Filper Research Beta 200 - personal helicopter, death trap , post-aerodynamic sculpture

Posted by couplingrhino@reddit | WeirdWings | View on Reddit | 31 comments

Attempts to enter into forward flight were unsuccessful; The N5000F was tested in hover only.

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tob007@reddit

A relatively large overlap between the front and rear rotors.

oh oh

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quietflyr@reddit

... You mean like every other tandem rotor helicopter ever made?

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LefsaMadMuppet@reddit

I went through all the references in Wikipedia, no reason was given for this, almost one source is not available online.

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quietflyr@reddit

What do you mean, a reason for overlap in tandem rotor helicopters?

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quietflyr@reddit

The reason is so you can maximize rotor disc area without making the helicopter super long. It's really that simple.

The rotors are hard connected to each other with a gearbox, so they can never hit each other unless another catastrophic failure has already happened, so it's not a big deal.

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BrtFrkwr@reddit

Catastrophic failures and helicopters go together like...............

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yoweigh@reddit

.......................................................

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bigmike2k3@reddit

At least they put the cockpit right by the tips of the spinning front rotor so the pilot can keep an eye on it…

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reddituserperson1122@reddit

Did they not, you know, do math before building the thing?

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quietflyr@reddit

It was designed by a group of Lockheed engineers. They probably knew more about the math than you do.

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reddituserperson1122@reddit

Well their design didn't work very well, so maybe more math was in order.

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AggressorBLUE@reddit

Psh, since when has math ever helped anyone in aerospace engineering.

It’s all about that big-send energy.

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righthandofdog@reddit

100%. Larry Entier had more launches than the entire Canadian Space program.

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NorthEndD@reddit

Just make sure the rotors rotate opposite directions and you should be good.

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IronMew@reddit

Legit sorry this didn't go anywhere. Looks about three thousand times cooler than its functional equivalent the R22.

I wonder if it'd worked if they'd used a more powerful engine and not insisted on alternative flight controls meant to make it handle more like a plane.

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LefsaMadMuppet@reddit

There was a 499 series one, N5005F that came apart about 1500ft AGL going around 110 mph. Pilot couldn't bail out in time.

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Ornery_Year_9870@reddit

"It was a great idea. It just didn't work." There was a lot of talent and knowledge behind this project. I would call it more ambitious than outlandish.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filper_Research_Beta

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ambientocclusion@reddit

Unsuccessful attempt to make an AMC Pacer fly.

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NorthEndD@reddit

It did hover though which is the magic part. Flying is easy once you can hover.

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Because the flight testing of the Beta 200A was unsatisfactory, they build the Beta 400A with a bigger engine and longer fuselage. During a test flight attempting to reach 110 knots in forward flight, the rotor system went unstable and destroyed the 400A. The test pilot died.

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