The Coolest Helicopters Ever Created

Posted on by Emmanuel Kuhlman PhD Uncategorized

Helicopters hold a unique fascination for people and have become more common over the years. Designers have come up with new ways of making them cooler to make a mark in the industry. Such a drive has led to an increase in experimental helicopters with amazing mechanisms and systems. Everyone will appreciate the geniuses behind these designs, which expose the world to new concepts that move beyond technology’s normal boundaries.

Design

When it comes down to design, some of these experimental helicopters have a less than appealing exterior compared to modern choppers. However, this is due to the use of lightweight material. Some of them are for personal use, while others are used by private organisations or even the military. The design concepts for these helicopters are entirely new and avant-garde, and each one is completely unique.

The list of the coolest experimental helicopters

The Percival P.74 is German engineers’ claim to fame in this list. Conceived after World War II had ended, this helicopter has a fairly good appearance, but an odd design. It has ‘tip jet rotors’, which uses jet nozzles at the tip of the rotor blades to spin the rotor, making it look like a firework display! Another interesting aircraft is the Kellet-Hughes XH-17, the largest chopper available in 1952.

The renowned manufacturer, Sikorsky, is the brains behind the Sikorsky X-Wing, which was developed in the seventies. Its aerodynamics and air-frame design are integrated into its construction. The Sikorsky X-wing, resembles an X-wing fighter, as made popular by the Star Wars movies. Lastly, Russian designers introduced the Kamov Ka-22, the heaviest of all experimental helicopters. It resembled an airplane, with rotors on its wings, to enable it to lift off.

Most luxurious helicopters in the world

Posted on by Emmanuel Kuhlman PhD Uncategorized

Air travel is a common occurrence nowadays. Without this mode of transport, the world could not be interlinked in the manner it is today. Different people use air travel for different reasons – it could be for leisure, business, holidays, or rescue missions. The main modes of air travel are obviously airplanes and helicopters. Below we look at some of the most luxurious helicopters that exist in the world today.

Eurocopter Mercedes-Benz EC145

At a whopping €5,755,000, this helicopter oozes elegance, design, and comfort. Donning pure leather and wood finishes, the Eurocopter Mercedes-Benz EC145 is in a class of its own. The interior is done by Mercedes Benz’s advanced design team. This chopper has a flexible passenger seating plan and can accommodate eight or nine passengers at a time. The ambient cabin lighting is adjustable. This chopper is suitable for leisure and business trips.

Bell 525 Relentless and Airbus H160

Dubbed as the next generation chopper and worth $15,000,000, The Bell 525 Relentless is another luxurious chopper. This chopper can accommodate up to 20 passengers and the seating arrangement is flexible and changeable. The cabin is spacious and is popular with VIP and corporate travelers. With a vibration eliminator system in place, you can bet on easier communication as you travel. Leather upholstery is also a big plus for this chopper.

Commonly referred to as the Bugatti of the skies and with a price in excess of $20,000,000, the Airbus H160 is exceptional. The interior has leather, wood, and metal finishes and can be customised according to your needs. This luxury chopper can accommodate 12 passengers and is a must-have for celebrities and the billionaire class. Advanced safety features like the “automatic recovery mode,” adds to all the other luxurious features.

World records and helicopters

Posted on by Emmanuel Kuhlman PhD Uncategorized

Helicopters are amazing man-made creations. When they fly over you, you cannot help but look up at one of man’s most amazing creations. When the first operational helicopter came into being back in 1936, it could only fly a short distance, but thanks to ever-increasing technology, they are now beasts of the sky. In this article we will take you through some amazing world records set using helicopters.

World Record for Fasted Speed in a Helicopter

Currently, the world record for helicopter speed is 400.87 km/h (249.09 mph). This was set by Westland chief pilot John Trevor Egginton from the United Kingdom on Monday, the 11th August 1986. He used the Westland Lynx G-LYNX to complete this feat. A lot of pilots have attempted to break this record, but no one has been able to go faster than that to this day.

Other World Records Set Using Helicopters

Apart from the speed record, there are other records worth noting that have been set. One such record is the distance without landing, which currently stands at 3,561.55 kilometers or 2,213.04 miles. This record was set by Robert G. Ferry in a Hughes YOH-6A helicopter on the 6th of April 1966. The record was set in the United States and has stood for over fifty years.

Another record is the Around-the-World Speed – the record for this is 136.7 km/h. It was set by Scott Kasprowicz (USA) on the 18th of August 2008. The route was from and to New York City via Europe, Russia, Alaska, Canada. The helicopter used was an Agusta A109S Grand. The highest flight altitude achieved in a helicopter was 11,010 m, by James K. Church (US, 1971). The helicopter was a Tarhe Sikorsky CH-54

Safety of helicopters

Posted on by Emmanuel Kuhlman PhD Uncategorized

Helicopters have been in focus over the years due to the deadly crashes that have made people worried about the safety of such flights. The classification of helicopters depends on design or purpose. The design is what most people are familiar with as it is focuses on observable features like the number of rotors and their positioning. Helicopters having an exposed tail rotor produce more noise than ones with a ducted rotor.

Challenges of Helicopter flights

Safety has, and remains, a top priority for helicopter manufacturers. Pilots undergo intensive training to enable them to handle different weather conditions, mechanical problems and unforeseen obstacles. One of those obstacles is loss of tail-rotor effectiveness (LTE), an interesting yet risky phenomenon where the pedals stop working correctly and the effect is having the helicopter turn in circles. Accidents resulting from LTE happen when the helicopter is a low airspeed and altitude.

Safety features

Helicopters produce a lot of noise, which is uncomfortable for travellers and close observers. Both the main and tail rotor produce noise but with dissimilar frequencies. Luckily, technology has made it possible for the aircraft to produce less noise, making the flight much more enjoyable. A helicopter has a speed limit of 250 km/h, while the Eurocopter X3 is the fastest with a recorded speed of 293 mph/472 km/h.

When it comes to safety, all helicopters have a GPS that provides guidance to the pilot in all weather conditions and most critical when the visibility is poor. To avoid a collision, a radio altimeter is vital in alerting the pilot of other planes in the air space, traffic avoidance and terrain awareness systems are important as well. Helicopters now have sophisticated Avionics equipment to ensure the safety of everyone on board.

History of helicopters

Posted on by Emmanuel Kuhlman PhD Uncategorized

A helicopter is a type of aircraft in which the thrust and lift are supplied by the rotors. The word helicopter is an English word coined from two Greek terms, the helix meaning spiral, convolution or whirl and pteron, which means wings. The word helicopter was originally adapted from the word ‘hélicoptère’ in French coined by the French inventor Gustave Ponton d’Amécourt in the year 1861.

How helicopters work

The helicopter has one or more power-driven straight propellers that make it take off like a bird from a spot –without the traditional run before flight and land vertically, move in different direction, or remain static in the air. But the sophistication in power, control,convolution and structure required for this vertical flying pose a lot of challenges, which through centuries of work and fails, were solved by determined engineers and inventors.

History and Timeline

The initial concept of vertical flight came from China around 400 BC – Chinese bamboo flying toys . In the late 15th century, Leondardo Da Vinci contributed in his own way – a helical airscrew drawing and around 1906, Jacques and his brother Louis Breguet made what was called the first helicopter flight. Fast forward to 1936, and the advent and flight of the German Focke-Wulf Fw 61 broke all existing helicopter’s world records

By September 14, 1939, the world’s first real helicopter, the VS-300 was flight tested at Stratford, Connecticut. Following Igor Sikorsky design, it was the first to use a single main tail rotor. With Sikorsky Piloting, the flight lasted for just a few seconds. But, the concepts used in the Sikorsky VS-300 engine provided the foundation for the production of helicopters and became the standard for helicopter manufacturing companies across the world.

What to know about helicopters?

Posted on by Emmanuel Kuhlman PhD Uncategorized

Welcome to the world of helicopters. We have dedicated this site to all helicopter lovers and those who will love to read all about them. For starters, a helicopter is a type of gyroplane that moves by the thrust supplied by a rotor. This thrust is manipulated to move the helicopter in a different direction – this is the reason a helicopter can move vertically, forwards and backwards.

Why are helicopters important?

The invention of helicopters brought new ways of solving many problems. With the use of helicopters, doctors can now reach areas that are hard to get to with ambulances to rescue injured or sick people. Military personnel also use helicopters to extract wounded soldiers from hot zones. Helicopters have attributes that can be used in isolated or congested areas where fixed-winged aircrafts simply cannot.

Design features for Helicopters

The helicopter has different features that work together to make it function. These features are 1. Engines: The type, size and number of the engine/engines used on a helicopter makes up the size, function and capability of the helicopter. The first type of engines were not powerful, but after the introduction of internal combustion engines, the power of the engines available to helicopters continue to grow.

2. Rotor System: The rotor system makes up the rotating section of a helicopter that creates lift. This part may be fitted horizontally to provide lift or vice versa to balance the torque from the main rotors. The rotor has several parts that function as one 3. Flight controls: There are four flight controls found on a helicopter and they work together to help manipulate the movement of the helicopter.

Design features of helicopters

Posted on by Emmanuel Kuhlman PhD Uncategorized

The rotor mechanism of a helicopter helps it to have vertical take-off and fly without any complications. This attribute makes choppers a good solution for incidents where there is limited space and hovering is required. Such incidents include accessing remote areas to help people, putting out fires, delivering supplies to secluded mining locations, filming movies, and taking photographs. The military include helicopters in many of their operations and intelligence application.

Flight controls

Three key flight controls are accessible to the pilot: collective pitch, cyclic pitch, tail rotor/ anti-torque pedals. The throttle control attached on the collective pitch helps steer the aircraft. All controls work together to make the aircraft fly smoothly. The foot controls assist innavigating the helicopter in different ways, and alter the tone of the propellers. The frame of the aircraft easily shadows the direction of the rotors.

Key parts of a Helicopter

A helicopter comprises many mechanisms with the fuselage as the key component. It encloses the engines, gearbox, a transmission, which provide power to the main propeller and tail rotor. Some helicopters have a single or two main rotors. Most helicopters have a gas turbine or turboshaft engine that resembles the jet engines of modern airplanes, while a few of the small helicopters have piston engines similar to those in trucks.

Turbine engines produce less vibrations making their operation smoother with a higher reliability, few mechanical complexities, and extremely powerful. For the small helicopters, designers fix the engine horizontally behind and beneath the rotor. Spinning of the blades provides lift to the aircraft. The blade assembly rotates with the help of the rotor mast connected to the engine. To decrease aerodynamic drag, the rotor hub cap handles that.