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79-610: The Spencer Amphibian Air Car is an American light amphibious aircraft . The name was first used in 1940 for a prototype air vehicle that developed into the Republic Seabee . The name was later used by its designer Percival Spencer for a series of homebuilt amphibious aircraft roughly based on the Seabee design. Percival H. Spencer formed the Spencer-Larsen Aircraft Corporation and designed

158-616: A runway . In 1942, the Sikorsky R-4 became the first helicopter to reach full-scale production . Although most earlier designs used more than one main rotor, the configuration of a single main rotor accompanied by a vertical anti-torque tail rotor (i.e. unicopter , not to be confused with the single-blade monocopter ) has become the most common helicopter configuration. However, twin-rotor helicopters (bicopters), in either tandem or transverse rotors configurations, are sometimes in use due to their greater payload capacity than

237-444: A collective input is made, all the blades change equally, and the result is the helicopter increasing or decreasing in altitude. A swashplate controls the collective and cyclic pitch of the main blades. The swashplate moves up and down, along the main shaft, to change the pitch of both blades. This causes the helicopter to push air downward or upward, depending on the angle of attack . The swashplate can also change its angle to move

316-417: A constant altitude. The pedals serve the same function in both a helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft, to maintain balanced flight. This is done by applying a pedal input in whichever direction is necessary to center the ball in the turn and bank indicator . Due to the operating characteristics of the helicopter—its ability to take off and land vertically, and to hover for extended periods of time, as well as

395-507: A conventional land-based aircraft). However, in cases where this is not practical, amphibious floatplanes, such as the amphibious version of the DHC Otter , incorporate retractable wheels within their floats. Some amphibians are fitted with reinforced keels which act as skis, allowing them to land on snow or ice with their wheels up. Many amphibian aircraft are of the flying boat type. These aircraft, and those designed as floatplanes with

474-441: A conventional undercarriage. These are not built to take the impact of the aircraft landing on them. An amphibian can leave the water without anyone getting in the water to attach beaching wheels (or even having to have any handy), yet a fully functional undercarriage is heavy and impacts the aircraft's performance, and is not required in all cases, so an aircraft may be designed to carry its own. An occasional problem with amphibians

553-463: A gift by their father, would inspire the Wright brothers to pursue the dream of flight. In 1861, the word "helicopter" was coined by Gustave de Ponton d'Amécourt , a French inventor who demonstrated a small steam-powered model. While celebrated as an innovative use of a new metal, aluminum, the model never lifted off the ground. D'Amecourt's linguistic contribution would survive to eventually describe

632-405: A helicopter determines the size, function and capability of that helicopter design. The earliest helicopter engines were simple mechanical devices, such as rubber bands or spindles, which relegated the size of helicopters to toys and small models. For a half century before the first airplane flight, steam engines were used to forward the development of the understanding of helicopter aerodynamics, but

711-510: A helicopter powered by a gasoline engine with box kites attached to a mast by cables for a rotor, but it never flew. In 1906, two French brothers, Jacques and Louis Breguet , began experimenting with airfoils for helicopters. In 1907, those experiments resulted in the Gyroplane No.1 , possibly as the earliest known example of a quadcopter. Although there is some uncertainty about the date, sometime between 14 August and 29 September 1907,

790-416: A helicopter. This is because a helicopter generates its own gusty air while in a hover, which acts against the fuselage and flight control surfaces. The result is constant control inputs and corrections by the pilot to keep the helicopter where it is required to be. Despite the complexity of the task, the control inputs in a hover are simple. The cyclic is used to eliminate drift in the horizontal plane, that

869-681: A longer range than comparable helicopters, and can achieve nearly the range of land-based aircraft, because an airplane's wing is more efficient than a helicopter's lifting rotor. This makes amphibious aircraft, such as the Grumman Albatross and the Shin Meiwa US-2 , useful for long-range air–sea rescue tasks. In addition, amphibious aircraft are particularly useful as bush planes that can engage in light transport in remote areas. In these areas, they often have to operate not only from airstrips, but from lakes and rivers as well. In

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948-477: A process of rebracketing , the word is often (erroneously, from an etymological point of view) perceived by English speakers as consisting of heli- and -copter , leading to words like helipad and quadcopter . English language nicknames for "helicopter" include "chopper", "copter", "heli", and "whirlybird". In the United States military, the common slang is "helo" pronounced /ˈhiː.loʊ/. A helicopter

1027-494: A rotor. The spinning creates lift, and the toy flies when released. The 4th-century AD Daoist book Baopuzi by Ge Hong ( 抱朴子 "Master who Embraces Simplicity") reportedly describes some of the ideas inherent to rotary wing aircraft. Designs similar to the Chinese helicopter toy appeared in some Renaissance paintings and other works. In the 18th and early 19th centuries Western scientists developed flying machines based on

1106-571: A runway. A common solution is to make them retractable, like those found on the Consolidated Catalina ; however, these are even heavier than fixed floats. Some aircraft may have the tip floats removed for extended use from land. Other amphibians, such as the Dornier Seastar , use stub wings, called sponsons , mounted with their own lower surfaces nearly even with the ventral "boat-hull"-shaped fuselage surface. This can provide

1185-486: A single main float under the fuselage centerline (such as the Loening OL and Grumman J2F ), require outrigger floats to provide lateral stability so as to avoid dipping a wingtip, which can destroy an aircraft if it happens at speed, or can cause the wingtip to fill with water and sink if stationary. While these impose weight and drag, amphibious aircraft also face the possibility of these getting hit when operating from

1264-441: A single main rotor, but torque created by its aerodynamic drag must be countered by an opposed torque. The design that Igor Sikorsky settled on for his VS-300 was a smaller tail rotor. The tail rotor pushes or pulls against the tail to counter the torque effect, and this has become the most common configuration for helicopter design, usually at the end of a tail boom . Some helicopters use other anti-torque controls instead of

1343-417: A state called translational lift which provides extra lift without increasing power. This state, most typically, occurs when the airspeed reaches approximately 16–24 knots (30–44 km/h; 18–28 mph), and may be necessary for a helicopter to obtain flight. In forward flight a helicopter's flight controls behave more like those of a fixed-wing aircraft. Applying forward pressure on the cyclic will cause

1422-535: A variety of roles. However, like the pure flying boat, they were made obsolete by helicopters which could operate in sea conditions far beyond what the best seaplane could manage. Development of amphibians was not limited to the United Kingdom and the United States. In any case, few designs saw more than limited service, as there was a widespread preference for pure flying boats and floatplanes, due to

1501-429: Is a cylindrical metal shaft that extends upwards from the transmission. At the top of the mast is the attachment point for the rotor blades called the hub. Main rotor systems are classified according to how the rotor blades are attached and move relative to the hub. There are three basic types: hingeless, fully articulated, and teetering; although some modern rotor systems use a combination of these. Most helicopters have

1580-452: Is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more horizontally-spinning rotors. By contrast the autogyro (or gyroplane) and gyrodyne have a free-spinning rotor for all or part of the flight envelope, relying on a separate thrust system to propel the craft forwards, so that the airflow sets the rotor spinning to provide lift. The compound helicopter also has a separate thrust system, but continues to supply power to

1659-452: Is called an aerial crane . Aerial cranes are used to place heavy equipment, like radio transmission towers and large air conditioning units, on the tops of tall buildings, or when an item must be raised up in a remote area, such as a radio tower raised on the top of a hill or mountain. Helicopters are used as aerial cranes in the logging industry to lift trees out of terrain where vehicles cannot travel and where environmental concerns prohibit

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1738-547: Is equipped to stabilize and provide limited medical treatment to a patient while in flight. The use of helicopters as air ambulances is often referred to as " MEDEVAC ", and patients are referred to as being "airlifted", or "medevaced". This use was pioneered in the Korean War , when time to reach a medical facility was reduced to three hours from the eight hours needed in World War II , and further reduced to two hours by

1817-678: Is the Sud-Ouest Djinn , and an example of the hot tip jet helicopter is the YH-32 Hornet . Some radio-controlled helicopters and smaller, helicopter-type unmanned aerial vehicles , use electric motors or motorcycle engines. Radio-controlled helicopters may also have piston engines that use fuels other than gasoline, such as nitromethane . Some turbine engines commonly used in helicopters can also use biodiesel instead of jet fuel. There are also human-powered helicopters . A helicopter has four flight control inputs. These are

1896-411: Is to control forward and back, right and left. The collective is used to maintain altitude. The pedals are used to control nose direction or heading . It is the interaction of these controls that makes hovering so difficult, since an adjustment in any one control requires an adjustment of the other two, creating a cycle of constant correction. As a helicopter moves from hover to forward flight it enters

1975-486: Is with ensuring that the wheels are in the correct position for landing. In normal operation, the pilot uses a checklist, verifying each item. Since amphibians can land with them up or down though, the pilot must take extra care to ensure that they are correct for the chosen landing place. Landing wheels-up on land may damage the keel (unless done on wet grass, a technique occasionally used by pilots of pure flying boats), while landing wheels-down on water will almost always flip

2054-572: The Bell 205 and the Erickson S-64 Aircrane helitanker. Helicopters are used as air ambulances for emergency medical assistance in situations when an ambulance cannot easily or quickly reach the scene, or cannot transport the patient to a medical facility in time. Helicopters are also used when patients need to be transported between medical facilities and air transportation is the most practical method. An air ambulance helicopter

2133-588: The Bell 206 with 3,400. Most were in North America with 34.3% then in Europe with 28.0% followed by Asia-Pacific with 18.6%, Latin America with 11.6%, Africa with 5.3% and Middle East with 1.7%. The earliest references for vertical flight came from China. Since around 400 BC, Chinese children have played with bamboo flying toys (or Chinese top). This bamboo-copter is spun by rolling a stick attached to

2212-894: The Cessna Caravan . Development of amphibians has continued into the new millennium. The ShinMaywa US-2 was developed in the 2000s in Japan for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force . Helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors . This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically , to hover , and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes allow helicopters to be used in congested or isolated areas where fixed-wing aircraft and many forms of short take-off and landing ( STOL ) or short take-off and vertical landing ( STOVL ) aircraft cannot perform without

2291-406: The Consolidated Catalina (named for Santa Catalina Island off the coast of southern California, whose resort was popularized partly by the use of amphibians in the 1930s, including Sikorskys and Douglas Dolphins ) was redeveloped from being a pure flying boat into an amphibian during the war. After the war, the United States military ordered hundreds of the Grumman Albatross and its variants for

2370-527: The Cornu helicopter which used two 6.1-metre (20 ft) counter-rotating rotors driven by a 24 hp (18 kW) Antoinette engine. On 13 November 1907, it lifted its inventor to 0.3 metres (1 ft) and remained aloft for 20 seconds. Even though this flight did not surpass the flight of the Gyroplane No. 1, it was reported to be the first truly free flight with a pilot. Cornu's helicopter completed

2449-565: The United Kingdom , traditionally a maritime nation, a large number of amphibians were built between the wars, starting from 1918 with the Vickers Viking and the early 1920s Supermarine Seagull , and were used for exploration and military duties, including search and rescue, artillery spotting and anti-submarine patrol. These evolved throughout the interwar period to culminate in the post–World War II Supermarine Seagull , which

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2528-499: The Vietnam War . In naval service a prime function of rescue helicopters is to promptly retrieve downed aircrew involved in crashes occurring upon launch or recovery aboard aircraft carriers. In past years this function was performed by destroyers escorting the carrier, but since then helicopters have proved vastly more effective. Police departments and other law enforcement agencies use helicopters to pursue suspects and patrol

2607-558: The Bambi bucket, are usually filled by submerging the bucket into lakes, rivers, reservoirs, or portable tanks. Tanks fitted onto helicopters are filled from a hose while the helicopter is on the ground or water is siphoned from lakes or reservoirs through a hanging snorkel as the helicopter hovers over the water source. Helitack helicopters are also used to deliver firefighters, who rappel down to inaccessible areas, and to resupply firefighters. Common firefighting helicopters include variants of

2686-762: The Chinese top in a model consisting of contrarotating turkey flight feathers as rotor blades, and in 1784, demonstrated it to the French Academy of Sciences . Sir George Cayley , influenced by a childhood fascination with the Chinese flying top, developed a model of feathers, similar to that of Launoy and Bienvenu, but powered by rubber bands. By the end of the century, he had progressed to using sheets of tin for rotor blades and springs for power. His writings on his experiments and models would become influential on future aviation pioneers. Alphonse Pénaud would later develop coaxial rotor model helicopter toys in 1870, also powered by rubber bands. One of these toys, given as

2765-478: The Chinese toy. It was not until the early 1480s, when Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci created a design for a machine that could be described as an " aerial screw ", that any recorded advancement was made towards vertical flight. His notes suggested that he built small flying models, but there were no indications for any provision to stop the rotor from making the craft rotate. As scientific knowledge increased and became more accepted, people continued to pursue

2844-453: The Gyroplane No. 1 lifted its pilot into the air about 0.6 metres (2 ft) for a minute. The Gyroplane No.   1 proved to be extremely unsteady and required a man at each corner of the airframe to hold it steady. For this reason, the flights of the Gyroplane No.   1 are considered to be the first manned flight of a helicopter, but not a free or untethered flight. That same year, fellow French inventor Paul Cornu designed and built

2923-571: The Martian atmosphere is 100 times thinner than Earth's, its two blades spin at close to 3,000 revolutions a minute, approximately 10 times faster than that of a terrestrial helicopter. In 2017, 926 civil helicopters were shipped for $ 3.68 billion, led by Airbus Helicopters with $ 1.87 billion for 369 rotorcraft, Leonardo Helicopters with $ 806 million for 102 (first three-quarters only), Bell Helicopter with $ 696 million for 132, then Robinson Helicopter with $ 161 million for 305. By October 2018,

3002-627: The SL-12C amphibian. Disenfranchised with corporate policies in the development of the SL-12C amphibian, Spencer started the Spencer Amphibian Air Car in 1940. The original Spencer Amphibian Air Car was test flown in 1941. The aircraft was put into storage due to wartime restrictions in effect in the US during World War II. The aircraft and rights to its design were sold to Republic as the "Seabee" in 1943. After leaving Republic, he designed

3081-731: The Seabee, but the tail unit is more angular and a retractable tricycle undercarriage is fitted. In addition to examples constructed by Spencer, plans of the design have been sold for home construction and the first amateur-built Air Car flew in September 1974. Over 50 had flown by 2001. Examples are currently (2009) flying in the US and Canada. Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1975-76, Airlife's World Aircraft General characteristics Performance Amphibious aircraft Floatplanes often have floats that are interchangeable with wheeled landing gear (thereby producing

3160-426: The aircraft upside down, causing substantial damage. Amphibious aircraft are heavier and slower, more complex and more expensive to purchase and operate than comparable landplanes. However, they are also more versatile. Even though they cannot hover or land vertically, they compete favorably with helicopters for some jobs and can do so at a significantly lower cost. Amphibious aircraft can also be much faster and have

3239-550: The aircraft's handling properties under low airspeed conditions—it has proved advantageous to conduct tasks that were previously not possible with other aircraft, or were time- or work-intensive to accomplish on the ground. Today, helicopter uses include transportation of people and cargo, military uses, construction, firefighting, search and rescue , tourism , medical transport, law enforcement, agriculture, news and media , and aerial observation , among others. A helicopter used to carry loads connected to long cables or slings

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3318-466: The aviation industry; and the turboshaft engine for helicopter use, pioneered in December 1951 by the aforementioned Kaman K-225, finally gave helicopters an engine with a large amount of power and a low weight penalty. Turboshafts are also more reliable than piston engines, especially when producing the sustained high levels of power required by a helicopter. The turboshaft engine was able to be scaled to

3397-525: The basic layout of the Seabee. The two seat S-14 used advanced composites and was test flown by Spencer in 1983 at the age of 86. Its design did not meet expectations and the sole example was donated to the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin . The Air Car is built from wood, steel and glass-fibre. It has a strut-braced high wing and the cabin and fuel-carrying floats are similar to

3476-435: The blades angle forwards or backwards, or left and right, to make the helicopter move in those directions. The anti-torque pedals are located in the same position as the rudder pedals in a fixed-wing aircraft, and serve a similar purpose, namely to control the direction in which the nose of the aircraft is pointed. Application of the pedal in a given direction changes the pitch of the tail rotor blades, increasing or reducing

3555-677: The building of roads. These operations are referred to as longline because of the long, single sling line used to carry the load. In military service helicopters are often useful for delivery of outsized slung loads that would not fit inside ordinary cargo aircraft: artillery pieces, large machinery (field radars, communications gear, electrical generators), or pallets of bulk cargo. In military operations these payloads are often delivered to remote locations made inaccessible by mountainous or riverine terrain, or naval vessels at sea. In electronic news gathering , helicopters have provided aerial views of some major news stories, and have been doing so, from

3634-406: The cockpit from overhead. The control is called the cyclic because it changes cyclic pitch of the main blades. The result is to tilt the rotor disk in a particular direction, resulting in the helicopter moving in that direction. If the pilot pushes the cyclic forward, the rotor disk tilts forward, and the rotor produces a thrust in the forward direction. If the pilot pushes the cyclic to the side,

3713-470: The cyclic, the collective, the anti-torque pedals, and the throttle. The cyclic control is usually located between the pilot's legs and is commonly called the cyclic stick or just cyclic . On most helicopters, the cyclic is similar to a joystick. However, the Robinson R22 and Robinson R44 have a unique teetering bar cyclic control system and a few helicopters have a cyclic control that descends into

3792-547: The demand is too small to justify the costs of development, with the Volmer Sportsman being a popular choice among the many offerings. With the increased availability of airstrips in remote communities, fewer amphibious aircraft are manufactured today than in the past, although a handful of amphibious aircraft are still produced, such as the Bombardier 415 , ICON A5 , and the amphibious-float–equipped version of

3871-536: The early 21st century, as well as recently weaponized utilities such as artillery spotting , aerial bombing and suicide attacks . The English word helicopter is adapted from the French word hélicoptère , coined by Gustave Ponton d'Amécourt in 1861, which originates from the Greek helix ( ἕλιξ ), genitive helikos (ἕλῐκος), "helix, spiral, whirl, convolution" and pteron ( πτερόν ) "wing". In

3950-439: The event was taken by Max Skladanowsky , but it remains lost . In 1885, Thomas Edison was given US$ 1,000 (equivalent to $ 34,000 today) by James Gordon Bennett, Jr. , to conduct experiments towards developing flight. Edison built a helicopter and used the paper for a stock ticker to create guncotton , with which he attempted to power an internal combustion engine. The helicopter was damaged by explosions and one of his workers

4029-519: The first Italian aircraft to fly. While most were not amphibians, quite a few were, including the Savoia-Marchetti S.56 A and the Piaggio P.136 . Amphibious aircraft have been particularly useful in the unforgiving terrain of Alaska and northern Canada , where many remain in civilian service, providing remote communities with vital links to the outside world. The Canadian Vickers Vedette

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4108-486: The first half of the 20th century was that the amount of power produced by an engine was not able to overcome the engine's weight in vertical flight. This was overcome in early successful helicopters by using the smallest engines available. When the compact, flat engine was developed, the helicopter industry found a lighter-weight powerplant easily adapted to small helicopters, although radial engines continued to be used for larger helicopters. Turbine engines revolutionized

4187-515: The high operating cost of helicopters cost-effective in ensuring that oil platforms continue to operate. Various companies specialize in this type of operation. NASA developed Ingenuity , a 1.8 kg (4.0 lb) helicopter used to survey Mars (along with a rover). It began service in February 2021 and was retired due to sustained rotor blade damage in January 2024 after 73 sorties. As

4266-480: The idea of vertical flight. In July 1754, Russian Mikhail Lomonosov had developed a small coaxial modeled after the Chinese top but powered by a wound-up spring device and demonstrated it to the Russian Academy of Sciences . It was powered by a spring, and was suggested as a method to lift meteorological instruments. In 1783, Christian de Launoy , and his mechanic , Bienvenu, used a coaxial version of

4345-504: The in-service and stored helicopter fleet of 38,570 with civil or government operators was led Robinson Helicopter with 24.7% followed by Airbus Helicopters with 24.4%, then Bell with 20.5 and Leonardo with 8.4%, Russian Helicopters with 7.7%, Sikorsky Aircraft with 7.2%, MD Helicopters with 3.4% and other with 2.2%. The most widespread model is the piston Robinson R44 with 5,600, then the H125/ AS350 with 3,600 units, followed by

4424-662: The lack of an airstrip would make transport via fixed-wing aircraft impossible. The use of transport helicopters to deliver troops as an attack force on an objective is referred to as " air assault ". Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) helicopter systems of varying sizes are developed by companies for military reconnaissance and surveillance duties. Naval forces also use helicopters equipped with dipping sonar for anti-submarine warfare , since they can operate from small ships. Oil companies charter helicopters to move workers and parts quickly to remote drilling sites located at sea or in remote locations. The speed advantage over boats makes

4503-594: The larger flying boats could not go, and helping to popularize amphibians in the US. The Grumman Corporation, latecomers to the game, introduced a pair of light utility amphibious aircraft – the Goose and the Widgeon – during the late 1930s for the civilian market. However, their military potential could not be ignored, and many were ordered by the US Armed forces and their allies during World War II. Not coincidentally,

4582-581: The late 1960s. Helicopters have also been used in films, both in front and behind the camera. The largest single non-combat helicopter operation in history was the disaster management operation following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster . Hundreds of pilots were involved in airdrop and observation missions, making dozens of sorties a day for several months. " Helitack " is the use of helicopters to combat wildland fires . The helicopters are used for aerial firefighting (water bombing) and may be fitted with tanks or carry helibuckets . Helibuckets, such as

4661-555: The limited power did not allow for manned flight. The introduction of the internal combustion engine at the end of the 19th century became the watershed for helicopter development as engines began to be developed and produced that were powerful enough to allow for helicopters able to lift humans. Early helicopter designs utilized custom-built engines or rotary engines designed for airplanes, but these were soon replaced by more powerful automobile engines and radial engines . The single, most-limiting factor of helicopter development during

4740-485: The monorotor design, and coaxial-rotor , tiltrotor and compound helicopters are also all flying today. Four-rotor helicopters ( quadcopters ) were pioneered as early as 1907 in France, and along with other types of multicopters , have been developed mainly for specialized applications such as commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) due to the rapid expansion of drone racing and aerial photography markets in

4819-418: The more remote locations during the summer months when the only areas suitable for landing are the waterways. Despite the gains of amphibious floats, small flying-boat amphibians continued to be developed into the 1960s, with the Republic Seabee and Lake LA-4 series proving popular, though neither was a commercial success due to factors beyond their makers' control. Many today are homebuilts, by necessity as

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4898-601: The nearby park, the Parco Forlanini. Emmanuel Dieuaide's steam-powered design featured counter-rotating rotors powered through a hose from a boiler on the ground. In 1887 Parisian inventor, Gustave Trouvé , built and flew a tethered electric model helicopter. In July 1901, the maiden flight of Hermann Ganswindt 's helicopter took place in Berlin-Schöneberg; this was probably the first heavier-than-air motor-driven flight carrying humans. A movie covering

4977-535: The needed stability, while floatplane amphibians usually avoid the problem by dividing their buoyancy requirements between two floats, much like a catamaran . Some non-amphibious seaplanes may be mistaken for amphibians (such as the Shin Meiwa PS-1 ) which carry their own beaching gear. Usually, this is a wheeled dolly or temporary set of wheels used to move a flying boat or floatplane from the water and allow it to be moved around on land. It can also appear as

5056-464: The nose to pitch down, with a resultant increase in airspeed and loss of altitude. Aft cyclic will cause the nose to pitch up, slowing the helicopter and causing it to climb. Increasing collective (power) while maintaining a constant airspeed will induce a climb while decreasing collective will cause a descent. Coordinating these two inputs, down collective plus aft cyclic or up collective plus forward cyclic, will result in airspeed changes while maintaining

5135-493: The on-off two-seat Air Car . In 1968, Spencer and retired USAF Col. Dale L. "Andy" Anderson formed a new company to market a four-place amphibious homebuilt design once again called the Spencer Amphibian Air Car, with S-12C, S-12D, S-12E, and S-14 variants. The first example was test flown in 1970 in Chino, California . The unit had a build cost of $ 8700.00 The S-12-D Aircar is an improved and larger four-seat aircraft, which retains

5214-411: The power normally required to be diverted for the tail rotor to be applied fully to the main rotors, increasing the aircraft's power efficiency and lifting capacity. There are several common configurations that use the counter-rotating effect to benefit the rotorcraft: Tip jet designs let the rotor push itself through the air and avoid generating torque. The number, size and type of engine(s) used on

5293-436: The rotor disk tilts to that side and produces thrust in that direction, causing the helicopter to hover sideways. The collective pitch control or collective is located on the left side of the pilot's seat with a settable friction control to prevent inadvertent movement. The collective changes the pitch angle of all the main rotor blades collectively (i.e. all at the same time) and independently of their position. Therefore, if

5372-406: The rotor in cruise, which allows its rotation to be slowed down , thus increasing the maximum speed of the aircraft. The Lockheed AH-56A Cheyenne diverted up to 90% of its engine power to a pusher propeller during forward flight. There are three basic flight conditions for a helicopter: hover, forward flight and the transition between the two. Hovering is the most challenging part of flying

5451-422: The rotor throughout normal flight. The rotor system, or more simply rotor , is the rotating part of a helicopter that generates lift . A rotor system may be mounted horizontally, as main rotors are, providing lift vertically, or it may be mounted vertically, such as a tail rotor, to provide horizontal thrust to counteract torque from the main rotors. The rotor consists of a mast, hub and rotor blades. The mast

5530-418: The size of the helicopter being designed, so that all but the lightest of helicopter models are powered by turbine engines today. Special jet engines developed to drive the rotor from the rotor tips are referred to as tip jets . Tip jets powered by a remote compressor are referred to as cold tip jets, while those powered by combustion exhaust are referred to as hot tip jets. An example of a cold jet helicopter

5609-483: The skies. Since helicopters can achieve a unique aerial view, they are often used in conjunction with police on the ground to report on suspects' locations and movements. They are often mounted with lighting and heat-sensing equipment for night pursuits. Military forces use attack helicopters to conduct aerial attacks on ground targets. Such helicopters are mounted with missile launchers and miniguns . Transport helicopters are used to ferry troops and supplies where

5688-479: The tail rotor, such as the ducted fan (called Fenestron or FANTAIL ) and NOTAR . NOTAR provides anti-torque similar to the way a wing develops lift through the use of the Coandă effect on the tail boom. The use of two or more horizontal rotors turning in opposite directions is another configuration used to counteract the effects of torque on the aircraft without relying on an anti-torque tail rotor. This allows

5767-448: The throttle is to maintain enough engine power to keep the rotor RPM within allowable limits so that the rotor produces enough lift for flight. In single-engine helicopters, the throttle control is a motorcycle-style twist grip mounted on the collective control, while dual-engine helicopters have a power lever for each engine. A compound helicopter has an additional system for thrust and, typically, small stub fixed wings . This offloads

5846-417: The thrust produced by the tail rotor and causing the nose to yaw in the direction of the applied pedal. The pedals mechanically change the pitch of the tail rotor altering the amount of thrust produced. Helicopter rotors are designed to operate in a narrow range of RPM . The throttle controls the power produced by the engine, which is connected to the rotor by a fixed ratio transmission. The purpose of

5925-572: The vertical flight he had envisioned. Steam power was popular with other inventors as well. In 1877, the Italian engineer, inventor and aeronautical pioneer Enrico Forlanini developed an unmanned helicopter powered by a steam engine . It rose to a height of 13 meters (43 feet), where it remained for 20 seconds, after a vertical take-off from a park in Milan . Milan has dedicated its city airport to Enrico Forlanini, also named Linate Airport , as well as

6004-623: The weight penalty the undercarriage imposed. Russia also developed a number of important flying boats, including the widely used pre-war Shavrov Sh-2 utility flying boat, and postwar the Beriev Be-12 anti-submarine and maritime patrol amphibian. Development of amphibians continues in Russia with the jet-engined Beriev Be-200 . Italy, bordering the Mediterranean and Adriatic , has had a long history of waterborne aircraft, going back to

6083-486: Was badly burned. Edison reported that it would take a motor with a ratio of three to four pounds per horsepower produced to be successful, based on his experiments. Ján Bahýľ , a Slovak inventor, adapted the internal combustion engine to power his helicopter model that reached a height of 0.5 meters (1.6 feet) in 1901. On 5 May 1905, his helicopter reached 4 meters (13 feet) in altitude and flew for over 1,500 meters (4,900 feet). In 1908, Edison patented his own design for

6162-564: Was developed for forestry patrol in remote areas; a job that previously was done by canoe and took weeks could be accomplished in hours, revolutionizing forestry conservation. Although successful, flying-boat amphibians like the Vedette ultimately proved less versatile than floatplane amphibians and are no longer as common as they once were. Amphibious floats that could be attached to any aircraft were developed, turning any aircraft into an amphibian, and these continue to be essential for getting into

6241-506: Was to have replaced the wartime Walrus and the Sea Otter but was overtaken by advances in helicopters . From the mid-1920s to the late 1930s in the United States , Sikorsky produced an extensive family of amphibians (the S-34 , S-36 , S-38 , S-39 , S-41 , S-43 ) that were widely used for exploration and as airliners around the globe, helping pioneer many overseas air routes where

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