The designer of the unusual CarterCopter made history last week during a test flight of a prototype slowed-rotor compound helicopter by breaking a barrier considered crucial to high-speed rotorcraft flight.
Carter Aviation Technologies of Wichita Falls, Texas, said test pilots flew the CarterCopter above the so-called Mu-1 barrier (in which the speed of the rotor tip matches forward airspeed) for 7 seconds and above Mu-.96 for 7 minutes and 32 seconds, reaching a true airspeed of 200 mph (174 knots) at 10,790 feet.
