THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Monday, March 18, 1996                 TAG: 9603160100
SECTION: DAILY BREAK              PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 
COLUMN: TECH TRACK
GADGETS AND GIZMOS FOR THE NEXT CENTURY
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   61 lines

GYROPLANE IS IDEA THAT NASA THINKS WILL FLY

WHO HASN'T YEARNED to step out of the house early on a workday and hop, George Jetson-like, into a Hovercraft?

Texas inventor Jay Carter Jr. says his ``CarterCopter'' will be too expensive and too regulated to whisk you any time soon from carport to office. But he does insist his hybrid helicopter-airplane - Carter calls the vehicle a ``gyroplane'' - could revolutionize general air travel in a way not seen since the advent of commercial flight in the 1930s.

The gyroplane, Carter says, will be able to take off and land vertically from rooftops or small patches of ground. Once flying horizontally, the craft should reach speeds of up to 400 miles per hour, about 150 mph faster than the fastest helicopter.

Carter's dream is to have a prototype fly nonstop from a downtown New York City rooftop to a downtown L.A. rooftop, a trip that he says should take just 6 1/2 hours.

Key to the hybrid design is a patent-pending, bearingless rotor that enables the craft's ``rotating wings'' (known more popularly as helicopter blades) to keep turning while in flight, up to 200 mph, providing additional lift. Some 50 pounds of depleted uranium in the tip of each blade is intended to keep the rotor rigid and stable, even at high forward speeds.

Above 200 mph, the CarterCoptor flies like a conventional airplane; the rotor blades idle until airspeed drops to the 200 mph mark.

The gyroplane will be powered by a turbocharged V-6 engine similar to those in NASCAR race cars. The craft, including the stern-mounted propeller and the two rotor blades, will be built mostly from lightweight but strong composite materials.

A crucial safety feature: Should power be lost in the CarterCopter's engine, the rotor blades autorotate, allowing the pilot to glide to a safe landing.

Initial plans call for the CarterCopter to carry five passengers and crew, but later models could be built to accommodate 35. The first customers are likely to be major corporations, entertainers and other wealthy types who can afford the price tag of $250,000.

NASA is so sold on the idea that, despite the agency's own severe money crunch, it's pumping some $70,000 worth of seed money into the venture. More NASA cash, in excess of $500,000, could follow if initial expectations pan out. MEMO: ``Tech Track'' appears every Monday in the Daily Break. Readers with

ideas for future columns are invited to contact staff science and

technology writer James Schultz at (804) 446-2599, or via e-mail at

schultz(AT)infi.net

ILLUSTRATION: METRO PHOTO

Inventor Jay Carter says his "gyroplane" could revolutionize air

travel.

by CNB