What causes a helicopter to spin out of control?
If this control input is insufficient or degraded due to external factors like high altitude, adverse winds, high temperatures, or due to handling deficiencies, the helicopter can quickly spin out of control. Such a phenomenon is called ‘loss of tail rotor effectiveness’ or ‘LTE’, in the helicopter world.
How is a helicopter able to fly upside down?
Theoretically, an inverted helicopter could use its rotors in a similar way: instead of positioning the rotor blades to generate thrust toward the top of the helicopter (as in normal operations), the pilot could orient them to produce thrust toward the bottom of the helicopter, thus keeping it aloft when inverted.
What controls a helicopter?
There are three major controls in a helicopter that the pilot must use during flight. They are the collective pitch control, the cyclic pitch control, and the antitorque pedals or tail rotor control.
Can helicopters fly without tail rotor?
One significant advancement in the last decade has been the no-tail rotor, or NOTAR, helicopter. As you now know, vertical-lift flight is impossible without a tail rotor to counteract the torque produced by the main rotor.
What happens when a helicopter loses its tail rotor?
The tail rotor can fail if the rotor stops turning or the pitch change mechanism stops functioning. The loss of tail rotor drive is an emergency which might require the lowering of the collective to maintain control.
What happens when a helicopter stalls?
Once the engine fails or otherwise is shut off, the pilot must immediately lower the pitch, reducing lift and drag, and the helicopter will begin to descend. However, this isn’t typical because as soon as the freewheeling unit disengages the engine, the pilot is trained to respond appropriately immediately.
What causes helicopter engine failure?
In a helicopter, an autorotative descent is a power-off maneuver in which the engine is disengaged from the main rotor disk and the rotor blades are driven solely by the upward flow of air through the rotor. Engine failures are also caused by fuel contamination or exhaustion as well resulting in a forced autorotation.
Can a helicopter land without an engine?
Unlike a plane, which can glide a large distance with no power, a helo has no way to slow down—or so the thinking goes. Actually, helicopters have a built-in mechanical control called the collective pitch lever that allows them to descend slowly and land even if the engine dies. This maneuver is called autorotation.
How fast is a helicopter?
An average helicopter can reach a top speed of somewhere between 130 and 140 knots, which comes out to about 160 mph.
What is vortex ring state in helicopter?
Vortex Ring, (a flight condition also sometimes called ‘settling with power’ or ‘power settling’) is a flight condition in which a helicopter that is receiving power from its engine(s) loses main rotor lift and subsequently experiences loss of control.
How fast can a helicopter fall?
Rate of descent is high at zero airspeed and decreases to a minimum at approximately 50 to 90 knots, depending upon the particular helicopter and the factors previously mentioned. As the airspeed increases beyond the speed that gives minimum rate of descent, the rate of descent increases again.
How do you stop the vortex ring state?
To avoid vortex ring state, reduce rate of descent before reducing airspeed. A good rule to follow is never allow your airspeed to be less than 30 knots until your rate-of-descent is less than 300 feet per minute.