115 rpm. The higher than m -1 flight time was just 1.5 seconds before Neal reduced the throttle to slow the aircraft. The high m flight was accomplished without incident.
The CarterCopter is the prototype aircraft of Carter Aviation Technologies (Carter). The prototype is the technology demonstrator of Carter’s Slowed Rotor/Compound (SR/C) Aircraft Technology and has been in flight-testing since 1998. Today’s historic flight culminates more than 12 years of research and development and continues to validate Carter’s revolutionary technology. Jay Carter, Jr., Carter’s President and Chief Development Engineer, was nearly speechless as the data reports came in from the flight. The m - 1 milestone has eluded Carter for more than three years after achieving a flight of m -.87 in 2002. According to Jay Carter, “This (breaking m - 1) has been our goal since we first began flight-testing in 1998. To prove our technology we needed to do something that no one else had ever done. We have had several setbacks, but no one on the team has ever lost faith. This is amazing!”
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