A fair while ago I noticed an
archived thread of a Newsgroup that caught my attention (the tread, in fact the whole archive, is well worth a read-through).
Within the thread was a statement by Dave Lednicer as follows:
Getting good, linear pedal response involves trade-offs. The S-67 fan used high twist to get good disk loading and low power consumption. This was found to produce a non-linear pedal response, due to the fan going through a largish region of collective where the thrust was near zero. The answer that Aerospatiale found on the SA342, after having a similar problem on the SA341, was to use low, non-optimal blade twist.
They bragged about this in an AHS paper and I included it in the design guidelines. This led to low twist being used on the H-76 and Comanche, giving you the nice, linear pedal response you have.
To this I have a few questions for you pilots out there, the questions relate to all controls; pedals, collective and cyclic:
Is linearity in the controls a notable issue, such that you would think about it?
Is it something you personally reflect on when you think “-do I like this ship or not?”
Would you say any A/C is so marked that you would like to have it ‘fixed’?
For those of you who on a day to day basis fly different ships, e.g. AS350 and EC130, would it be easier if they behaved more alike?
Thanks a lot in advance for your answers!
