Gyro stabilization for tailwheel aircraft

[eignvctr]

I'm wondering if anyone has done work on trying to stabilize landing and takeoff characteristics of tailwheel aircraft using some kind of gyro technique. I've seen some folks on RC forums talk about having a little device that is based on solid state gyros managing the control surfaces to help with stability of their aircraft and I've seen mention that it is helpful in preventing ground loops on tailwheel RC planes. Ground looping is a particularly nasty problem in tailwheel aircraft and I was wondering if gyros have been considered for actual tailwheel aircraft and not just RC. The control surface interaction would be one way of preventing ground loops however another might be to have an inertially heavy gyro spinning at high RPM in the rear of the airplane and locked to a position for stable landing and take off. I haven't done the math on whether the weight and rpm of such a thing would be practical but even if it isn't, the control surface method could be very useful too and involve reasonable weight additions I'm sure.

 

[VEBill]

"...some kind of gyro technique..."

Tiny gyro sensors could be used to provide a pilot-assistance 'Stability Program' system, similar to the way car anti-skid systems work. Sensors, software and some gentle mechanical assistance with the controls, especially individual wheel brakes for tail dragging aircraft.

Probably should *not* be Full Authority, but limited by design to small helpful inputs. Provide feedback to the pilot to let the system manoeuvre to recover, as opposed to them fighting each other. (Full Safety Analysis goes here.)

--

Most aircraft already have large, heavy, rapidly rotating things in the form of engines and blades. There's almost certainly not enough weight capacity to add one more.

 

[bentwings2]

While I don’t fly full size aircraft I do see tailwheel lock used on them.
My favorite WW II airplane is the Corsair. In the RC modeling world back some 30 years ago, it was unheard of to use a gyro in fixed wing rc models.

At the time I flew with a couple helicopter guys who had the new gyros on the helix. One of them challenged me to try one on the Corsair. As the real ones were noted for torque roll the big 8’ span RC models displayed the same thing. As well as severe weathervane into cross winds. Most of these models crashed sooner or later taking off or landing.

The heli guy said if the gyro worked I could keep it. These were expensive devices back then. So we installed it on my big Corsair. By tying it to the landing gear it would turn off automatically when the gear retracted, thus did not affect normal flight.

The thing worked amazingly well. We tested it in as much as 30 mph crosswinds. It steered both the rudder and tail wheel. In windy conditions I simply held the tail on the ground a little longer then as the tail came up the gyro provided rudder as required.

Later I added the gyro to a separate channel so I could use it in normal flight. At the top of loops the plane would roll out sometimes but the gyro corrected this. At a lower rate it also corrected the fish tailing common to most Corsair modeled.

The bottom line is that my Corsair survived for 13 years of flying before I gave it to my son. It is still around being restored.

So with modern technology I surely could see these on full scale planes.

 

[drawoh]

eignvctr,

Quite a few years ago, I was asked to investigate a mechanical gyro in an airborne optical sensor. I determined that the gyro needed to be large in relation to the sensor, and/or very high revving. I observed that the gyro does not prevent rotation. It drastically increases the moment of inertia. If your gyro stabilized aircraft gets crooked on the way in, you are going to have fun getting it straightened out again.

--
JHG