Autogyro

When I grow up, I want to be an autogyro pilot!

— Sharisha Peete (11), from Utekha City

The autogyro is the most common type of vehicle for medium distance transport in the Alpha Centauri system. It is an aircraft capable of taking off and landing over short distances or even vertically. This makes it useful for the needs of the system, as not much infrastructure is needed beyond a small area cleared of obstacles.
Autogyros generate lift using a large rotor using a process called autorotation. The airflow hitting the rotor from beneath causes it to spin, which in turn causes a lifting force. Propellers powered by hydrogen fuel cells push the aircraft forward, so that the airflow is maintained.
To take off vertically, an autogyro needs to forcibly spin its rotor, until it gets enough horizontal speed for autorotation to take over. This is done using small rocket engines in the tips of the rotor. Some of the hydrogen is combined with oxygen and burned there, causing the rotor to spin. Since this is quite loud, vertical takeoff is avoided whenever a large enough runway is available. Some autogyro models feature to counterrotating rotors, allowing them to reach higher cruising speeds.
Typical autogyro models connecting inland settlements in the Alpha Centauri system to the coasts range between about 10 and 70 passengers in capacity, depending on the demand of the route. There are also numerous cargo variants.
An exotic variant of the autogyro are the so-called "helicopters". These power their rotor directly, which allows them to hover in mid-air. However, they are more complicated and thus expensive, so autgyros are prefered for most purposes.

See Also