Helicopters
By: Loren Kanov
March 12, 2001
Honors Physics
Mr. Pagani Period 6
Table of Contents

History of Helicopters
 Significant Contributions
 Igor I. Sikorsky
 How it Works
 How it Maneuvers
 Resources
History of Helicopters
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The ancient Chinese had toys
that rose upward when spun
rapidly.
Leonardo Da Vinci made
drawings of what we now know
as the helicopter.
The invention of the internal
combustion engine made it
possible to develop full-sized
models with an adequate power
source.
Significant contributions

1907: French pioneer Paul Cornu lifted a twinrotored helicopter into the air entirely without
assistance from the ground for a few seconds.
 1924: French pioneer Etienne Oehmichen became
the first to fly a helicopter one kilometer in a
closed circuit. It took 7 minutes and 40 seconds.
 1936: Spaniard Juan de la Cierva created the
autogyro which was not a true helicopter, but
reached new heights in vertical flight.
Igor I. Sikorsky
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Designed the world’s first true
production helicopter
Greatly influenced in contemporary
science by his mother and father
As a child, he built model aircraft and
helicopters
Achieved international recognition in
1913 for designing and flying the first
multimotor airplane
In late 1938, United Aircraft
management approved his experimental
helicopter and on Sept. 14, 1939, the
VS-300 made its first flight
His single-rotor design remains the
dominant configuration of helicopters
today
How it works
How it works


Direction:
The helicopter has two jet
turboshaft engines which turn the
rotor blades
 As the blades sweep through the
air, they form what is called the
“rotor disc”
 The rotorhead, which is where the
blades are connected, is controlled
by a swash plate which transfers
the pilot’s instructions to the rotor
blades
 By raising and lowering each blade
at a precise point in its revolution,
the pilot tilts the rotor disc in the
desired direction
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Control:
A cyclic control stick tilts the rotor
disc in the desired direction and
controls speed
 The collective pitch lever connects
to the swash plate and changes the
pitch of the rotor blades in unison,
enabling the helicopter to climb or
descend
 Foot pedals connected to the
control arms on the tail rotor blades
work together with the cyclic
control stick to make right or left
turns
How it works

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Lift:
The rotor blades are shaped like the
wings of an airplane: curved on top
and flat on bottom
 When they rotate, the pressure of
the slower-moving air flowing
under the blade is greater than the
faster-moving air above it
 This difference in pressure pushes
the blades up, giving the helicopter
the lift it needs to fly
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Balance:
Without a tail rotor, the body of the
helicopter would be forced in the
opposite direction of the spinning
rotor blades
 The tail rotor compensates for this
by providing lateral thrust in the
opposite direction, holding the
body stationary
How it maneuvers

Changing the angle or
tilt of the helicopter’s
rotor blades tells the
aircraft whether to
move forward or
backward or to hover
motionless in the air.
Forward
Hover
Backward
resources
1. Bosing, Tom. “Computer Solutions: The Helicopter,” © 1996.
Http://www.iao.com/howthing/htwheli.htm
This site describes the structure of a helicopter and explains how the helicopter works.
2. Lippi, Jonathan. “Igor I. Sikorsky,” © 1987. Http://www.invent.org/bok/booktext/96.html
This site gives a bibliography of Igor I. Sikorsky including background on his life and
his accomplishments.
3. McKee, George. “Helicopter History Site,” © 1998. Http://www.helis.com
This site discusses the history of helicopters dating back as far as the 1500's when the
first helicopter models were made.
4. Nelson, Jay. “Discovery Center–How it Works: Helicopter Bacis,” © 2000.
Http://www.utc.com/disciver/hiw-heli.htm
This site explains how a helicopter works and maneuvers in basic terms that make it
easy to understand.