page_title: Avro Canada VZ-9 Avrocar
section_title: Specifications (VZ-9-AV)
hierarchical_section_title: Avro Canada VZ-9 Avrocar / Specifications (VZ-9-AV)
caption_attribution_description: Avrocar 3-view
context_page_description: The Avro Canada VZ-9 Avrocar was a VTOL aircraft developed by Avro Canada as part of a secret U.S. military project carried out in the early years of the Cold War. The Avrocar intended to exploit the Coandă effect to provide lift and thrust from a single "turborotor" blowing exhaust out the rim of the disk-shaped aircraft. In the air, it would have resembled a flying saucer.
  Originally designed as a fighter-like aircraft capable of very high speeds and altitudes, the project was repeatedly scaled back over time and the U.S. Air Force eventually abandoned it. Development was then taken up by the U.S. Army for a tactical combat aircraft requirement, a sort of high-performance helicopter. In flight testing, the Avrocar proved to have unresolved thrust and stability problems that limited it to a degraded, low-performance flight envelope; subsequently, the project was cancelled in September 1961.
  Through the history of the program, the project was referred to by a number of different names. Avro referred to the efforts as Project Y, with individual vehicles known as Spade and Omega. Project Y-2 was later funded by the U.S.
context_section_description: General characteristics
  Crew: 2
  Capacity: 1 observer/engineer
  Diameter: 18 ft (5.5 m)
  Height: 3 ft 6 in (1.07 m)
  Wing area: 254 sq ft (23.6 m²)
  Empty weight: 3,000 lb (1,361 kg)
  Max takeoff weight: 5,560 lb (2,522 kg)
  Powerplant: 3 × Continental J69-T-9 turbojet engines, 660 lbf (2.9 kN) thrust each
  Performance
  Maximum speed: 300 mph (480 km/h, 260 kn) (estimated), 35 mph (56 km/h) (actual)
  Range: 995 mi (1,601 km, 865 nmi) (estimated), 79 mi (127 km) (actual)
  Service ceiling: 10,000 ft (3,000 m) (estimated), 3 ft (0.91 m) (actual)
caption: Avrocar 3-view
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "600", "Image YResolution": "600", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2007:02:18 21:30:44", "Image Artist": "2001 SNOWBOUND, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED", "Image ExifOffset": "212", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "350", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3189", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5454", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2720"}