WICHITA FALLS, Texas — Over the course of four days in January, Carter Aviation Technologies‘ Personal Air Vehicle prototype broke five of its own records.
“We set an altitude record just shy of 18,000 feet, a Mu (advance ratio) record of Mu 1.13, slowed the rotor to a new minimum of 105 rpm, achieved a level 202 mph true speed on 325 hp at an aircraft test weight over 4000 pounds and flew for well over an hour, representing our longest flight to date,” said Jay Carter. “We are expanding the envelope in baby steps and still have a ways to go. This aircraft should be able to fly up to eight hours on its given fuel capacity, cruise at 220+ mph and up to 28,000 feet.”
Carter was the first to achieve Mu1 (Mu is the ratio of aircraft speed divided by the rotor tip speed, and Mu 1 is when both are equal) back in 2005 and accomplished the feat again numerous times with the latest aircraft shown below.
To put this into perspective, from the Wright brothers’ first flight in 1903, it took 44 years to break the speed of sound, 66 years to put a man on the moon and 102 years to achieve Mu 1, Carter explained.
Carter plans to fly the aircraft to SUN ’n FUN in April in Lakeland, Florida. This will be part of many cross country flights for the Carter PAV to other airshows, cities and military bases during 2014, according to company officials.
“We cannot keep our current aircraft in flight test forever,” Carter said. “In the next month or so we will approach the FAA requesting a change to our certification from research and development to demonstration.”
This is a significant milestone for Carter Aviation, he noted. The demonstration ticket from the FAA will grant Carter the access to multiple venues across the country with its prototype aircraft.
“It is time to get our aircraft and technology in front of the public so we can gain support to move toward production,” Carter said. “Pictures and videos are just fine, but there’s nothing better than experiencing our aircraft and technology first hand. It is time we prove to people we are for real and gain the support we need to get the technology into the marketplace.”