How do helicopters stay in the air?

by | Jan 24, 2014 | Articles

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Helicopters and airplanes both stay in the air for the same reason, changes in air pressure. The wing of a traditional aircraft and the blade of a helicopter in NYC are basically shaped the same way, the shape creates low pressure and high pressure zones above the wing and below it. In the case of a fixed wing aircraft this lift is provided as the craft accelerates down the runway, in the case of a helicopter the same lift is provided by the rotary wing, which is called the blade. Without this effect neither would fly at all.

There are really only two kinds of aircraft; fixed wing and rotary wing. It is obvious by their names what they are, the traditional aircraft that has engines fitted to or behind the wing and the rotary wing which spins above the body of the aircraft. The wing of a conventional airplane has fewer moving parts than does the rotor, or wing, of a helicopter. The helicopters wing is constantly being adjusted to give the aircraft the ability to rise up and down, hover in a fixed spot, move up and forward and move down and forward.

If you were to look at the cross section of a fixed aircraft wing and a cross section of a rotor blade, you would see they are shaped the same. Once the rotor reaches a specific number of RPMs, the blade, which is curved, creates low pressure areas above the blades surface and high pressure below the surface, once this takes effect the helicopter in NYC has no other choice but to rise into the air. To control the direction of the helicopter the pilot has both hand and foot controls that he uses to change the attitude of the spinning blades. Depending on the angle of attack of the blades the helicopter rises, descends; turns on its axis and hover.

If the blade is kept level the helicopter basically stays at the same elevation, perhaps rising a little. When the back of the blades are lowered, the helicopter heads skywards. When the back edge of the blades is raised, the helicopter will descend. With constant control over the blade, the helicopter can move in literally any attitude. As long as the blade continuous to rotate at the correct speed, the machine will remain airborne.

 

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