Aviation History: Lecture 5: Helicopters

AVIATION HISTORY
Lecture 5: Helicopters
By Zuliana Ismail,2010
Introduction
 Helicopters truly are amazing aircraft, and how

helicopters fly is what makes them such
versatile machines, being perfectly suited to
roles ranging from military use to fire fighting
and search and rescue.
 Helicopters have been around for centuries -
well, the principle anyway - but it was Russian
aircraft pioneer Igor Sikorsky who designed,
built and in 1939 flew the first fully controllable
single rotor / tail rotor helicopter - the
fundamental concept that would shape all
future helicopters.
Introduction
 Helicopter is an aircraft than can take-

off and land vertically.
 Nowadays, they became one of the
most versatile and vital vehicles in the
world.
Early helicopters
First flown in 1936
Rotor
Blades
Tail
Rotor
Cockpit
Landing
Skids
Basic Helicopter
 Rotor Blades
 Long, flat blades that spin & give a
helicopter lift & thrust.
 It determine the helicopter direction.
 Tail Rotor
 A small rotor at the back.
 Generate balance force (horizontal
force) to help helicopter fly stably.
 It also used to change the helicopter’s
direction.
Basic Helicopter
 Engines
 Used to power the helicopter.
 Cockpit
 The area where the pilot sits and control the
helicopter.
 Cabin
 The area where passengers or other things are
carried.
 Landing Skids
 Long metal feet for helicopters stand on when
they are on the ground.
How helicopter fly vertically?
 A helicopter doesn’t require a runway to take-off into the

air, so the rotation of its rotor blades generates lift force.
 When the lift force is greater than the helicopter’s weight,
it will fly up vertically.
 The helicopter engines will provide the power to
turn the main rotor blades.
 The rotor blades have an airfoil shape, so as the
rotors turn, air velocity over the tops of the
blades is higher than the below.
 Thus, the pressure of the slower moving air
flowing under the blade is greater than the above.
 This difference in pressure pushes the blades up
and gives the helicopter the lift it needs to fly.
 When Lift force is greater than helicopter’s
weight, it will fly up vertically.
 However, when the rotor blades turns, it also
make the helicopter’s body tend to spin also.
 So, the tail rotor at the back is used to give
balance force in order to prevent the helicopter’s
body to spin.
 For helicopter fly vertically, the pilot has to
push/pull the ‘collective’ control stick.
 While, to move forward, backward, or to the
side, the pilot uses the "cyclic" which is
usually mounted between the legs.
How helicopter move forward
t F o rce
o re Li f
M
Thrust
 Direction of lift force can be changed by moves the

‘cyclic’ in the required direction.
 To move forward, pilot has to move the ‘cyclic’
control stick to the front.
 It will make the rotor blades tilted to the front, which
lead to the differences of lift force generated.
 As a result, it will create a forward force (thrust),
which moves the helicopter forward.
How helicopter move
backward More Lift F
orce
Thrust
 To move backward, pilot has to move the ‘cyclic’

control stick to the back.
 It will make the rotor blades tilted to the back, which
 As a result, it will create a backward force (thrust),
which moves the helicopter backward.
Helicopter move
rce
side to side
i ft F o
re L
Mo
Sideways force
 To move right, pilot has to move the ‘cyclic’ control

stick to the right.
 It will make the rotor blades tilted to the right,
which lead to the differences of lift force generated.
 As a result, it will create a sideways force, which
moves the helicopter to the right.
Helicopter move sideM to side
ore
Lift
Forc
e
Sideways force
 To move left, pilot has to move the ‘cyclic’ control

stick to the left.
 It will make the rotor blades tilted to the left, which
 As a result, it will create a sideways force, which
moves the helicopter to the left.
Commercial Construction
Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane lifting

a mock-up house
Search & The Uses of Firefighting

Rescue Helicopter
Military
Bell 205 dropping water

on fire
WAH-64 Apache attack helicopter

The Uses of Helicopter
Commercial Helicopters
 Mainly used for transport.
Construction Helicopters
 Helicopter that are used in construction to carry
loads are called skycranes.
 The heavy loads carried by skycranes are
connected to long cables.
 Are also used to place heavy equipment on the
tops of tall buildings.
Search and Rescue Helicopters

 Used for emergency medical assistance when an
ambulance cannot easily or quickly reach the
scene.
Firefighting Helicopters
 Used to combat fires.
 These helicopters are often called Helitacks.
 Helitacks carry water to perform water bombing
onto the fire.
Military Helicopters
 Are used mainly for attack and for transport.
 Attack helicopters are equipped with missile or
miniguns which are used to attack ground
targets.
 Transport helicopters are used to carry troops
and supplies when transport via typical military
cargo is not possible.
What are the
advantages of the
helicopter compare to
airplane
Bell UH-1 Iroquois (Huey)- The most
famous helicopter in the world with several
unique characteristics
Serve as medical evacuation , instrument trainer and

general utility aircraft
Advantages of Helicopter
 A normal airplane can fly forward, up,

down, left and right.
 A helicopter can do all this plus has the
ability to fly backwards, rotate 360
degrees on the spot and hover (can
remain still)
 Helicopters may be limited in their
speed, but the incredible maneuverability
mentioned above is what makes them so
useful in so many situations.
Summary of helicopter
advantages
 Can fly backwards (reverse)
 Can rotate in the air (360 degrees)
 Can hover (can remain in one place in
the air)
 The capability to efficiently hover for
extended periods of time, reverse and rotate
allows a helicopter to accomplish tasks that
airplane cannot perform.
 Flexible (doesn’t require runway)

 As helicopter do not need runway for take-off
and landing, it can fly almost anywhere.
 Can deliver huge loads to areas that no other
vehicle can reach. For example crowd areas,
isolated areas and deep jungle.
 Versatile (able to perform many functions)
 Helicopter functions include transportation,
construction, fight fires, search and rescue,
military uses and also can rescue people
trapped in burning buildings.

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AVIATION HISTORY

 Helicopters truly are amazing aircraft, and how

 Helicopter is an aircraft than can take-

 A helicopter doesn’t require a runway to take-off into the

 Direction of lift force can be changed by moves the

 To move backward, pilot has to move the ‘cyclic’

 To move right, pilot has to move the ‘cyclic’ control

 To move left, pilot has to move the ‘cyclic’ control

Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane lifting

Search & The Uses of Firefighting

Bell 205 dropping water

WAH-64 Apache attack helicopter

Search and Rescue Helicopters

Serve as medical evacuation , instrument trainer and

 A normal airplane can fly forward, up,

 Flexible (doesn’t require runway)

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