Flight conditions Helicopter flight controls

1 flight conditions

1.1 hover
1.2 forward flight
1.3 autorotation

flight conditions

there 3 basic flight conditions helicopter: hover, forward flight , autorotation.

hover

some pilots consider hovering challenging aspect of helicopter flight. because helicopters dynamically unstable, meaning deviations given attitude not corrected without pilot input. thus, frequent control inputs , corrections must made pilot keep helicopter @ desired location , altitude. pilot s use of control inputs in hover follows: cyclic used eliminate drift in horizontal plane, (e.g., forward, aft, , side side motion); collective used maintain desired altitude; , tail rotor (or anti-torque system) pedals used control nose direction or heading. interaction of these controls can make learning hover difficult, since adjustment in 1 control requires adjustment of other two, necessitating pilot familiarity coupling of control inputs needed produce smooth flight.

forward flight

in forward flight, helicopter s flight controls behave more in fixed-wing aircraft. moving cyclic forward makes nose pitch down, losing altitude , increasing airspeed. moving cyclic makes nose pitch up, slowing helicopter , making climb. increasing collective (power) while maintaining constant airspeed induces climb, while decreasing collective (power) makes helicopter descend. coordinating these 2 inputs, down collective plus aft (back) cyclic or collective plus forward cyclic causes airspeed changes while maintaining constant altitude. pedals serve same function in both helicopter , airplane, maintain balanced flight. done applying pedal input in direction necessary center ball in turn , bank indicator.

autorotation