Principles of Flight
Principles of Flight
The four forces
- Lift
- Weight
- Thrust
- Drag
Airfoils - Symmetrical vs. Asymmetrical
- Leading edge
- Trailing edge
- Chord line
- Relative wind
- Angle of attack
- Bernoulli's Principle
- Tip path plane
Factors affecting lift and drag - Surface area
- Angle of attack
- Velocity of airflow
- Air density
- Blade stall
The three axes - Longitudinal/Roll
- Lateral/Pitch
- Vertical/ Yaw
Torque - Newton's third law of motion
- Tail rotor thrust
- Controlling torque
- F. Rotor systems
- Fully articulated
- Semi-rigid
- Rigid
Rotor systems - Fully articulated
- Semi-rigid
- Rigid
Vibrations - Resonance; sympathetic, ground resonance
- Low frequency vibrations
- Medium frequency vibrations
- High frequency vibrations Hovering flight
- Lift and thrust resultant
- Weight and drag
- Axis of rotation
- Coning
- Translating tendency
- Direction of airflow
- Ground effect
- Gyroscopic precession
- Pendular action
- Loss of tailrotor effectiveness
Forward, sideward, and rearward hovering - Lift and thrust resultant
- Weight and drag
Forward flight - Lift and thrust resultant
- Weight and drag
- Blade flapping
- Coriolis effect
- Translational lift
- Dissymmetry of lift
- Transverse flow effect
- Retreating blade stall
- Low rpm blade stall
- Low G / Mast bumping
- Settling with power The turn
- Lift components in a turn
- Weight and centrifugal force in a turn
- Angle of bank vs. rate of turn
Load factor - Definition
- Effect of angle of bank on G-load
- Load factor chart
- Effect of turbulence and high gross weight on load factor
- Effect of density altitude on load factor
- Effect of pilot technique on load factor
Autorotative descents - Definition
- Free wheeling unit
- Direction of airflow
- Effect of maneuvering, updrafts and downdrafts on rotor rpm
- Manufacturer's minimum autorotational airspeed
- Minimum rate of descent airspeed
- Maximum glide distance airspeed
- Airspeed vs. altitude limitations chart
Hovering autorotations - Torque effect
- Translating tendency or drift