ASAP Aviation Stock Blog

Across the various helicopter models and categories used across the world, the two main types of landing gear that are most widely present are wheels and skids. Helicopter wheel landing gear typically consists of three or more wheels attached to the bottom of the helicopter, and the number depends on the intended operation and helicopter type. Helicopter skids, on the other hand, are long, fixed components that provide for similar landing abilities as wheels do. While each provides for their own advantages and disadvantages, there is no particular “better” choice. Wheels and skids both may benefit particular applications better than one another, and choosing between the two should depend on various factors of the helicopter in question. In this blog, we will discuss the differences between the two landing gear types, and the applications and helicopters that each serve best.

The Bernoulli principle defines how air velocity and air pressure are related to each other and how both work can work together to give something lift. An object must have "lift" to fly, a force which pushes it upwards. Because of a relation called the Bernoulli Principle, wings produce lift. In this case, the "wings" of a helicopter are the rotor blades. They rotate at high speed and therefore have apparent velocity relative to the air, just as plane wings do when moving forward. As the air moves over the blade it generates lift by deflecting the air and by the low pressure on top of the wing.

There are many different helicopter rotor system designs in use on modern helicopters. The three most widely-known designs are fully articulated, semi-rigid, and rigid. Newer, more advanced systems featuring mostly composite materials are also now in use and are known as hingeless systems. This blog will look at each rotor system and provide an explanation of their unique features and functions.

Helicopters have come a long way since their creation in Germany during WWII. We have seen the emergence and evolution of helicopters for attack, transport, observation, utility, and beyond. Despite the multiple applications that helicopters can serve, they often use the same types of landing gear. The most common landing gear for helicopters includes wheels, skids, and floats. In this blog, we will discuss the three main types of landing gear and what their differences are.

In aviation, the yaw axis is the direction the nose of the aircraft points in the left/right axis on a flat, horizontal plane. For conventional fixed-wing aircraft, yaw control is accomplished by a vertical stabilizer or rudder built into the tail of the aircraft, which steers the aircraft left or right much like a rudder steers a boat in the water. But helicopters don’t have rudders, so how do they achieve yaw control?