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Fort Worth company making real life "Avatar helicopters"

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 2:11 am
by Anthony817
Ok, so its not exactly like in Avatar, but it is a big step forward to having "VTOL Choppers".

I saw an article on this last week in the local news paper, and was immediatly impressed with the proposal. They are basicaly going to convert exsisting OH-58D Kiowa Warriors into what they call the "OH-58D AVX".

It will remove the tail boom and replace it with a shorter stub tail and 2 ducted fans to provide forward propulsion.

It will counter the tendancy for the chopper to spin by adding 2 counter rotating blades on top. Simmiler to the KA-50 Kamov Black Shark attack chopper that Russia has had for decades.

Here is a picture of what the original chopper looks like, and what it will look after the conversion is done.

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http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/de ... 0574b9b27a

What do you guy's think about this idea? I am a huge Aircraft fan, so these things really intrest me. :D