Quote:
Originally Posted by freebeard
As you can tell, I'm no High Altitude Hybrid. The thought process prolly went something like -- it hangs from the rotor like a Christmas Tree ornament so make it like those inflated boxer toys with the weight in the bottom. So much for reasoning by analogy. 
I also notice that I argued past the sale, assuming an electric autogyro.
If the mass of the batteries was a spinning gyroscope you could use that for attitude control.  |
Now that's a great idea!
Spining mass in the rotor (like at the tips in aerodyamic pods) could give a pretty neat advantage. If you have a way of spinning up the rotor while on the ground and have a collective rotor pitch control you could disconnect the rotor and then do a vertical take off using the momentum in the rotor to elevate the autogyro.
Actually your other idea of side-by-side propellers could also work as a type of helicopter for take offs and hovering. Have a reversible blade pitch control on one of the propellers would make it so you could counteract the torque of the rotor during liftoff and hovering.
For an electric aircraft, however, I'd still be more in favor of the airship. If the airship could be made to fly above the weather (especially clouds) and were covered in effient, yet light weight PV cells, it could fly with not much need for a heavy battery, at least during the day.