PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Where the nose pitch go UP or DOWN when helicopter engines failure
Old 4th Feb 2014, 04:07
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army_av8r
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Kansas
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The answer depends on what the question is really asking... are we assuming that the Professional pilot has responded to the loss of engine power and adjusted the controls correctly, or are we looking at this from the stand point of doing nothing after power loss. if the pilot responds correctly, the cyclic will be repositioned AFT, while simultaneously lowering the collective pitch. this may result in a small climb while conserving rotor RPM and decreasing airspeed. as the desired airspeed is reached, the helicopter is returned to a level attitude, and flown to a suitable landing area. using this philosophy, the aircraft is never allowed to "do its own thing" because the pilot is actively flying the aircraft. if the pilot was unaware as to the situation, or purposely let the aircraft respond on it own, you would see very different results. after the engine fails, rotor rpm will immediately begin to drop, the aircraft will enter a decent, and it may pitch up or down slightly depending on the airspeed at the time of failure. as it looses rotor RPM, it should have a tendency to roll towards the retreating blade as that blade begins to show signs of blade stall. the amount of pitch up or down will be type dependent. the rotor disk will naturally want to pitch up, but the fuselage will want to pitch down depending on the size of the horizontal stabilizer. this whole process will assume the pilot completely ignores the loss of power and resultant rotor droop. obviously, this should not occur and the first scenario will be the one to take place!
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