When a helicopter loses power mid-flight, a pilot may nevertheless land the craft safely by causing the rotor blades to spin freely in the wind. By changing the pitch of the rotor blades to a negative angle, wind rushing through the rotor system as the helicopter descends will cause the rotors to speed up. As the helicopter approaches the ground, the pilot "feeds in" positive pitch gradually to create lift and slow the descent. Positive pitch drains the rotational energy stored in the rotor system so a pilot has only ONE chance to successfully perform an autorotation maneuver. Report this Word See also: Dead Stick Added by: mkranitz
A helicopter flight condition in which the lifting rotor is driven entirely by action of air when the helicopter is in motion.
Rapid power-off descent in a helicopter, reduced immediately before touch-down by
Aerodynamic rotor operation. A flight condition made possible by the vertical or horizontal movement of air through the rotor system. For the models, when the rotor fully accelerates on its own, it is said to be autorotating.
Rotorcraft flight condition in which the lifting rotor is driven entirely by action of the air when the rotorcraft is in motion. This is usually an engine-out situation in a helicopter.
A maneuver to land in the case of engine failure; the momentum of the rotor blades can be just enough to slow the heli down just before landing. more.
a natural way to deal with an inflight tail rotor failure since it reduces torque to zero
an emergency procedure where you essentially let the air turn the main rotor instead of the engine
an engine off landing, the idea is to make the decent with just the right amount of negative pitch so that there is enough energy stored in the rotor to flair and land the model
This is the term for when the engine is either not running or is put into a idle position with the "Hold" switch.
The ability of a rotary wing aircraft to land safely without engine power. This maneuver uses the stored energy in the rotor blades to produce lift at the end of decent, allowing the model to land safely.
Autorotation is the engineering term for the aerodynamics providing lift in a rotor-driven aircraft such as autogyro or helicopter.