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This is really interesting and surprising to me. Can any helicopter pilot explain why hovering is not as easy as just taking your hands off the controls? That
by tome 8y ago
This is really interesting and surprising to me. Can any helicopter pilot explain why hovering is not as easy as just taking your hands off the controls? That's how I always imagined a helicopter would work!
- starpilot 8y agoIt's like standing on a basketball, any perturbation in the wrong direction causes it to accelerate in that direction. The whole thing is vibrating in multiple planes, so it requires constant control inputs to keep it from veering off.
- yutyut 8y agoIdeally you can trim a modern helicopter out much like you would an airplane however it's still a dynamically (?) unstable platform. I'm far removed from aero and nobody really thinks about the details of that stuff when they're flying. Here's a good summary: https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/35764/are-helicopters-aerodynamically-stable https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/35764/are-helic...
- sandworm101 8y agoA hover isn't as dynamic as forward flight. A fixed-wing aircraft like a glider can self-regulate using aerodynamic forces. For instance: If the nose tips up, the plane slows. The wings generate less lift and the nose tips back down. Plane then speeds up ... etc. But a hovering helicopter doesn't experience any significant airflow changes. If it's nose tips up it just keeps tipping up. The helo then starts sliding backwards until the tail catches the wind, spinning everything 180 like a weather vain and very quickly you aren't flying any more. The pilot/computer/gyro needs to keep ahead of these forces.