Advancing
blade: A rotor blade that is moving in
the same direction as the aircraft is called
the advancing blade and the blade moving in
the opposite direction is called the retreating
blade. —Wikipedia
Aerodyne: A
heavier-than-air aircraft (as an airplane,
helicopter, or glider) —Webster
AAH: Advanced
Attack Helicopter
AH: Attack Helicopter
Antitorque Rotorblade
(or tail rotor): The tail rotor is a
smaller rotor mounted vertically or near-vertically
at the tail of a traditional single-rotor helicopter,
where it rotates to generate a propeller-like
horizontal thrust in the same direction as the
main rotor's rotation. The tail rotor's position
and distance from the helicopter's center of
mass allow it to develop enough thrust leverage
to counter the reactional torque exerted on
the fuselage by the spinning of the main rotor.
Without the tail rotor or other anti-torque
mechanisms (e.i. a MD Helicopters' NOTAR, No
Tail Rotor tail assembly), the helicopter would
be constantly spinning in the
opposite
direction
of the main rotor when flying. —Wikipedia
Antitorque Pedal: The
pedal used to control the pitch of the tail rotor
or air diffuser in a NOTAR® system.
—Rotorcraft Flying Handbook, U.S. Department
of Transportation. 2000, p. G-1
ARH: Attack & Reconnaissance
Helicopter
Articulated: A
rotor hub which provides coning/flapping and lead/lag
drag hinges, as well as rotary bearings for pitch
change. —Modern
Fighting Helicopters, by Bill Gunston & Mike Spick, 1998, page 204.
Autorotate: Autorotation
is a state of flight in which the main rotor system
of a helicopter or other rotary-wing aircraft
turns by the action of air moving up through the
rotor, as with a gyrocopter, rather than engine
power driving the rotor. The most common use of
autorotation in helicopters is to safely land
the aircraft in the event of an engine failure
or tail-rotor failure. It is a common emergency
procedure taught to helicopter pilots as part
of their training. —Wikipedia
CH: Cargo Helicopter
Coaxial Rotor (or Contra-rotating
co-axial rotor): A
rotor system utilizing two rotors turning
in opposite directions on the same centerline.
This system is
used to eliminate the need for a tail rotor. —Rotorcraft
Flying Handbook, U.S. Department of Transportation.
2000, p. G-2
Collective
Pitch Control: The
control for changing the pitch of all the rotor
blades in the main rotor system equally and simultaneously
and, consequently, the amount of lift or thrust
being generated. —Rotorcraft Flying Handbook,
U.S. Department of Transportation. 2000, p. G-2
Cyclic
Pitch Control: The
control for changing the pitch of each rotor
blade individually as it rotates through one
cycle to
govern the tilt of the rotor
disc and, consequently, the direction and
velocity of horizontal movement. —Rotorcraft Flying
Handbook, U.S. Department of Transportation. 2000,
p. G-2
Fully articulated rotor
system: Fully
articulated rotor systems use a combination of
flapping and a horizontal motion that moves the
retreating blades forward slightly and moves them
back again on the advancing side, thus creating
more relative airflow and lift on the retreating
side at the expense of the advancing side. —Wikipedia
Fully rigid rotor
system: A fully rigid rotor system is
where the blades are rigidly fixed to the rotor
hub but
made of a flexible material that allows some
degree of flap. —Wikipedia.
The Lockheed
AH-56 Cheyenne military attack prototype
helicopter featured rigid main rotor blade.
Ground Effect: Effect
of having a solid flat surface close beneath a hovering
helicopter. —Modern
Fighting Helicopters, by Bill Gunston & Mike Spick, 1998, page 204.
Gyroplane: “...An
aircraft that gets lift from a freely turning
rotary wing (rotor blades), and which derives
its thrust
from an engine-driven propeller.” —From
the Groen Brothers website which is now offline.
(Also known as: autogyros, gyros, gyrocopters,
and
gyroplane. One final note, gyroplanes
have
no tail rotor.)
HH: Search and
Rescue Helicopter
HLH: Heavy Lift
Helicopter
Helicopter: A
rotorcraft deriving the whole or a substantial part
of its
lift from one or more power-driven rotors. —John
Fay, The Helicopter: History, piloting and how it
flies. 1989, p. 1
Helicopter, Origin of
the word:
“4th September 1863, Viscount
Gustave de Ponton d'On 2Amecourt used the word in
a monograph entitled “La Conquete de l'air
par l'helice. Expose
d'un nouveau systeme d'av iation,” published in Paris. In this 40-page
document
he put together the Greek words helico and pteron, meaning “spiral” and
“wing,”to make the word helicoptere. (Thanks Chris Jones)” —Helis website.
Helicopter, Slang Terms
for: Hovering in a helicopter is the
ability of the pilot to have the helicopter
during flight, to stay in the
same
position in
the air without moving forwards or backwards.
Hovering in a helicopter can take low and high
altitudes in the air. There are birds and insects
that can hover by moving
their
wings
quickly.
Hovering: Air-crane,
angel (military: a soldier waiting to be rescued
by an angel), air horse,
air pony, airship, astronaut (CB Radio slang
for police helicopter [Citizens Band Radio]),
bear-in-the-air (CB Radio slang for police helicopter),
bird, blender, Budgie (From a children's book
and animated TV series in the United Kingdom),
chopper, copter, eagle, eggbeater, eye in the
sky (CB Radio slang for police helicopter),
fly in the sky (CB Radio slang for police helicopter),
flying smokey (police helicopter, certain police
departments wear Smokey the Bear hats), ghetto
bird (police helicopter flying over ghettos
or poor neighborhoods), heli, helo, hilo, hummingbird,
log bird (military: logistical resupply helicopter),
rotorcopter, rotorcraft, rotory-wing, machine,
sky bear (CB Radio slang for police helicopter),
slick (Vietnam war: troop carrying helicopter),
sky-hook, sky-crane, spy in the sky (CB Radio
slang for police helicopter), whirlybird, x-ray
unit. (Some of these slang terms are rather
uncommon.)
Intermeshing Rotors: Counter-rotating
main rotors (and no tail rotor) which allows all engine power to
go directly to the main rotors
for the highest lifting efficiency of any rotor configuration.
Ko Hung (320 AD): “Ko
Hung describes
the Chinese flying top.” ~John Fay, The Helicopter,
History, Piloting and
How it Flies, David and Charles, 1976, page 126.
Landing gear: Helicopters
can have several types of landing gear. A common
type is fixed skid landing gear as seen to the
right on the orange Enstrom helicopter. A helicopter
can also have fixed wheeled landing gear as well
as retractable wheeled landing gear. Most wheeled
landing gear is tricycle type landing gear. However,
some helicopters, like the Chinook military helicopter
has fixed quadricycle wheeled landing gear.
Leonardo
da Vinci: Considered
the father of the modern helicopter. Da Vinci was an architect,
musician, anatomist, inventor,
engineer,
sculptor,
geometer, painter, and a homosexual. He was considered the archetype
of the "Renaissance
man" and as
a universal genius. He is also considered one of the greatest
painters who ever lived. —Some
excerpts quoted from Wikipedia
LOH: Light Observation Helicopter
NOTAR®: No
Tail Rotor. "NO" "TA"il "R"otor.
See MD
Helicopters website
for a complete explanation of MD
Helicopters'
incredible Notar® anti-torque
system. This is helicopter safety and low noise at its finest.
OEM: Original
Equipment Manufacturer. A manufacturer that
sells a complete
product to its end user. The internal
parts used in the final product might be purchased
from other
manufacturers or internal parts
might be manufactured on-site, usually a combination
of both. For example: A Camaro might have Firestone
tires, windows by PPG, radios by Sony, metal
by US Steel but the final product is known as
a General
Motors Chevrolet Camaro. General Motors is the
Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM).
Optimum
Speed Rotor (OSR): A
rotor system designed so it's
rotor speed is able to vary
across a wide range and by doing
so is
able to find the most efficient
flight condition. —Paraphrased
from Defence Helicopter (magazine),
Vol. 24, No. 5, October/November
2005, page 9,
1st paragraph, David S. Harvey,
Editorial Director, North America.
Piston Engine: An
internal combustion engine with
working cylinders in which
the process of combustion takes
place within the cylinder or cylinders. —paraphrased from a
Webster's Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language,
1989.
Retreating blade: A
rotor blade that is moving in the same direction
as the aircraft is called the advancing blade
and the blade moving in the opposite direction
is called the retreating blade. —Wikipedia
Rotor: A
system of rotating aerofoils. —John Fay, The
Helicopter: History,
piloting and how it flies. 1989, p. 1
Rotorblade: The
rotor blades of a helicopter are long, narrow
airfoils with a high aspect ratio, a shape that
minimizes drag from tip vortices. Rotor blades
are made out of various materials, including aluminum,
composite structure, and steel or titanium, with
abrasion shields along the leading edge. Rotorcraft
blades are traditionally passive; however, some
helicopters include active components on their
blades. Tips of some helicopter blades can be
specially designed to reduce turbulence and noise
and to provide more efficient flying. —Wikipedia
Rotorcraft: An
aerodyne which throughout all or part of its flight
derives
the whole or part of its lift from a rotor or rotors
rotating in a substantially
horizontal plane. —John Fay, The Helicopter: History, piloting and how
it flies.
1989, p. 1
Rotorhead (or rotor hub): The
rotorhead or rotor hub is the part of the rotorblade
assembly that joins the blades to the shaft, cyclic
and
collective
mechanisms.
The rotorhead is where the lift force from the
rotor blades act and allows the helicopter to
fly. The rotorhead is connected to the main drive
shaft
via the jesus
bolt and
houses
several other components such as the swash plate,
flight control linkages and fly-bars. The
rotor hub is also where the centre of gravity
acts on the helicopter. —Wikipedia
Rotary-wing aircraft: A
broad category of any aircraft with a moving wing,
including helicopters and autogyros.
This is to distinguish
from fixed-wing aircraft.
A third type, tilt-wing (or tilt-rotor) aircraft, are a mix
of the two, as the lift surfaces in vertical flight
are rotary, but stationary in forward flight. —Wikipedia
SH: Anti-Submarine Helicopter
Semi-rigid rotor system: Semi-rigid
rotor systems have a horizontal hinge at the base of
the blades that allow flap as they rotate. By necessity
they always have an even number of blades, as each opposing
pair is mechanically connected to prevent vibration. —Wikipedia
Swashplate: A disc either
fixed or rotating on the main rotor drive shaft, which is tilted in various
directions by the pilot's
control inputs. Rods from the swashplate control the pitch angles of the blades. —Modern
Fighting Helicopters, by Bill Gunston & Mike Spick, 1998, page 205.
Tail Rotor: A
rotor turning in a plane perpendicular to that
of the main rotor
and parallel to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage.
It is used to control the torque of the main rotor
and to provide movement about the yaw axis of
the helicopter. —Rotorcraft
Flying Handbook, U.S. Department of Transportation.
2000, p. G-4
Tandem rotor system: The
two main rotors are located
at the front and rear extremity of a long fuselage. —Wikipedia
Tiltrotor: An
aircraft that combines the vertical lift capability
of a
helicopter with the speed of a turboprop
aeroplane. As the name implies, it uses tiltable
(rotating) propellers, or proprotors, for lift
and propulsion. For vertical flight the proprotors
are angled to direct their thrust downwards, providing
lift. In this mode of operation the craft is essentially
identical to a helicopter. As the craft gains
speed, the proprotors are slowly tilted forward,
eventually becoming perpendicular to the ground.
In this mode the wing provides the lift, and the wing's
greater efficiency helps the tiltrotor achieve
its high speed. In this mode, the craft is essentially
a turboprop aircraft. —Wikipedia
Tip Path: The
path in space traced out by the tips of the rotor
blades. —Modern
Fighting Helicopters, by Bill Gunston & Mike Spick, 1998, page 205.
Turbine Engine:An
internal combustion engine
in which expanding gases from
the combustion chamber drive the blades of a
turbine. —Webster
UH: Utility Helicopter
Variable Thrust Ducted
Propeller (VTDP): A "ringtail" ducted
propeller which replaces
the typical tail rotor of a helicopter
which results in
increased
speed, range, payload
and reduces fuel consumption of the converted
compound helicopter.
The modification also
includes added fixed wings. This would turn
a Black Hawk helicopter into a SpeedHawk.
This add-on component
is being developed by Piasecki
Aircraft Corp. —Paraphrased
from Defence Helicopter
(magazine), Vol. 25,
No.1, February/March
2006, pages 33-36, by
David S. Harvey, Editorial
Director, North America.
VTOL: Vertical Take-Off
and Landing
VSTOVL: Very Short
Take-Off and Vertical Landing
VS-300: The world's
first practical single
main rotor helicopter built by Igor Ivanovitch
Sikorsky. It first flew
September
14, 1939.
About the pictures on
this web page:
Helicopter Links took these
pictures at Heli-Expo 2013 and Heli-Expo 2014.
These pictures may not be copied or reproduced
in any form such as print or electronic or any
other future form of transmission without our
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