Huey helicopter top speed plus#
This is because the air meeting the rotor blade on the Advancing Side of the helicopter has its own forward aircraft speed plus the rotational speed or the rotor blade itself.įor a rotor blade to work as efficiently as possible it needs undisturbed air passing over it. The tip speed of a rotor blade also increases as the helicopter itself goes faster. The longer the Span or length of the blade, the faster the blade tips will travel. Main rotors have to be spun at an optimum RPM to produce the maximum amount of lift for the least amount of power. Here are just a few of the aerodynamic limitations: Blade Tip Vortices Each one of these problems has to be overcome to design an efficient rotor blade. To add to the basic design principals mentioned above rotor blades create their own aerodynamic problems as the operate. So these observations may be obvious but each aspect can mean the difference between the design team having to add another blade to the rotor head or not. The more centrifugal force will act upon it. The Longer the rotor blade, the more it droops when not rotating. The bigger the rotor blade, the more lift it produces, but it also weighs more, requires more materials, costs more, creates more drag as it moves through the air, and requires more power to overcome that drag. Taking into account these factors above lets look at some rotor blade fundamentals: