To: Dave Jackson
"On Bell single rotor helicopters the swash plate tips down over the nose in line with the longitudinal axis and the pitch horn leads the blade by 90-degrees. On other Bell single rotor helicopters the swashplate tips down towards the tail and the pitch horn trails the blade by 90-degrees."
Lu; correct me if I'm wrong, but would it not be correct to say that the swashplate tips down over the nose in both the above examples.
First of all thanks for the info on rotorheads the pictures are fantastic but it only shows the head and not the swashplate.
Regarding the tipping of the swashplates on different Bell helicopters, it has been a long time since I was around them but I believe the AH-1 series works the way I described in that the swashplate tips down towards the tail. These helicopters are weapons platforms and as such have controllable horizontal stabilizers to keep the nose from tucking. I don’t know for sure but I believe the kinematics of the controls for the tail plane dictated that the swash plate tip down towards the tail as the controls for the stabilizer are linked to the swashplate.
Dave, go to the rotorheads website and click on the rotorhead for the Super Cobra. The pitch horn is on the rear of the blade.
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The Cat