Questions tagged [rotorcraft]
A rotorcraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine that uses lift generated by rotor blades revolving around one or more masts.
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Why haven't quadcopters been scaled up yet?
Why are quadcopters not flown by human pilots yet?
Wouldn't they be more stable and easier to control than helicopters?
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Do helicopters use more fuel when hovering?
This answer says
A helicopter uses a LOT more fuel hovering than it does in forward flight.
Is this correct? Why?
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Would a helicopter with the blades on the bottom fly the same, if at all?
I've heard that the pendulum rocket fallacy applies to rotorcraft as well. As stated above, I'm curious to know if a helicopter with blades on the bottom of the body would experience any effects from ...
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How does a helicopter hover?
Technically, unless a helicopter's centre of gravity and centre of lift (centre of the rotor) are in perfect alignment, it would generate a pitching moment which would make it unstable.
So, how does ...
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Is it possible to fly with counterbalanced single blade engines?
Refer the image for counterbalanced single blade (Source http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/bo-103.php).
In ground school, they took us for aircraft inspection at end of our ground school ...
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Do rotorcrafts like helicopters have autopilots?
Years ago, I had the opportunity to board a Bell 407 for a long distance flight and put every question related to helicopters that crossed my mind to the pilot when we were forced to land due to ...
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Would it be more effective to increase the length or chord of a rotor blade for better performance?
Would it be more effective to increase the length or chord of a helicopter rotor blade for better performance? (Say, 10%?)
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What is the equation for calculating static thrust?
I'm building a quadcopter as my bachelor's degree thesis. I'm having trouble finding a reliable equation for calculating the static thrust for a quadcopter. The equations I have found give me ...
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What is the reasoning behind Kamov twin-rudder design?
Several helicopters, namely the Ka-226, the Ka-25, and the Ka-27, have twin vertical stabilizers that are canted inwards at an angle of about 15 degrees, similar to the feathers on a shuttlecock.
The ...
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Why do helicopter rotors have constant section and angle of attack?
As I understand it helicopter rotor blades keep a constant aerofoil section along their length, and are not twisted. Other rotating aerodynamic devices such as propellors, turbofan fans and wind ...
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Why aren't contra-rotors used on the V-22 Osprey?
The Osprey has 38 ft (11.6 m) rotors in a rotating nacelle on each wing. The rotors are powered via a gearbox as in usual turbo-pro fashion.
Is any reason that is obvious that smaller contra-rotating ...
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Can we bring a rotorcraft like Ingenuity to an altitude of the same pressure as the one on Mars?
At Perseverance's and Ingenuity's location the atmospheric pressure is about 750 Pa (0.11 psi). On Earth, we find that pressure about 110,000 ft high. If we built a copy of Ingenuity, could we bring ...
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Helicopter mast bumping in low g condition
The helicopter shown in the concrete pouring video seems to taking off from a hill and descending down in a way which can be classified as low G with low rotor loading. Although, the helicopter is ...
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Why do helicopters typically have blades at the top?
This question has several great answers showing that it's perfectly possible for a helicopter to fly with its blades underneath the rest of the aircraft.
There are some obvious issues with having a ...
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How does wind speed affect helicopter rotor speed?
So on the left it shows wind flowing with the direction of the rotor, yet it represents that it would reduce the rotor speed. I'm wondering how it does this, wouldn't the wind minimally help increase ...
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What are the uses of gyroplanes?
From my understanding, a gyroplane (autogyro):
Is a rotocraft.
Uses an unpowered rotor for lift generation, instead of wings.
Uses a propeller for horizontal translation like an airplane.
Cannot take ...
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Is it more efficient to have many or a few rotors?
Wouldn't it be smarter to design VTOL rotorcraft with many smaller rotors than one big rotor? With more rotors you have more redundancy and smaller blade velocity (and perhaps better stabilisation) ...
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Can a helicopter really fly with rotors going this slow?
I was watching this youtube video and I noticed that at 3:17 seconds they show a coast guard helicopter rescuing a man from a ship. Whats shocking about this is that the main rotor of the helicopter ...
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How are folding wings managed?
There exist several aircraft - especially carrier-based ones - that have folding wings, to save space.
How is this structure strong, taking into account the considerable amount of force on the hinge-...
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What is the best word for lateral translational movement in a rotorcraft?
I'm talking about movement left and right without changing attitude. This is a motion that can be done with a quadcopter and to a limited extent a helicopter (I presume).
On a helicopter a left/...
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How does a Delta-3 hinge on a helicopter tail rotor work?
I am trying to understand how adding offset hinges would provide a self-feathering force. Does anyone have more information on Delta hinges on helicopters? I am a bit confused with the information I ...
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