PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Is there a difference between Helicopter and Airplane SAS?
Old 15th September 2017 | 22:36
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Ascend Charlie
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A basic plane will fly without any SAS and also without a pilot, because it is dynamically stable in all axes.

A helicopter will NOT fly without a pilot because it is dynamically unstable in pitch and roll. The pilot has to fly it all the time, so if any SAS is fitted it would be working like a cut snake all the time. And for a chopper, they are expensive, which means you usually won't see one in anything that isn't IFR or the size of an AW109 or better.

"An airplane will fly, but a helicopter must be flown."
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