Helicopter History

[SASless]

First Helicopter to land on Pike's Peak....14,400 msl.

First FAA IFR certified Helicopter.

Holds Altitude Record for Piston powered helicopters.

Bell....Sikorsky...Aerospatiale...Hiller....Piasecki???

Cessna!


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/Cessna_YH-41_Prototype.jpg/800px-

[birrddog]

And who says all Robinson helicopters are bad? ;)

[SASless]

The aircraft also had a system that automatically lowered the collective should the engine fail.....maybe Robinson should copy that!

The Rotor head sounds interesting as well.

The rotor blades are attached to the hub by light-weight stainless steel L-shaped angles, which carry the blades' centrifugal load: the short leg takes up the loads due to blade weight, the long leg the bending load caused by drag. As in the Seibel helicopter, this assembly not only provides angle movement for changing blade pitch but also eliminates trunnions, thrust bearings, hinges, etc.

[Phil77]

http://www.cessnawarbirds.com/blog/images/yh41.jpg

In profile view it looks exactly like a Cessna 152 fuselage without the wings and prop:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Cessna152C-GZSS02.jpg

[SASless]

Everything you ever wanted to know about Cessna helicopters and more!

Very interesting reading....found out Bell does not hold the patent for the Tilt Rotor.....the designer of the Cessna Helicopter does!

Collect Air (http://www.collectair.com/cessna.html)

[Tickle]

Thanks, SAS, quite an interesting read.

Did you see this "Grasshopper" design / photo from the article? The rotor shaft sticks out of the nose that's in front of you!

http://www.collectair.com/images/grasshopper.jpg

[Runway101]

Very interesting reading....found out Bell does not hold the patent for the Tilt Rotor.....the designer of the Cessna Helicopter does!
Wouldn't that be expired by today? The article says it was patented in 1944...

[SASless]

Also saw another article that reported Bell paid someone for the use of the patent......not Seibel who designed the Cessna Helicopter.

Also...I think there were patents granted in Europe for some tilt rotor designs.

[Vee-r]

Very innovative. I love that the main transmission is between the two front seats. Imagine the weight savings of not having a cabin heater :}