On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 10:42:19 -0800, Andy Ross <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Helicopters have no built-in stability in yaw. I don't know if that's quite right. In hover and slow-speed flight, helicopters have no natural yaw stability (you have to work the anti-torque pedals constantly); however, in cruise, from the pilot's perspective, a helicopter should display the same kind of stability that an airplane does (perhaps a little less, but the same idea). There's a name for the transition from hover to cruise (and probably a better name for 'cruise'), but as a non-rotorhead, I don't know it. That's not to say, of course, that helicopters or airplanes will fly straight without any control input -- both need constant attention to go straight, as Andy suggests. However, in cruise (or whatever it's called), you probably want to use the cyclic (=~ailerons) to control the direction of flight rather than the anti-torque pedals (=~rudder), unless the helicopter isn't actually flying the way it's pointing. All the best, David -- http://www.megginson.com/ _______________________________________________ Flightgear-users mailing list [email protected] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-users 2f585eeea02e2c79d7b1d8c4963bae2d
