Collective range of movement
 

Hi! I’m developing a collective control for simulators.

I’m not a helicopter pilot, and I’ve forgotten the feeling of the collective since my flights many years ago. My question is what is the typical range, in degrees, of a collective?

I assume most movement during flight is made within a small angle, and the extremes are rarely used. Can someone give me a rough range of movement please?

Thanks!

The Gazelle used to top out at 16 degrees but only 14.5 was used for powered flight - a standard cruise was 13.5 degrees.

ISTR the Puma had a pitch gauge that stopped at 15 degrees.

Many aircraft will have preset min pitch settings above zero.

To my knowledge only the Lynx had sub-minimum pitch capability for deck landings.

@crab: you seem to be referring to the pitch angle of the blades. I guess, that Andrew wants to know the movement range of the collective lever itself.
This would typically be 0 (except for maybe the Lynx with a slight negative) to about 45°, if i remember correctly from my last flight in an R44.

Thracian

Correct, Thracian, I wanted the lever angles. Thanks a lot. I’m surprised it’s that big a range.

From on the floor to under the armpit.

The collective control should mimic exactly the helicopter type the simulator is predicated on. What the range of movement is for any other helicopter type is totally irrelevant.

It’s just for a home PC simulator, so full-on accuracy isn’t needed. Thanks for the answers!

Thracian - no I'm referring to the collective pitch angles marked on the quadrant on the Gazelle and the collective pitch gauge on the Puma.

Indeed. I never saw a collective come up so far, so quickly, as when I pulled has hard and quickly as I could to avoid hitting the ground some years ago...to be followed by lowering the lever when the low RPM horn went off.

This is typically mimed with software "curves".
If it is to mime a helicopter with several more degrees of pull than the offered collective, then the software simply mimics "degrees pulled + X".

If the OP gets a collective with a similar angle of pull as most helis out there then it will be close enough.

I wouldn't get too concerned about the angles, as you can have the perfect angles but if the length is too long, the pilot won't be able to move it comfortably through the range.

Put a broomstick next to your chair with you seated and see how your elbow bends as you raise and lower it, depending on the length. Obviously the longer the collective is, the easier small movements are but there are tradeoffs.

Good luck!

:confused: Eh? I've not flown a Puma since 1994 and so I might be wrong, but I think the collective pitch gauges in the ones I flew in the RAF for three and a half tours indicated up to 18.5 degrees. I'm fairly sure the CP limit for take-off was 15.5 degrees, then backed off to 14.25 for the climb.

The collective pitch indicator on the Scout or Wasp goes up to 15 degrees on my gauge but in the cruise today at 100kts I was only pulling 7. I would expect the normal range in civilian mode to be up to 10 degrees for checking power limitations