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From: megazone@wpi.WPI.EDU (MEGAZONE 23)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Autorotation of AV-8B Harrier
Message-ID: <1990Dec5.030543.6339@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 5 Dec 90 03:05:43 GMT
References: <1990Dec4.002219.9452@cbnews.att.com>
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From: megazone@wpi.WPI.EDU (MEGAZONE 23)

In article <1990Dec4.002219.9452@cbnews.att.com> sasbrb@unx.sas.com (Brendan Bailey) writes:
>    What is auto-rotate for the av-8b?  Someone I know said that the av-8b
>doesn't have it.  Do some have it and some don't or do none of them have 
>this feature?  What capability does this give a plane(harrier?) that has it?

I have never heard the term auto-rotate applied to a fixed wing aircraft.
Auto-rotation is used by a rotary winged aircraft after a loss of power.
You angle the blades downward so the airflow as you descend keeps them 
spinning and builds up KE. Then when you are in proximity to the ground
you reverse the pitch and use the stored KE to provide a momentary lift
vector which cushions the impact. 

The AV-8B would not be able to auto-rotate as it is a rotorless craft relying
on vectored thrust from the Pegasus turbofan. It would only be able to glide
like a normal fixed wing aircraft. Only autogyros, helicopters, tilt-wing,
and tilt-rotor craft have auto-rotation capablity. And only when the wings
or rotors are in vertical flight mode on tilt-wing and tilt-rotor craft.
Most modern attack and fighter aircraft do not have a very favorable power
off glide profile.

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