Table of Contents
How does a helicopter lose altitude?
Once the collective has been lowered and the engine set to flight idle, the helicopter will lose altitude.
What is helicopter blade stall?
Description. Retreating blade stall is a hazardous and damaging flight condition in helicopters and other rotary wing aircraft, where the rotor blade on the retreating side of the rotor disc in forward flight and therefore with the smaller resultant relative wind exceeds the critical angle of attack.
What generates lift in a helicopter?
In the case of a helicopter, the object is the rotor blade (airfoil) and the fluid is the air. Lift is produced when a mass of air is deflected, and it always acts perpendicular to the resultant relative wind. A symmetric airfoil must have a positive AOA to generate positive lift. At a zero AOA, no lift is generated.
What is the max altitude for a helicopter?
Turbine-engined helicopters can reach around 25,000 feet. But the maximum height at which a helicopter can hover is much lower – a high performance helicopter like the Agusta A109E can hover at 10,400 feet.
What helicopters can fly upside down?
No. Althought the Westland Lynx is capable of performing a loop, sustained inverted flight is not possible. Why would a helicopter need to fly upside down? The rotor head (the bit that connects the blades to the engine and controls the helicopter) is only designed to work in normal attitudes.
Why can’t helicopters fly at high altitudes?
Due to the design of their engines, it’s beyond their operational capacity to undertake typical operational maneuvers, such as landing and hovering, in high-altitude conditions. So, the real question is… why can’t helicopters fly at high altitudes? Well, before we get into the details of that, let’s try to understand a few things first.
What keeps a helicopter in the air?
In one word: lift! You most likely hear the term ‘lift’ in relation to helicopters and airplanes all the time. It’s essentially the force that opposes gravity and helps keep helicopters (or any object) airborne. Airplanes fly by generating lift through their wings; similarly, helicopters also need lift to fly and hover in the air.
How does air density affect the lift of a helicopter?
As you can see, the lift that is produced is proportional to the density of air; the higher the density, the more lift is produced and the more comfortably the helicopter can fly, and vice-versa. The air density at sea level is 1.225 kg per cubic meter ( Source ). However, as you go higher above sea level, air density begins to decrease.
How do helicopters increase the lift coefficient of their blades?
Usually, the helicopter compensates for this by increasing the lift coefficient by increasing the blade pitch (as the blade rotational speed, and hence V is constant). However, at a certain altitude, the maximum lift coefficient of the blades is reached and no further increase in lift is possible.