Why Helicopters can not fly above certain flight altitude?

Answer 1

Anything that is dependent on the atmosphere for lift or thrust has altitude limitations. This is because lift and thrust are dependent on density and the atmospheric density decreases with altitude. At some point the lift or thrust device cannot provide enough force to go higher and it levels out.

This applies for helicopters too.

Answer 2

The AS 350 Ecureuil touched down on the top of Mt Everest and set the world record a few years back, But once again it would not make alot of sense for it to fly that high due to the performance and blades are not the best way to propel at high altitude where the air is less dense

Answer 3

It is a limitation of the crew of the helicopter not the copter it's self. Most helos do not have a pressurized cabin. With out a pressurized cabin you can only fly as high as the pilot will be able to breathe. Above 10,000ft MSL pilots start to get light headed and feel the effects of hypoxia. That's why helos are limited.

Answer 4

they get limited by various variables, the altitude limit may be from lack of oxygen equipment for the crew, the rest of limitations is derived from thin air thus low lift and low engine power. notice that helicopter give various altitude limits, hovering in ground effect off ground effect and the /aeroplane like/ cruising speed altitude limit. in the cruising speed altitude limit there is virtually only one speed that is in the same time the:
maximum reachable by the power available and
minimum flyable due to the " stall"
this is merely a aeroplane definiton but works for helicopters too.
hovering limitations are derived again from the maximum power of engines. in grounsd effect is a higher value, cause the proximity of taerrain enables the helicopter to hover more efficiently. its downwash is somewhat pushing against the terrain..

Answer 5

As altitude increases, the air gets thinner. This reduces both lift and engine power. At some point, the helicopter (or airplane, for that matter) cannot generate more lift than its weight, and that's as high as it can fly.

Helicopters are generally more-susceptible to this than fixed-wing, because of their aerodynamics.

Answer 6

Any aircraft, rotor wing or fixed wing have operational limitations based on any given combination of variables, weight, available power, density altitude etc. published figures and charts in the aircraft flight manual are based on standard conditions with formulas for adjustments for non-standard conditions that may exist. All assume new condition, proper piloting technique and a percentage of error factor.

Answer 7

2 reason. First the engine can not breath properly. The other and most important the air is to thin and the blades can not get proper lift. same reason all most all airplanes can not fly at 100000 ft. the air does not flow over the wing to create lift.

Answer 8

Helicopters dont actually fly. They are simply so ugly that the earth repels them.

The relative ugliness of any one helicopter determines exacctly how far the earth will repel it. Big, really ugly helicopters get repellled much farther than small, only kind-of-ugly helos.

Answer 9

Air gets to thinner further up, so the blades can not generate enough lift

Answer 10

All aircraft have a service ceiling, not just helos.