SL Helicopter Flying Handbook/Helicopter Flight Controls - Revision history

Tsukino.firethorn: /* Anti-Torque Pedals */

2021-08-17T13:58:56Z

‎Anti-Torque Pedals

Kelly: /* Shergood Flight Control System */

2021-08-16T17:34:56Z

‎Shergood Flight Control System

Kelly: /* Shergood Flight Control System */

2021-08-16T17:25:44Z

‎Shergood Flight Control System

Kelly: /* Anti-Torque Pedals */

2021-08-16T15:01:38Z

‎Anti-Torque Pedals

Kelly: /* Anti-Torque Pedals */

2021-08-16T15:01:07Z

‎Anti-Torque Pedals

Kelly: /* Anti-Torque Pedals */

2021-08-16T14:58:00Z

‎Anti-Torque Pedals

Kelly: /* The Swash Plate */

2021-08-16T13:43:21Z

‎The Swash Plate

Kelly: /* Cyclic */

2021-08-16T13:43:12Z

‎Cyclic

Kelly: /* Anti-Torque Pedals */

2021-08-16T13:42:52Z

‎Anti-Torque Pedals

Kelly: /* The Swash Plate */

2021-08-16T13:42:42Z

‎The Swash Plate

@@ Line 74: / Line 74: @@
 Antitorque Pedals are located on the floor in the same position rudder pedals would be in a fixed-wing aircraft.  They are typically controlled with the feet and move together.  Pushing one pedal causes the other to move forward and vice-versa.  The main purpose of the pedals is to counter-act thrust from the main rotor.  As was discussed in the previous section, Newton's Third Law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  The applies to the helicopter fuselage and the power applied to the main rotor.  As the main rotor turns counter-clockwise, there is a torque trying to turn the helicopter body clockwise.  This manifests itself as a right yaw if left unchecked.
-In order to make flight possible and compensate for this yaw, single blade helicopters are equipped with some sort of anti-torque system.  The most common anti-torque system is a tail rotor.  The anti-torque pedals control the pitch of the tail rotor, and thus the thrust from the tail rotor.  The pitch can be positive, zero or negative allowing the pedals to cause the helicopter to yaw left or right in the direction on which the pedal was pressed.
+In order to make flight possible and compensate for this yaw, single rotor helicopters are equipped with some sort of anti-torque system.  The most common anti-torque system is a tail rotor.  The anti-torque pedals control the pitch of the tail rotor, and thus the thrust from the tail rotor.  The pitch can be positive, zero or negative allowing the pedals to cause the helicopter to yaw left or right in the direction on which the pedal was pressed.
 Control inputs from the pedals are transmitted to the tail rotor blades through a swash plate in the tail rotor system (<xr id='fig:tail-rotor'/>).  A flapping hinge on each blade (or delta hinge on a two bladed tail rotor) allow blades to “flap” move forward and back in the tail rotor disk plane.  Flapping is necessary to compensate for “dissymmetry of lift” which occurs because the airspeed over the advancing side and retreating side of the rotor disk is different at cruise speeds.

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:34, 16 August 2021
Line 88:		Line 88:

	An overview of the flight controls using the two primary controls schemes, keyboard and hud, are shown in <xr id='fig:controls'/>.		An overview of the flight controls using the two primary controls schemes, keyboard and hud, are shown in <xr id='fig:controls'/>.
		+
		+	==== Flight HUD ====
		+
		+	All Shergood helicopters use the same layout for the base HUD (see <xr id='fig:hud'/>). The HUD shows the position for each of the three primary controls. A red dot for each control shows the current position for that control. Controls can be moved by directly click or dragging a control in the HUD, or through the key commands. Note that there may be some delay between clicking in the HUD, and the red dot moving. The red dot shows the actual current position of the control as received from the aircraft. There is a round-trip delay between when you click in the HUD, and when the effect is displayed in the HUD.
		+
		+	The large square area is for the cyclic. Forward cyclic is in the top-part of the square, and aft cyclic in the bottom half. Reference lines show the position of neutral cyclic. The collective is normally displayed as a vertical bar to the left of the cyclic area. The anti-torque control is normally displayed as a horizontal bar under the cyclic. The pedal scale is also marked with a reference line to show neutral pedal.

	==== CONTROLS LAYOUT "K" (KEYBOARD) ====		==== CONTROLS LAYOUT "K" (KEYBOARD) ====

@@ Line 82: / Line 82: @@
 [[File:Shergood-controls.png|thumb|right|
 <figure id="fig:controls"><caption>Shergood Flight Controls Overview</caption></figure>]]
 This section details the flight controls for the Shergood Helicopter Flight System in SL.  The controls as described here are a general description.  See the flight manual for your specific make/model for details.  The Shergood Flight System supports two separate control schemes: Keyboard-based and HUD-based.  The control scheme is set in the @Options menu.  Regardless of the scheme selected, controls can also be moved through the HUD by pressing and holding the left mouse button and dragging the appropriate slider in the HUD. In both control schemes, some key commands are activated through gestures included in a box as part of the product carton. Key commands requiring a gesture are marked with a [G] in the key command lists below.

@@ Line 76: / Line 76: @@
 In order to make flight possible and compensate for this yaw, single blade helicopters are equipped with some sort of anti-torque system.  The most common anti-torque system is a tail rotor.  The anti-torque pedals control the pitch of the tail rotor, and thus the thrust from the tail rotor.  The pitch can be positive, zero or negative allowing the pedals to cause the helicopter to yaw left or right in the direction on which the pedal was pressed.
-Control inputs from the pedals are transmitted to the tail rotor blades through a swash plate in the tail rotor system (<xr id='fig:tail-rotor'/>).
+Control inputs from the pedals are transmitted to the tail rotor blades through a swash plate in the tail rotor system (<xr id='fig:tail-rotor'/>).  A flapping hinge on each blade (or delta hinge on a two bladed tail rotor) allow blades to “flap” move forward and back in the tail rotor disk plane.  Flapping is necessary to compensate for “dissymmetry of lift” which occurs because the airspeed over the advancing side and retreating side of the rotor disk is different at cruise speeds.
 === Shergood Flight Control System ===

@@ Line 68: / Line 68: @@
 === Anti-Torque Pedals ===
 Antitorque Pedals are located on the floor in the same position rudder pedals would be in a fixed-wing aircraft.  They are typically controlled with the feet and move together.  Pushing one pedal causes the other to move forward and vice-versa.  The main purpose of the pedals is to counter-act thrust from the main rotor.  As was discussed in the previous section, Newton's Third Law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  The applies to the helicopter fuselage and the power applied to the main rotor.  As the main rotor turns counter-clockwise, there is a torque trying to turn the helicopter body clockwise.  This manifests itself as a right yaw if left unchecked.
@@ Line 73: / Line 76: @@
 In order to make flight possible and compensate for this yaw, single blade helicopters are equipped with some sort of anti-torque system.  The most common anti-torque system is a tail rotor.  The anti-torque pedals control the pitch of the tail rotor, and thus the thrust from the tail rotor.  The pitch can be positive, zero or negative allowing the pedals to cause the helicopter to yaw left or right in the direction on which the pedal was pressed.
-File:Tail-rotor.png
+Control inputs from the pedals are transmitted to the tail rotor blades through a swash plate in the tail rotor system (<xr id='fig:tail-rotor'/>).
 === Shergood Flight Control System ===

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:58, 16 August 2021
Line 72:		Line 72:

	In order to make flight possible and compensate for this yaw, single blade helicopters are equipped with some sort of anti-torque system. The most common anti-torque system is a tail rotor. The anti-torque pedals control the pitch of the tail rotor, and thus the thrust from the tail rotor. The pitch can be positive, zero or negative allowing the pedals to cause the helicopter to yaw left or right in the direction on which the pedal was pressed.		In order to make flight possible and compensate for this yaw, single blade helicopters are equipped with some sort of anti-torque system. The most common anti-torque system is a tail rotor. The anti-torque pedals control the pitch of the tail rotor, and thus the thrust from the tail rotor. The pitch can be positive, zero or negative allowing the pedals to cause the helicopter to yaw left or right in the direction on which the pedal was pressed.
		+
		+	File:Tail-rotor.png

	=== Shergood Flight Control System ===		=== Shergood Flight Control System ===

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:43, 16 August 2021
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	Control inputs in a helicopter are transmitted to the rotor system by means of a swash plate (<xr id='fig:swash-plate'/>). The swash plate consists of a lower non-rotating plate, and an upper rotating plate. Control rods from the collective and cyclic attach to the non-rotating lower swash plate and cause it to move. The collective raises and lowers the plate, while the cyclic causes the plate to tilt in the direction the cyclic was pushed. The upper plate rotates with the rotor blades, and mirrors the position and orientation of the lower plate. Pitch change rods from each rotor blade attach to the edge of the upper swash plate. As they travel around a 360 degree rotation, the pitch rods are pushed and pulled thus decreasing or increasing the blade pitch over a rotation.		Control inputs in a helicopter are transmitted to the rotor system by means of a swash plate (<xr id='fig:swash-plate'/>). The swash plate consists of a lower non-rotating plate, and an upper rotating plate. Control rods from the collective and cyclic attach to the non-rotating lower swash plate and cause it to move. The collective raises and lowers the plate, while the cyclic causes the plate to tilt in the direction the cyclic was pushed. The upper plate rotates with the rotor blades, and mirrors the position and orientation of the lower plate. Pitch change rods from each rotor blade attach to the edge of the upper swash plate. As they travel around a 360 degree rotation, the pitch rods are pushed and pulled thus decreasing or increasing the blade pitch over a rotation.
		+
		+	[[File:Pedals.jpg\|thumb\|200px\|left\|
		+	<figure id="fig:pedals"><caption>Anti-Torque Pedals</caption></figure>]]

	=== Anti-Torque Pedals ===		=== Anti-Torque Pedals ===

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:43, 16 August 2021
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	The control is called the cyclic because it varies the pitch of the rotor blades as a function of their angle with the rotor mast over the course of a revolution (see <xr id='fig:cyclic-effect'/>). This results in an unequal lift/thrust from the blade is it rotates causing the rotor disk to tilt in the direction the pilot pushes the cyclic. When the rotor disk tilts, it diverts some of its total thrust to a horizontal component giving the helicopter a thrust in the direction the cyclic was pushed. Because the rotor blades act like a gyro, the direction the helicopter tils is 90 degrees from where the maximum pitch up is located.		The control is called the cyclic because it varies the pitch of the rotor blades as a function of their angle with the rotor mast over the course of a revolution (see <xr id='fig:cyclic-effect'/>). This results in an unequal lift/thrust from the blade is it rotates causing the rotor disk to tilt in the direction the pilot pushes the cyclic. When the rotor disk tilts, it diverts some of its total thrust to a horizontal component giving the helicopter a thrust in the direction the cyclic was pushed. Because the rotor blades act like a gyro, the direction the helicopter tils is 90 degrees from where the maximum pitch up is located.
−
−
−	~~[[File:Pedals.jpg\|thumb\|200px\|left\|~~
−	~~<figure id="fig:pedals"><caption>Anti-Torque Pedals</caption></figure>]]~~

	=== The Swash Plate ===		=== The Swash Plate ===

@@ Line 60: / Line 60: @@
 [[File:Pedals.jpg|thumb|200px|left|
 <figure id="fig:pedals"><caption>Anti-Torque Pedals</caption></figure>]]
 === Anti-Torque Pedals ===
@@ Line 66: / Line 73: @@
 In order to make flight possible and compensate for this yaw, single blade helicopters are equipped with some sort of anti-torque system.  The most common anti-torque system is a tail rotor.  The anti-torque pedals control the pitch of the tail rotor, and thus the thrust from the tail rotor.  The pitch can be positive, zero or negative allowing the pedals to cause the helicopter to yaw left or right in the direction on which the pedal was pressed.
 === Shergood Flight Control System ===

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:42, 16 August 2021
Line 66:		Line 66:

	In order to make flight possible and compensate for this yaw, single blade helicopters are equipped with some sort of anti-torque system. The most common anti-torque system is a tail rotor. The anti-torque pedals control the pitch of the tail rotor, and thus the thrust from the tail rotor. The pitch can be positive, zero or negative allowing the pedals to cause the helicopter to yaw left or right in the direction on which the pedal was pressed.		In order to make flight possible and compensate for this yaw, single blade helicopters are equipped with some sort of anti-torque system. The most common anti-torque system is a tail rotor. The anti-torque pedals control the pitch of the tail rotor, and thus the thrust from the tail rotor. The pitch can be positive, zero or negative allowing the pedals to cause the helicopter to yaw left or right in the direction on which the pedal was pressed.
−	~~=== The Swash Plate ===~~
−
−	~~[[File:Swash-plate.jpg\|thumb\|right\|~~
−	~~<figure id="fig:swash-plate"><caption>Swash Plate</caption></figure>]]~~
−
−	Control inputs in a helicopter are transmitted to the rotor system by means of a swash plate (<xr id='fig:swash-plate'/>). The swash plate consists of a lower non-rotating plate, and an upper rotating plate. Control rods from the collective and cyclic attach to the non-rotating lower swash plate and cause it to move. The collective raises and lowers the plate, while the cyclic causes the plate to tilt in the direction the cyclic was pushed. The upper plate rotates with the rotor blades, and mirrors the position and orientation of the lower plate. Pitch change rods from each rotor blade attach to the edge of the upper swash plate. As they travel around a 360 degree rotation, the pitch rods are pushed and pulled thus decreasing or increasing the blade pitch over a rotation.
−
	=== Shergood Flight Control System ===		=== Shergood Flight Control System ===