Can someone explain the basic controls of a helicopter to me please?

Question

I know different models may be operated slightly differently but any insight in to the layman's basic would be very gratefully recieved...thanks!

Answer 1

Hi John,
Fudamentally you have three control inputs.
Some helis have been described as wallpapering whilst balancing on a football, but most are user-freindly.
So you have the "collective" stick to one side. up to go up, down to go down. changes the angle of attack of the rotor blades. It also contols the throttles like a motorbike twist-grip
Next the "cyclic", the stick between your knees.
Most important. forwards for forwards, backwards for backwards, left to bank and go left, similar with right.
This be your main control over the show, by tilting the rotors in a given direction
Down on the floor are the rudder pedals. Press left foot down to rotate left and vice versa. Good for spinning around into the wind for landing, and giving a smooth turn in flight. It normally does that by altering the tail rotor, thus spinning you clockwise or anti clockwise.
It is therefore a combination of these three basic controls, and you are away !
Mind there are things like communications, navigation and dear knows what else to consider.
A busy but fine thing to drive once you stop wobbling around.
Smooth and little inputs seem to work.
Oh heck you could well have five major controls in a car, and all operated without much thinking after a while.
Happy hovering !

Bob.

Answer 2

In a nutshell: Consider the main rotor as a disc.
The Cyclic (stick between the pilots legs) moves the rotor disc to the right, left, fore and aft to direct the A/C in that direction.
The Collective (Stick on the pilots Left) controls the pitch of the main rotor (basically the power) and also has the throttle ( this is manual on a piston engine and automatic on a Jet).
The anti-torque pedals are used in a hover to keep you heading in the directing you want and the only time they are used in flight is when you make a power change.

Sooooo, The Cyclic is the forward, backward and side way stick, Collective is the up and down stick and the pedals keep you heading the way your looking.

Answer 3

The stick between your legs controls forward, backward,left and right movements. The stick thats to your side moves up and down movement it also has a throttle like a motorcyle to increase engine speed. The pedals for your feet keep the the tail section from moving in a circle like the main rotor blade and help move the helicopter left and right.

Answer 4

3 Main controls affect a helicopter in flight. These are; COLLECTIVE, which looks like a car handbrake on the left of a pilot, it controls how hard the blades push air down, gives up and down movement,(rotor speed remains constant), CYCLIC, which is the "joystick" between the pilots legs and controls the rotor head tilt direction, push forward, aircraft moves forward. And YAW, which is a balance bar footpedal at the pilots feet, and controls the rear tail rotor; push right, rear end swings right. : ) any help?

Answer 5

Cyclic control - stick between pilots legs - controls forward, reverse, sideways movement
Collective control - stick on side of pilots seat, normaly left side - controls vertical flight - up and down motion
Yaw control - rudder pedals - controls where vehicle is pointed (right and left)

Answer 6

This really has what you need. Too much to explain a Yahoo Answers snippet.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/helicopter.htm
http://www.thaitechnics.com/helicopter/tg5/control.jpg

Answer 7

Math is needed, even with the undeniable fact that this is no longer very progressed. you're able to be able to desire to have the skill to calculate how long your gas will final, and how far you are able to return and forth in that component, to function up the entire load being carried, to apply a calculate to be sure wind correction, and so on. sure, you will could desire to have the skill to study overall performance graphs, and you will could desire to study a map.

Answer 8

read Chickenhawk by Robert Mason

apart from being an excellent read, it has a great explanation for lay people of how helicopters fly

Answer 9

http://www.fsstation.com/tutorials/helicopter-flying-tutorial.html
http://www.heli-chair.com/index.html
http://rcvehicles.about.com/od/rcflying/a/heliflightbasic.htm

Answer 10

UP
DOWN
LEFT AND RIGHT