Jerry Airola Las Vegas

Jerry
Airola Antitorque configurations

Most helicopters have a single
main rotor, but torque created as the engine turns the rotor against its air
drag causes the body of the helicopter to turn in the opposite direction to the
rotor. To eliminate this effect, some sort of antitorque control must be used.
The design that Igor Sikorsky settled on for his VS-300 was a smaller rotor
mounted vertically on the tail. The tail rotor pushes or pulls against the tail
to counter the torque effect, and has become the recognized convention for
helicopter design. Some helicopters utilize alternate antitorque controls in
place of the tail rotor, such as the ducted fan (called Fenestron or FANTAIL),
and NOTAR. NOTAR provides antitorque similar to the way a wing develops lift,
through the use of a Coanda effect on the tailboom.

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
antitorque tail rotor. This allows the power normally required to drive the tail
rotor to be applied to the main rotors, increasing the aircraft's lifting
capacity. Primarily, there are three common configurations that use the
counterrotating effect to benefit the rotorcraft. Tandem rotors are two rotors
with one mounted behind the other. Coaxial rotors are two rotors that are
mounted one above the other with the same axis. Intermeshing rotors are two
rotors that are mounted close to each other at a sufficient angle to allow the
rotors to intermesh over the top of the aircraft. Transverse rotors is another
configuration found on tiltrotors and some earlier helicopters, where the pair
of rotors are mounted at each end of the wings or outrigger structures. Tip jet
designs permit the rotor to push itself through the air, and avoid generating
torque.

Jerry Airola : This is the Advancing Blade Concept
aircraft. Notice that it looks a lot like both an airplane and a helicopter. The
side mounted jets were to push the aircraft along using jet thrust as the
primary means of propulsion. It has contra-rotating (Contra...not counter)
rotors mounted co-axially (One on top of the other)to eliminate retreating blade
stall characteristics.

The Civil Tiltrotor Flys

I was fortunate
enough to go and see this aircraft in Arlington last month and attend the
Heli-Expo held at the Dallas Convention Center.

Arlington, Texas, March
7, 2003: Aviation history was made today with the maiden flight of the world’s
first civil tiltrotor, the Bell/Agusta Aerospace BA609. The nine-passenger
aircraft, jointly developed by Bell Helicopter Textron and Agusta, hovered at an
altitude of 50 feet, performed left and right peddle turns, both forward and aft
flight maneuvers, four take-offs and landings, nacelle position changes and
stability testing for .6 flight hours (36 minutes) before setting down. The
first flight follows several weeks of ground runs and taxi testing for the BA609
conducted at Bell’s Arlington Flight Research Center. “Today’s first flight of
the BA609 is truly an historic occasion for it marks the first flight of an
aircraft that will be available to the public that can not only fly with the
high speed and range of an airplane but can take-off, hover and land with the
versatility of a helicopter,” stated Bell Helicopter’s Chairman and CEO John
Murphey, adding, “Until today, commercial helicopters were limited to a top
speed of about 150 knots. The BA609 smashes through that barrier with a top
speed approaching 300 knots. This achievement is as remarkable as when the Bell
X-1 first broke the sound barrier over 50 years ago.”

Jerry Airola : Due to the operating characteristics of the
helicopter—its ability to takeoff and land vertically, and to hover for extended
periods of time, as well as the aircraft's handling properties under low
airspeed conditions—it has been chosen 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, construction,
firefighting, search and rescue, and military uses.

“Does the ability to
get into Vortex Ring State make the V-22 unsafe?”

No. Almost every
helicopter ever made has some unique characteristics. If the pilots are not
aware of these characteristics, if they are not properly trained to recognize
situations and do not adjust their procedures accordingly, then they could end
up in a very serious situation. For example; The UH-1 Iroquois (Huey) had major
issues when it first went into production. The UH-1 had then (And still has) a
rotor system that pivots at the mast. If the pilot unloads the rotor system by
performing a negative “G” maneuver, excessive violent blade flapping can occur.
When this happens, the hub of the rotor system will contact the mast and it will
make a “thump” noise (Referred to as “Mast Bumping” in the operators manual). It
will bump once or twice and then the rotor system will separate from the
aircraft. A lot of pilots were killed before they figured out what the problem
was. The official fix (According to the operators manual): Do not perform
negative “G” maneuvers. The aircraft flew for almost 30 years before they
created a modification to the mast which included rubber covered springs to help
reduce the severity of a mast bump, but they still do not eliminate the problem
completely. Is the Huey unsafe because of this situation? No. It is one of the
safest helicopters ever produced. It is just a situation that any Huey pilot
knows to avoid. The same goes for the V-22. If I were a V-22 pilot, I would
avoid rapid descents and hovering in excessive crosswinds. I would also avoid
the downwash of other aircraft. This may require the need for loose formations
on landing, which is always a much safer situation for any multi-helicopter
operation.

Jerry
Airola
Helicopters: How They Work

Unique To Helicopters

These things are unique to helicopters. Well, most everything else that
was already stated was unique to helicopters, but these are more things unique
to helicopters. Now, some may argue that NOE(Nap of the Earth) flight can be
performed in airplanes, but nothing like the way it can be done in a helicopter.
I used to take the Airforce pilots out during survival training exercises low
and fast over the trees. They would all comment that they never had experienced
any kind of flying like that. The lowest they ever got was 500 Ft AGL. Yes, they
went much faster than we ever did in a helicopter, but the sensation of speed
and the margin of error at 500 Ft is much different than it is at 5 Ft. In the
summer, we would fly with the doors taken off the aircraft. When you are flying
100 Knots at 5 Ft with the doors off, it becomes a very exciting and unique
experience.

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