The Air Copter A3C is a French autogyro, designed and produced by Air Copter of Lherm, Haute-Garonne. The aircraft is supplied as a kit for amateur construction.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12, page 174. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485X
Design and development The A3C was designed to comply with amateur-built aircraft rules. It features a single main rotor, a two-seat side-by-side configuration enclosed cockpit with a windshield, tricycle landing gear and a four-cylinder, air and liquid-cooled, four-stroke, dual-ignition, turbocharged Rotax 914 or a normally-aspirated Rotax 912S engine mounted in pusher configuration.
Air Copter is well known as a designer and manufacturer of gyroplane rotor blades and other dynamic components and they also make their own components for the A3C. The aircraft's diameter rotor has a chord of and employs a NACA 8H12 airfoil. The main rotor has a pre-rotator to shorten take-off distance. The aircraft has an empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of .
Specifications (A3C)
References