        Project Briefing -- The Air Scout

          Copyright  1999 by Doyle Hunt
         huntdoyl@smtp.lmn.usace.army.mil


     Disclaimer:  The views expressed herein are those of the author,
and do not necessarily reflect those of the publishers, authors, or players
of The Morrow Project.  The information herein, while based upon real-life
equipment, should NOT be used for the purpose of real-life aviation!  Do
NOT try this at home!

     Credit Where It's Due:  Auto-gyros are rather uncommon in real
life, and information about them is even rarer.  A significant part of this
document is adapted from the article "Learning to Fly a Gyroplane" by J.
Patrick O'Leary, published in the March 1997 issue of Kitplanes magazine. 
This document you're (hopefully) reading is intended as not-for-profit
background material for use by players of the Morrow Project role-playing
game, and is not intended as a challenge to Mr. O'Leary's copyright for his
original article, despite the fact that the information gleaned from his
article is used without his permission and without payment.

Technical Data Correction
     This article does not include the technical data on the Air Scout
which was published in the game manual (TM 1-1).  However, I will note here
one discrepancy in the published data.  In the Third Edition of the manual,
the tabular data on the Air Scout lists the landing gear as "fixed skids, with
inflatable float pads" (paraphrased, since I don't have access to my manual
as I write this). This description is incorrect.  As stated by Kevin Dockery,
the landing gear of the Air Scout consists of a fixed (non-retractable)
tricycle landing gear, as on a small airplane.  The various drawings of the Air
Scout show the correct landing gear configuration.

A Mechanical Overview of the Air Scout
     The Air Scout is the Morrow Project's most common air asset.  It is
a two-seat auto-gyro with fixed landing gear, designed to be broken down
into six theoretically man-portable parts for storage and ground transport. 
The six subassemblies are as follows:
          1.  Cockpit
          2.  Tail Boom
          3.  Tail Assembly
          4.  Power Plant
          5.  Left "Wing"
          6.  Right "Wing"
     In actual practice, it's a little bit more complex.  The rotors
themselves must be removed from the rotor hub, increasing the total
number of separate parts to eight.  The pusher propeller should also be
removed for storage, but it's not strictly essential.  Landing gear may be
removed as well, but again is not essential.  If the landing gear is removed,
both rear wheels are connected to a single strut, which flexes like a leaf
spring.
     Some of the parts have a very odd shape, which makes carrying
them rather difficult.  For example, the cockpit section is approximately
seven feet long, two feet wide, and three feet tall, not counting the
forward landing gear.  If someone is to carry it, probably the best way
would be to remove the canopy, and carry the two pieces upside down,
overhead, rather like portaging a canoe.  One person could carry the canopy,
but two would be required for the cockpit "tub", because the seat location
makes it difficult to balance the load on one man's shoulders.  Since the Air
Scout doesn't have to be carried very far, only from its storage site to its
launch-return site, that's not a particular problem, but be advised that
assembly is hardly a one-man job in any event.
     Actual assembly is rather straightforward.  Begin with the tail boom
and the cockpit sections.  These are bolted together with interrupted-
thread bolts, meaning that it only takes a one-half turn of each bolt to
tightly secure it in place.  Because of the configuration of these parts, it is
necessary to have someone hold the tail boom up off the ground at the rear
while it rests on its two landing gear at the front.  Another person has to
hold the rear end of the cockpit in line with the tail boom, while the front
end of it rests on its single landing gear.  A third person then bolts the two
subassemblies together.  Alternately, the two subassemblies may use any
kind of available cribbing to block it into place, allowing a single person to
perform this stage, but with some increase in the time required.  Once
these two modules are assembled, the control lines for the rudder and
landing gear brakes are connected at the rear of the cockpit.
     The tail assembly us added next, including final linkup of the rudder
control lines.  Unlike an airplane, there is no elevator control, only a fixed
horizontal stabilizer.
     The power plant assembly is then lifted into place and bolted down. 
Access panels on the sides of this module allow one to reach in to connect
the rotor control lines and the engine controls.  Be advised that it is
difficult for one man to perform this part of the assembly process.  This
section includes the fusion pack and a high-torque electric motor to turn
the propeller, with a power takeoff for the main rotor, and is actually even
heavier than the cockpit section, although somewhat more compact.  Lifting
it into place and aligning it properly is best handled as a two-man job.  The
access panels also allow the pilot to reach lubrication and inspection points
when performing maintenance.
     At this point, the propeller and main rotor blades are attached.  The
propeller simply slides into place, with a key-way on the shaft to keep it
from slipping, and a hub is screwed down over it.  The hub is threaded so
that the motion of the propeller tends to tighten the hub.  The rotor blades
themselves are bolted on, with a total of seven bolts per rotor.  These bolts
are not interrupted screw types, but instead are fully threaded, using
crown nuts.  The ends of the bolts are drilled to accept cotter pins, which
interlock with the crown nuts to keep them from coming loose.
     The wings are attached last.  The term "wings" is actually a
misnomer.  Although they do have a somewhat aerodynamic shape, the
provide very little lift, and actually function more as weapons planks.  The
Air Scout will fly perfectly well without them, at the cost of going unarmed. 
There are two electrical connections for each wing, one for the Stoner's
electrical trigger assembly, and one for the missile ignition/release.  These
have differently-shaped plugs, so that one can't accidentally connect the
missiles to the machine gun trigger.
     Disassembly is basically a reverse of the process.

Air-mobile Sardines
     The cockpit of the Air Scout is not the most comfortable of
accommodations.  Small air crewmen are definitely preferred!  The pilot,
who sits in the forward seat, as a total volume of four feet long, two feet
wide, and two feet tall in which to shoehorn himself.  He shares this space
with the control panel.  Luckily the controls of an auto-gyro don't require a
lot of movement, because there's not a whole lot of space between the
pilot's knees for side-to-side movement of the stick.  He obviously sits in a
semi-reclined position, a lot like an F-16 fighter pilot.
     The observer is in no better shape.  His space is three feet long,
three feet tall, and two feet wide, and he has the same controls, except he
has the radio in his panel while the pilot has the Autonav.  He sits a bit
more upright than the pilot, and has to, in order to see directly forward
over the pilot's head.
     In both cases, it sounds like the crew are squeezed in pretty tightly,
and they are.  But for comparison purposes, the rear seat occupant has
about as much room as the pilot of a Cessna 162.
     Balance is an important criterion for loading an Air Scout.  If only
one person will be aboard, he has to use the front seat.  The occupant of
the rear seat, being closer to the center of gravity, has less effect on
balance.
     The cockpit is hinged to one side, and in order to open or close it
while someone is aboard, the occupants have to lean toward the right to
avoid being clonked on the head by the rim of the canopy.
     There is absolutely NO accessible internal storage capacity.  The
occupants shouldn't be able to carry much more than side-arms, and would
even have to remove their web gear in order to sit comfortably.  If you
don't believe me, you try sitting with a canteen poking you in the kidneys for
a few hours.  Certainly there is no room under the seats.
     However, that does not mean that there is no internal capacity at
all.  By folding the rear seat forward, a small storage space becomes
accessible in the forward section of the tail boom assembly, directly under
the power plant.  In the original Air Scout, this was used for fuel tankage,
but since a fusion plant doesn't need gasoline, that tankage was removed,
but the space remains.  This is enough for two people to put their personal
issue, assuming they have a reasonable weapon selection.  An added benefit
is that this storage location is directly below the center of gravity, and has
no effect on the craft's balance.  However, there is still an upper limit on
just how much weight can be carried.  I don't have accurate figures for the
Air Scout, since I can find no real-world equivalent, but for most auto-gyros
of comparable size, six hundred pounds total seems to be an upper limit. 
For simplicity, assume two people plus their personal and weapons issue will
always fit, but nothing else.

Control Systems
     Like most auto-gyros, the Air Scout's controls look like a cross
between a helicopter and a normal aircraft, but with a few extras which
don't appear on either one.  Taking a look at each control in turn will
illustrate the differences as well as the similarities.
     The most obvious control is the cyclic stick.  It looks very much like
a helicopter's or fighter aircraft's directional control, except for the
squeeze lever that looks like a motorcycle or bicycle brake lever, and the
switches on top.  The controls are laid out for a right-handed pilot.  Let's
look at the switches first.  There are three of them.  One is a push-to-talk
switch for the radio, and it's located to fall under the pilot's right thumb
when the stick is held normally.  On the opposite side of the top of the
stick, and fitted with a flip-up cover for safety, is the missile firing switch. 
Using it requires that the pilot move his thumb towards his knuckles (to the
right side of the stick) to use, so it requires a deliberate action.  The third
switch is a trigger for the Stoners, also equipped with a safety.  It is
placed exactly as a pistol's trigger, where it falls comfortably under the
pilot's index finger.  One pull of the trigger gives one burst from the
Stoners, with both firing at the same time.  A light touch can give shorter
bursts, but longer bursts are not possible.
     Like a fighter aircraft, the stick is used for directional control. 
Move it left to turn left, right to turn right, forward to descend, and
backwards to go up.  The stick is designed to hold its position when
released, and is not center-loaded to return to a neutral position when
released.  This allows the pilot to let go temporarily (to adjust a radio, for
example) without interrupting the maneuver in progress.
     The rotor, unlike a helicopter's rotor, has a fixed angle of attack
relative to the rotor hub.  This makes the mechanical linkage much simpler. 
Also unlike a helicopter, the Air Scout's rotor is angled backwards relative
to the fuselage.  This is because an auto-gyro generates its lift due to
airflow moving UPWARDS through the rotor, and forward movement of the
craft is what generates the air flow.  Adjustments to the rotor's angle of
attack are accomplished by rocking the entire rotor forward or back,
moving the rotor mast in proportion to the cyclic stick.  A yoke attached to
the front of the mast tilts the rotor hub from side to side for banking into
a turn.
     As for that squeeze lever on the cyclic, it controls the power
takeoff for the rotor.  It's called a pre-rotator.  Squeezing the lever
engages the rotor clutch, and diverts some power to the rotor to increase
its revolutions to the minimum required for takeoff.  It is not used at any
other time, and is pretty much out of the way when it's not in use.
     Like an airplane, throttle control is handled by a lever on the control
panel.  Forward to advance the throttle, backwards to slow the engine. 
Strictly speaking, for an electric motor it's not really a throttle, but rather
a resistor, but the terminology is familiar to pilots and has been retained.
     Under the pilot's feet are rudder pedals.  Again, they work just like
on an airplane.  Push the left pedal to turn the nose to the left without
banking, push the right pedal to turn the nose right.  Rudder pedals are not
used to turn the aircraft, but instead are used to counteract cross-winds
and rotor torque to keep the Air Scout's nose pointed in the direction the
plane is flying.  On the ground, the rudder pedals also steer the nose gear. 
Pushing both pedals at once activates the landing gear brakes.  To avoid
accidental activation of the brakes during takeoff, activation of the brakes
requires pushing the pedals down with the toes, causing the pedals to pivot
like a car's accelerator pedal.
     On the left side of the cockpit are two hand cranks that look a lot
like window cranks.  These are the trim controls.  They are used to account
for unbalanced loads.  Properly trimmed, the Air Scout will hold a level
flight profile with the pilot's hands off the stick and feet of the pedals.
     The control panel includes an air speed gauge, an artificial horizon
indicator, radio, and other gauges that any pilot would recognize.  There is
also a rotor RPM indicator.  The radio is a Morrow Project AN/PRC-70, not
a normal flight radio.  Prewar, an Air Scout pilot would have trouble talking
to a normal control tower.  Also missing is a transponder.
     The control panel contains an Autonav, just like any other Morrow
Project vehicle, but there are a few quirks to using it.  The Autonav is an
inertial system, not satellite navigation.  It accepts input from the vehicle's
own sensors, but it is not as precise as GPS or even LORAN.  In the Air
Scout, it is tied directly into the airspeed gauge and compass, but as any
pilot knows, speed and direction through the air do NOT correspond to
ground speed and direction.  The longer a flight extends, the farther off
the Autonav will be.  This is one reason for the 12-hour limit on flight time. 
Each time the Air Scout lands, the pilot must re-calibrate his position.  One
hundred fifty years after the Really Big War, calibration of an Autonav
after a flight may not even be possible, if the pilot cannot recognize the
landmarks shown on the Autonav's maps, and doesn't have a ground-based
Autonav to compare it to.  Dead reckoning may be more accurate.

Flying the Air Scout
     In the prewar world, according to the Federal Aviation
Administration, getting a license to fly an auto-gyro requires a Class 3
medical certificate, passing a written test, 20 hours of flight instruction
(15 of which must be in an auto-gyro, 3 hours of cross-country, 3 hours in
takeoffs and landings totaling at least ten examples of each, 3 hours of
flight test preparation); and 20 hours of solo practice.  Someone who
already has a private pilot's license at the time only requires 10 hours of
solo practice, but still has to meet all of the other requirements.  It seems
reasonable to assume that the Morrow Project would require similar flight
instruction, for safety's sake if nothing else.
     Takeoffs are relatively simple.  The engine is started.  The control
and rotor locks are released, and the pre-rotator is engaged.  That's the
official name of the squeeze lever on the cyclic stick.  That transmits power
to the rotor.  In order to generate lift, the Air Scout's rotor has to be
turning at least 300 RPM.  At first, the pilot must allow some slippage in the
pre-rotator clutch, until the rotor reaches about 80 RPM.  At that point,
the pre-rotator can be fully engaged.  Engaging the clutch fully before this
point will impart torque to the system which will damage the rotor.
     When the rotor reaches 100 RPM, the cyclic stick is moved halfway
back to its rear stop.  At 125 RPM, the cyclic is moved all the way back to
its stop.  The propeller is still idling at this point, and the pilot is still
standing on the brakes.  No forward movement.  At 150 RPM, the brakes are
released, the throttle engaged, and the Air Scout begins to roll forward. 
Power is added gradually until the rotor reaches 200 RPM.  Deliberate
forward movement before this point will cause a greater airflow than the
rotor can handle, causing it to flex or flap, causing damage not only to the
rotor itself, but also to the propeller, since the rotor's up-and-down
movement will cause the two to intersect.  Once rotor speed increases to
300 RPM, the pre-rotator can be released, but watch to make sure that the
rotor speed STAYS above 300 when you do, or you may have to re-engage
the pre-rotator and increase the length of you takeoff roll to compensate. 
This sounds like a lot of work, and it is, but it's all over very quickly because
of the Air Scout's slow takeoff speed and short takeoff roll.
     Any time you have a turning part, you impart torque.  In an auto-
gyro, torque during takeoff runs is counteracted by the airflow over the
rudder (which must be held slightly to one side during the takeoff) and by
the landing gear (the nose wheel steers with the rudder).  In flight, the
rotor is not powered, and so imparts a lot less torque to the aircraft.  The
small amount of torque due to friction is easily taken care of by the rudder
as well.
     The cyclic is held all the way back during takeoff, and if the pilot
isn't careful, the Air Scout will try to take off too soon, and "mush" back
onto the runway, or even rock backwards off of its nose wheel and smack
the bottom of the tail assembly onto the runway.  A small idler wheel added
to the bottom of the tail assembly may prevent some damage, but the basic
Air Scout doesn't come with one.
     The Air Scout is allowed to take off by itself, so to speak.  This
means that once the auto-gyro reaches a speed at which enough lift is
generated, it will take off without any additional control input from the
pilot.  This is about 50 miles per hour for most auto-gyros, and the Air
Scout is no exception.  This is also the best speed for maximum rate of
climb, which is about 700 feet per minute.  This brings up an important
point.  Although the takeoff roll for the Air Scout is very short, if there is
an obstacle even 50 feet high at the end of the runway, you'd better plan on
having extra room.  The horizontal distance required to ascend 50 feet is a
whopping 315 feet from the wheels-up point at 50 miles per hour forward
speed, at the Air Scout's BEST rate of climb.
     Climbing and descending are accomplished less with the cyclic than
with airspeed.  The cyclic is adjusted to maintain altitude, but if the cyclic
is not moved, increasing the throttle will cause the Air Scout to climb as
well as accelerate.  This is important, because an auto-gyro tends to
maintain a nearly level attitude during all maneuvers, with only the rotor
itself moving significantly.  It's easy for a pilot familiar with other types of
aircraft to over-control and induce oscillations that can lead to a crash.  A
very light touch is needed with the controls, and although the craft will
maneuver at least as quickly as, say, a Piper Cub, it seems to do it more
slowly because there is less sensation of motion to the pilot.
     A loss of forward motion can cause the rotor so stall.  This type of
accident occurs when the throttle is cut back too far, or the pilot tries to
climb too quickly, or from several other mistakes.  It is almost always
recoverable, if there is sufficient altitude.  Bringing the cyclic back to
takeoff configuration, adding throttle, and allowing some altitude loss are
usually enough.  Adding power to the rotor may also be a possible temporary
cure, but can cause torque effects to spin the fuselage as well.  A beneficial
quirk of the auto-gyro is that since it is constantly in auto-rotation, it can
trade altitude for lift if necessary.
     Another problem is caused by pitching the nose too far down.  This
causes the airflow through the rotor to reverse, causing the craft to lose
ALL lift.  The rotor will break up before you can recover from it, and the
craft WILL crash.  Period.
     Landing is the only part of the flight that is not performed in a level
attitude.  To land, the nose is dropped (not too far) and power is reduced,
gradually.  Given the possibility of airflow reversal, it had BETTER be
gradually.  It is possible to do a complete power-off landing, but with a glide
slope of about 4:1, only slightly better than a brick, so while safe enough, it
certainly LOOKS scary, especially from inside the cockpit!
     When only a few feet off the runway, the craft is leveled off
("flared"), and the Air Scout settles in nicely.  Or it bounces if you
misjudged your altitude.  Even though the craft may have a forward speed
of 30 miles per hour when the flare is performed, after the flare, the
ground speed is next to nothing.  In a head wind, the landing roll may even
be backwards!  It's a very good idea to put the brakes on as soon as all
three wheels are down.

Armament
     The Air Scout auto-gyro is lightly armed at best.  Armament
consists of two rockets and two Stoner machine guns.
     The two rockets are fired together, and cannot be fired one at a
time.  These are the same rockets that were once used in the Huey
helicopter rocket pods.  They are notoriously inaccurate, having no guidance
whatsoever.  The pilot merely points the Air Scout in the right direction
and flips the switch.  The rockets will then fly more-or-less straight to the
target.  In actual fact, the rockets should be slightly more accurate when
fired from the Air Scout than when fired from the Huey, because with the
upward airflow through the rotor, the Air Scout will not "down-draft" the
missiles and blow them off-course.
     The Stoner machine guns are housed in streamlined pods.  They each
have one 105-round disintegrating linked belt of 7.62 NATO ammunition,
which is stored in a helical magazine.  The helical magazine is merely a tube
made with a rectangular cross-section large enough to hold the ammo,
wound in an elongated spiral like a coil spring around the weapon.  This is
required because the box that the belt usually comes in will not fit inside
the pod.  New belts are fed in at the front of the gun pod, at the end of the
magazine.  An access panel near the gun's receiver allows the armorer to
chamber the first round of the belt when it is first loaded.  A chute on the
side of the pod allows empty brass to be ejected to the side.  One gun is
mounted upside down to allow the ejected cartridges to be ejected outward
from both guns, otherwise one of them would eject its brass toward the
fuselage, but the helical magazine prevents the unusual mounting from
causing feed problems.
     The machine guns are fitted with electric triggers, connected to
the firing switch on the cyclic sticks in the cockpit.  For ease of
retrofitting a replacement gun, the electric trigger consists of a solenoid
mechanism attached to a normal machine-gun trigger.  Each pull of the
trigger fires a ten-round burst (five rounds for the last burst when the
belt runs out).  Enterprising pilots may be able to make up slightly longer
belts to get an extra few rounds (no more than 15 per pod) because of the
length of the magazine, but doing so increases the chance that the guns will
jam.  These are not chain guns, and if there is a misfire, the gun will not
fire at all until the pilot lands and clears the jam by hand.  However, if one
gun does jam, the other will still fire.

Conclusion
     Hopefully, the information provided will give players and Project
Directors enough information to realistically and effectively use the Air
Scout.  Although I have already expressed my preferences in a previous
post for using a more modern alternate aircraft, specifically a small two-
seat helicopter, that personal preference does not invalidate the Air Scout
as a viable air asset for the Morrow Project.  Hopefully it's even more viable
now.
