Principle of Operation and Control

The helicopter derives lift from rotating an airfoil called the rotor. Usually it is equipped with one or more power-driven rotors. When the angle of attack of rotating rotor blades attains a certain value, the lift overcomes the weight of the aircraft and then it takes off vertically.

To achieve horizontal flight, the pilot tilts the rotor forward at a certain angle. This is done by what is known as cyclic pitch change, i.e. changing the pitch of each blade once per revolution. More particularly, the angle of attack of each blade is increased every time it sweeps over the tail of the machine, thereby temporarily developing a greater amount of thrust than the other blades.

Additionally each blade can swivel about its longitudinal axis and its pitch is changed cyclically, through a linkage system, by a so called swash-plate, which performs a sort of wobbling rotary motion around the shaft and swivels the blades to and fro as they rotate. The tilt of the swash-plate can be varied by the pilot, and the tilt of the rotor follows the tilt of the plate.

So, by changing the pitch angle of the main rotor blades, by manipulating the engine speed and by tilting the main rotor, the pilot controls the helicopter's flight in any direction.

Hovering over one point is done by selecting the correct speed and setting the rotor blades so that their vertical lift is exactly equal to the weight of the helicopter.