dene maxwell wrote: > I'm going to give a helicopter a try. I understand the physics of a > helicopter, the rotor provides downward thrust and the speed and pitch > of the rotor control the amount of thrust and because of the torque of > the main rotor a tail rotor is needed. this gives the impresion there > are alot of this to control. > Iintuatively I'd say the joystick is used for direction control, the > throttle is for engine speed. > > What controls pitch and tail rotor? > > A url to some basic flight instructions would be appreciated and/or > keyboard mappings for the other important controls. > > Any recommendations on a nice forgiving model to try first time? :-) > > Dene > > _________________________________________________________________ > Discover fun and games at @ http://xtramsn.co.nz/kids > > > _______________________________________________ > Flightgear-users mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-users > 2f585eeea02e2c79d7b1d8c4963bae2d >
Well, the basic breakdown goes like this: cyclic (joystick): Controls the pitch of the rotor disk (not the fuselage though) by changing the pitch of individual blades as they go around. This changes how much lateral thrust there is and what direction it is pointed in. collective (throttle): Controls the pitch of all the rotor blades, and thus the amount of lift. FADEC or throttle (located on the collective): Controls engine power and thus rotor RPM, which should remain constant while flying. pedals: Control tail rotor/fenstron pitch or the air gates on systems like NOTAR, and subsequently yaw. The pitch of the aircraft is independent of all that in older systems like teetering and hinged rotors, it just swings around down there independent of the rotor disk. Here is an excellent demonstration: http://tonyrogers.com/video/index.htm (second from the top) I think the new semi-rigid rotors actually can pitch and roll the aircraft directly. Rigid rotors are just a plain old dead end as far as I know. Helicopter aerodynamics are a lot more complicated than fixed wing, and a lot different as well. The following two sites give a pretty good intro. They are long reads, but worth it. http://www.dynamicflight.com/aerodynamics/ http://www.cybercom.net/~copters/ Josh _______________________________________________ Flightgear-users mailing list [email protected] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-users 2f585eeea02e2c79d7b1d8c4963bae2d
