Will the point of land of a hovering Helicopter change if it hovers at the same point for some hours?

Question

Due to rotation of the Earth, will the point of land of a hovering Helicopter change if it hovers at the same point from where it has taken off, for some hours?

Answer 1

no. the rotation of the earth effects everything including the air. the wind would be blowing at about 1055 mph right now if the earth didn't have some effect on it.

Answer 2

IF the helicopter hovered at the same point (inertial axis), the point of land the helicopter would be over would change as the Earth rotated underneath it. However, the complicating factor is that the air is rotating around the Earth at the same speed as the Earth.

It would take a lot of thrust to keep that helicopter in that same spot relative to an inertial axis. On the equator, the air is traveling over a 1000 mph since it is rotating right along with the Earth. Very few jets have powerful enough engines to overcome that type of airflow. If the helicopter 'hovered' instead of added a powerful horizontal thrust, the air would carry the helicopter around at the same speed as the Earth.

A better example of what you might be trying to visualize would be a satellite that orbited from pole to pole to pole (the orbit is perpendicular to the Equator). Being high enough that there is little, if any, atmosphere, the orbit's plane would be unchanging while the Earth would rotate below it. If it took 90 minutes to complete an orbit and the satellite started at the prime meridian (0 degrees longitude), by time the satellite reached the equator again it would be over 22.5 degrees longitude (the Earth rotates 15 degrees per hour).

Answer 3

Sorry, but your question answers itself. If the helicopter "hovers at the same point from where it" took off, it will continue to be at that point, by definition.

If you mean, if the helicopter hovers in the air at a point that remains constant with reference to some other points not on the rotating earth, will the earth's rotation move its launch point from under it, the answer is, maybe. The only way to be sure that would happen would be to do it in a vacuum, but then the helicopter could not fly. The atmosphere moves with the earth, that's why you are not blown over by 1000 mph winds at the equator.

Answer 4

The point of land would be affected by the dust blown off it by the helicopter.
The state of the helicopter theoretically would be altered over time. It's blades revolving act as a gyroscope that would stay in a constant plane while the surface would appear to have turned. This is similar to the large pendulum you may have seen at the Smithsonian or elsewhere. Every so often, yet another domino - or whatever they are that get set up - gets knocked down by the pendulum. So you get to see the effects of the turning Earth.
The thing is though, there's so much vibration in the helicopter and so much wind encountered in normal operation, that practically, it moves so much and gets re-stabilized so often, that the small changes effected by the rotation get lost in the noise.

Answer 5

The answer is no, but I believe it has more to do with gravity than anything else. It's impossible for anything to stay stationary. It's like the moon. It can't hover in one spot in relation to the earth because of the gravitational forces that work on it. But then again, I could be wrong. I do seem to remember an experiment that Newton or Galileo or someone did that used some sort of pendulum to measure the earths rotation.

Answer 6

No, because the atmosphere is rotating with the ground. If it didn't, then people on the ground would always feel a wind blowing at hundreds of miles per hour as the Earth rotated at that speed under the stationary air and the helicopter would move away (be blown away by the wind) at hundreds of miles per hour as soon as it took off.

Answer 7

Helicopters could desire to be flown via pilots who desire a floor reference and make consistent flight differences even to hover interior the air. One helicopter crashed at an antarctic base using fact it took off in a snow typhoon and suffered a white-out without reference on the floor. possibly the pilot might take care of a relentless place consistent with danger with appreciate to 3 homes via triangulation or via GPS (and place might proceed to be consistent). If a pilot-much less helicopter hovered with out place guidance it would pass faraway from its unique factor using fact of equipment blunders over the years or using wind yet not using fact the earth is spinning using fact the earth's ecosystem travels with the earth's floor. The spin of the earth might impression (curve) any great migration using Coriolis forces (that spin hurricanes, etc.).

Answer 8

Relative to what? In practical terms no it will not. The earth rotates at about 1000 miles per hour at the equator so it would not be possible for the helicopter to stay in one spot in the sense you understand. Relative to the earth it can and would allowing for the wind movement.

Answer 9

As it is sitting on the ground, it is moving at the same speed as the earth. When it starts to hover, it retains that initial momentum. What would cause it to move with relation to the ground is a stiff breeze as it no longer has friction with the ground to keep it in place.

Answer 10

no, because the atmosphere rotate with same speed of earth.