I remember the first day of helicopter school and the instructor started off by saying: “The helicopter is a complicated contraption that creates a helluva lot of noise and vibration and God only knows how it flies” What an introduction!
What I find most fascinating is that if you push the cyclic forward, not only does the blade angle change at the front but the rear blade changes opposite! This means that the rotor blades are constantly changing their pitch every single revolution, basically flapping up and down furiously. This is unlike any other lift mechanic whereby pitch is changed and held in a static position. The sheer stress and force that must be applied to keep this system from destroying itself is amazing.
Actually, when you push the cyclic forward (or aft) the cyclic pitch changes happen at the sides. Due to gyroscopic affects, the phasing of the cyclic is 90 degrees from that you would expect.
So, use light, long, high aspect ratio blades m so that the oscillation does need less force. I have seen blades which are just tubes close to the head to minimise weight where lift is low anyway. So this force is pushing on the swash plate. It increases with cyclic and de-stabilises. Better have electronic control! I still want a large rotor had with the bearings 1 m out to minimise weight even further. Do you know this 3 blade rotor with the spring to keep the oscillation within the head? Not so great for electric where you might want to adapt RPM to load.
The 90 degree reaction of the rotor blades to the control input is because of precession! Any rotating object precesses. A gyroscope precession is commonly used for navigation because it’s predictable, and can be relied upon! Works pretty good on helicopters too!😊
There is more than precession. There is Coriolis-effect, there are aeroelastic reaction times of a flexible airfoil (here: rotor), and inertia of rotating mass.
The same thing happens with a rotor made with two cylindrical rods instead of blades. If you have a CCW rotor and "hit" it (while it is in rotation) from below at 9 (270°), will respond at (180°), this is the gyroscopic precession. The helicopter rotor is a huge gyroscope and involves a tale. p.s. I have experienced this thing
So how would a coaxial helicopter feel? The old design which Kamov uses? Rigid head and I want three coaxial shafts! The center is fixed for the control lines ( electric) and then the outer shafts which are connected to planetary gears and axial loaded bearings. So upper rotor has swashplate on top. I think cyclic would be out of phase for them. I may even depend on the velocity of the helicopter. Forward flight needs high angle of attack on the way to the rear.
That thing is an absolute marvel of engineering! Mind-bogglingly brilliant! Imagine the tens of thousands of painstaking man-hours that took to perfect that, back in the day. Inventors in those days were extremely brave souls! Igor Sikorsky was probably extremely quick to realize he needed a tail rotor, too, the first time he left the ground in one of these contraptions! 😂 3 years ago, I had never even seen a closeup of the swashplate before. The only swashplate I was familiar with was the one inside an automotive air conditioning compressor. This vid right here is the most detailed an explanation I've ever seen on this component. Thanks, Mischa! 👍🍻
A radio controlled helicopter would be a great tool to teach this concept. It’s amazing that the actual pitch on each individual rotor blade is changing throughout the 360 degree rotation allowing for a fixed main shaft. Love your channel and your footage. Great editing!!!!
I purchased a Blade 450 RC helicopter for that exact reason, so i could study swash plate and this curious phenomenon of pushing on the side of the spinning rotor to make it tilt forward.
This thing is the automatic transmission of the aviation world. I'm an aircraft mechanic. And even *I* can not wrap my head around exactly how this enchanted hardware works. Truly a marvelous construct of great engineering prowess.
Whilst the presenter is essentially correct about the mechanical and physics of a rotor head operation there is several errors that need correcting. Phase lag is more correctly precession. The Swash plate is a single component comprising a fixed lower part and a freely rotating upper part. There are not two separate swash plates. Furthermore, whilst the most common method in use, swash plates are not the only method used. Alternatives are the spider method which utilises a fixed control rod with an external spider at its upper end and which mounted inside the rotor drive shaft which is hollow.
@@EVISEH Also he mentioned that with cyclic input the pitch of the blade changes 90 degrees later but that's actually incorrect. Pitch changes exactly where the swash plate is directing it but the force this creates is "felt" 90 degrees later.
Very well explained. Thank you for this video. I was particularly surprised by the fact that inputs are not felt until 90° later in the rotation... What a complex and incredible machine the helicopter is.
There is a term for that and people speak it and are proud to know. Do they ? Let me try to make it more understandable: Take a line and fix a stone at the end. Then play cowboy and let the stone rotate over your head like a lasso. Now, I will stand in front of you waiting for the flying stone. Just when it is over my head I push it upwards. So now, when will the stone have its maximum height? Over my head ? No, I pushed it and give only an upward impulse. The stone will rise and will have its maximum height on your left or on your right side, depending on the rotation direction you have chosed.
@@datdang9113 I know nothing also but helicopters are many parts pulling and pushing each other. A lot of stress everywhere. Maintenance is key for sure.
Outstanding explanation of the Swashplate and how all the parts work on a Helicopter. Interesting to learn at age 55 yrs, what the Controls of the Sticks in the Chopper and what they do together to raise and move forward, right, left, and move the Chopper backwards. Now, “Get in the Chopper!”
In my humble opinion, I think that the whole assembly is called a “swashplate “. Not an “upper” and a “lower” swashplate. The upper half of the swashplate rotates with the rotor head and blades, the lower half of the swashplate is held stationary and is connected to the control inputs from the pilot. I am a BIG fan of helicopters! Get it? FAN? LIKE A MACHINE THAT BLOWS AIR? is this thing on? Take my wife, PLEASE!
Thank you for the vid. As an airplane flyer (and builder) I am always frightend of so many moveble parts which not only move but need to move in an exact manner. I know it works. However, my little ultralight seems to be more safe to me. If the engine stops I can glide to the next field (only one time happened since now). When the rotor of a heli crashes . . . . not thinking about that.
A very good explanation of the helicopter swashplate & how it works for those who do not understand helicopter flight. You should also do a video with the anti-torque control pedals in relation to the pitch control changes of the tail rotor & how this affects helicopter flight (anti-torque from the main rotor to keep the helo fuselage straight as an arrow during forward flight & left/right directional turn of the nose/tail of the airfraft of the vertical axis plane)!
It is called gyroscopic precession. Easily demonstrated by pushing down on a rotating gyroscope. The gyroscope does not migrate directly away from the downward push but it goes sideways.
One of the chief engineers at bell helicopter in Hurst texas in the late 70s was a German immigrant named Emmit Koele. His daughter was a schoolmate and friend. He had this workshop with all these radio controlled models that fascinated me but nothing like his big reduced size Rotor assembly That Worked in slow motion. It was built by him and another engineer and he gave me a little demonstration of how the rotor worked. When the realization hit me of just how much engineering had to go into any part of the helicopter mechanism, it kept me up that night. “Why aren’t there more helicopters crashing all over the place?” I couldn’t get my head to accept that there wasn’t REAL MAGIC involved and that helicopters weren’t a form of witchcraft. He told me that the blades were the real magic, They endure a truly monumental amount of stresses and they rarely break! I took a ride on a Vietnam era bell Huey….legs hanging out the door! The entire time, I could feel magic beating the air into submission. I truly believe that helicopters are one of the most phenomenal machines ever created.
This is aweseome! I almost had my head around it but i was a little unsure of how the direction of the copter was changed by adjusting the swash! Makes perfect sence now! I wasnt to build a rc chopper from scratch soon. Already got a bicopter to fly in chinook config but now its time for a real helocopter!
That stuff is really cool, but relatively easy to understand because you can just watch it like demonstrated here. What I found more interesting to learn about is the finer details of aerodynamics, like transverse flow effect and going into the finer details of why the helicopter reacts to ETL like it does. czcams.com/video/gIMx2lNPZuE/video.html
And that‘s the part, the whole heli is hanging from when airborne. As they say: „A helicopter is 10.000 parts rotating around an oil leak and the pilot is trying to keep them flying in close formation!“. Having had the extreme pleasure to have flown an R44 two times for 30 minutes each actually on the controls with a flight instructor riding shotgun but not touching the controls I can tell you, I was soaked both times but the smile up to my earlobes lasted for hours! Flying a helicopter is the most fun you can get with your clothes on! Thank you for this perfect explanation of the most crucial part up close so that we all know how the blades are mechanically programmed for the complex movement!
Yes, and my first flight in a helicopter( New Mexico State Police) was exciting and so adrenaline inducing, I thought it was going to tear itself to pieces and in my mind I related it to the churning blades of a kitchen mixer. I would volunteer to fly in any helicopter I could because I love them so much. Oh, great short video 👍🏽
Great video and demonstration! I still don't know much about helicopters, but after watching this video I now know more than nothing. Thanks and keep up the good work!
Concise and precise, it is almost the same approach for the tail rotor ; the action on the pedals will lead to an adjustment in the tail rotor blades pitch angle, one pitch angle will increase and the second will decrease. My question is what is the difference between the different types of rotor (rigid,semi-rigid and fully articulated)?????
First, imagine, in this case, a rigid 3-bladed rotor head and blade system where all blades are mechanically separated by 120 degrees of angle. When it rotates, all blades are 120 degrees apart from one another. Now, let's talk about a Fully Articulated rotor head. Each blade has a vertical hinge, to allow the blade to "lead" or "lag", i.e., seek a position ahead or behind that 120 degree line due to aerodynamic forces, and a horizontal hinge, to allow the blade to rise or fall, i.e., seek a position up or down from that 120 degree line due to aerodynamic forces. The rotor head that Pilot Yellow is using as a teaching aid appears to be Semi-Rigid, with only a vertical hinge. A rigid rotor has neither of these hinge features.
I just love your videos. Straight to the point and you're very good at explaining things easily to understand, for everyone. Thanks a lot! Cheers from a coming helipilot (hopefully😅)
Just remember that phase lag really refers to whether the Cyclic (and rotor disc) is in sync with the swash plate. The whole 90 degrees later phenomenon is simply gyroscopic precession. A spinning mass will always show a "phase lag" of 90 degrees from the point where a force is applied. However, the swashplate can have any phase lag between it and the cyclic between 0 and 90 degrees, depending on the advance angle of the pitch links. Advance angle is the angular difference between where a pitch-link attaches to the swash plate and the feathering axis of the blade to which it controls. I hope that makes sense, it's pretty hard to describe in writing without diagrams. So, an advance angle of 90 degrees on all of the pitch-links will cause the phase lag between the swash plate and cyclic to be 0 degrees! Which is exactly how two-bladed rotors typically operate (R22, R44, B206 etc). This DOES NOT mean that gyroscopic precession is not occurring. A swashplate that tilts forward with pitch-links that are advanced 90 degrees, will still cause the lowest blade angle to be 90 degrees to the right in a counter-clockwise rotor (left in a clockwise, but we hate clockwise rotors :P). How? Because although the pitch-link is being pulled most down at the forward position, it is attached to a blade (through the pitch horn) that is 90 degrees to the right of it. So that 90-degree-to-the-right position is still the point of lowest blade angle, and through precession will therefore cause the point of lowest flapping to be in-front of us, thereby tilting the rotor disc forward. Jesus that's hard to explain with only writing >:( From the perspective in this video, it seems as if the Cabri has an advance angle of around 45 degrees, which means that the phase-lag between the swash plate and the cyclic (and rotor disc) would also be 45 degrees. But I would need to play around with one in person to be sure.
phase lag = gyroscopic effect 👍. swash plate is amazing! Especially if you imagine that in each rotation of the swashplate (when the cyclic moves) the pitch on the blades actually changes continuously during the swashplate spin ! Absolutely mind blowing ! Wish I could fly with you but flying costs/hour are X2.5 more than in my country. Too expensive ! You should implement special prices for international students (at lower profit for you ) if you would like to accommodate more international students! You might profit less but if you have open slots for students, your end balance would be greater! I don't know if you are fully booked but I am sure it's very expensive to have those machines grounded. I know a lot of friends who would fly to canada for training if the prices were closer to their homeland. Love your videos. Keep them coming 💪
It's not gyroscopic, it's velocity and amplitude of blade flap being out of phase. If it was precesssion it would always be exactly 90 degrees and it's not on some designs like on the R22 which has 72 degrees of phase lag. On most helicopters it's pretty close to 90, but not exactly and the exact amount changes depending on what the helicopter is doing.
Thankyou so much for this brother, it really helped me a lot, the way how you explained and showed how the cyclic control works made it easier for me to understand thank you so much. May GOD bless you brother, keepsafe.
but it squeaks LOL… Yeah it's my favorite mechanical device. I fly a radio -controlled MD 500 with the five bladed rigid rotor head. A lot of people don't realize that the rotor blades are constantly in motion as they spend the accuracy is just amazing. Closest thing I can think of would be a hummingbird. Cool video I just love helicopters. Thank you
Kind of functions like a BMX D brake gyro mechanism sort of. Stationary and rotating plates linked together using bearings so that one can rotate while still being able to change angles. Pretty cool stuff!
Can you maybe do a video explaining Phase Lag and how it is a separate phenomenon from Gyroscopic Precession since there seems to be a massive misunderstanding that gyroscopic precession is the main reason helicopter blades act out of phase?
FYI, at 4:11 for forward cyclic plate action, the maximum blade angle does happen perpendicular (pilot's left side) not 90 deg later (blade is in front of pilot) but you're right that the *reaction* happens 90deg away from where force is applied because of gyroscopic precession. That's a WHOLE other can of worms, and I recommend checking out youtube videos on that. Great video though. Thanks.
The swashplate is like the mechanical version of a slip-ring, which is a rotating electrical connection on a shaft using concentric rings to isolate each connection. The current goes through a stationary ring(s) which are connected via copper leaf springs to a rotating wire. Think carousel.
This is why I chuckle every time I see a video on CZcams where someone in some third world outback is trying to make a homemade helicopter out of junk parts. That swash plate and the bearings and control rods are critical to both flight and control. Lots of engineering and design goes into making sure they not only operate correctly but do not fail due to metal fatigue. Not something the average “hack” can do!
the lower one is fixed to the transmission or mean gear box, not to the mast I guess it is mistakenly spoken. however this is an amazing explanation about both of them.
It doesn't always but it's close to 90 degrees for most helicopters. Some like the R22 have lower phase lag (72 degrees on the R22). It's commonly explained on informative TV as gyroscopic precession but the actual explanation is much more complex than that and has to do with resonance and blade flap velocity and amplitude being out of phase.
Thanks for this interesting technical explanations about the cycling on the helicopters. You are a súper professional on helicopters flying and operating this important system. I fully appreciate that you take your time on upload the video. Thanks.
THOUSAND A'S FOR THE DAY GUY - 9 TIMES OUT OF TEN I'D BET IF SOMEONE ELSE TRIED TO EXPLAIN THIS STUFF I'D BE LOST BEFORE THE END OF THE FIRST SENTENCE. SEMPER FI !
Wow was that informative. I keep thinking that there is a lot of friction translating the non rotating swash plate to the rotating one.. How many hours of flight time before these bearings are replaced? The 90 degree delay is interesting. Must correspond to the inertia in the blade above to rotate it a bit in the blade socket. The most brilliant explanation and demo I have EVER SEEN on how the collective and cyclic work to actually control the helicopter flight control surfaces. THANK YOU!
If I remember correctly the 90 degree reaction is caused by angular momentum torque...but you may want to double check that since its been a long time since I was in flight school. 😁
Each aircraft manufacturer publishes recommended inspection and replacement information in their owner's manuals. They are not the same for every helicopter.
@@drewbello8721 It's not it's caused by amplitude and velocity of blade flap (the up/down movement of the blade that happens when lift increases or decreases due to cyclic pitch changing and lift changing on the advancing and retreating blades during flight) being out phase with each other. If it was just precession it would always be exactly 90 degrees and it's actually less than that on some designs like 72 degrees on the Robinson R22.
I remember the first day of helicopter school and the instructor started off by saying: “The helicopter is a complicated contraption that creates a helluva lot of noise and vibration and God only knows how it flies” What an introduction!
What I find most fascinating is that if you push the cyclic forward, not only does the blade angle change at the front but the rear blade changes opposite! This means that the rotor blades are constantly changing their pitch every single revolution, basically flapping up and down furiously. This is unlike any other lift mechanic whereby pitch is changed and held in a static position. The sheer stress and force that must be applied to keep this system from destroying itself is amazing.
Actually, when you push the cyclic forward (or aft) the cyclic pitch changes happen at the sides. Due to gyroscopic affects, the phasing of the cyclic is 90 degrees from that you would expect.
So, use light, long, high aspect ratio blades m so that the oscillation does need less force. I have seen blades which are just tubes close to the head to minimise weight where lift is low anyway. So this force is pushing on the swash plate. It increases with cyclic and de-stabilises. Better have electronic control!
I still want a large rotor had with the bearings 1 m out to minimise weight even further. Do you know this 3 blade rotor with the spring to keep the oscillation within the head? Not so great for electric where you might want to adapt RPM to load.
No one talks and shows rotor heads up close. Great video!
Very true,
با سلام چرادوبله به زبانهای دیگر پخش نمیکنیداینهمه سخن های ناب ولی ما متوجه نمی شویم لطفا فکری به این وضعیت بکنید ممنون.
@@jamalruhani6109 correct
thats so fkn true
been lookin for dis for like 2 days haha
The 90 degree reaction of the rotor blades to the control input is because of precession! Any rotating object precesses. A gyroscope precession is commonly used for navigation because it’s predictable, and can be relied upon! Works pretty good on helicopters too!😊
There is more than precession. There is Coriolis-effect, there are aeroelastic reaction times of a flexible airfoil (here: rotor), and inertia of rotating mass.
@@jzk3919 which is predictable!
The same thing happens with a rotor made with two cylindrical rods instead of blades. If you have a CCW rotor and "hit" it (while it is in rotation) from below at 9 (270°), will respond at (180°), this is the gyroscopic precession. The helicopter rotor is a huge gyroscope and involves a tale.
p.s. I have experienced this thing
@@jzk3919 That´s right. Precession is a different phenomenon. It is based actually on the coriolis effect.
So how would a coaxial helicopter feel? The old design which Kamov uses? Rigid head and I want three coaxial shafts! The center is fixed for the control lines ( electric) and then the outer shafts which are connected to planetary gears and axial loaded bearings. So upper rotor has swashplate on top.
I think cyclic would be out of phase for them. I may even depend on the velocity of the helicopter. Forward flight needs high angle of attack on the way to the rear.
That thing is an absolute marvel of engineering! Mind-bogglingly brilliant! Imagine the tens of thousands of painstaking man-hours that took to perfect that, back in the day. Inventors in those days were extremely brave souls! Igor Sikorsky was probably extremely quick to realize he needed a tail rotor, too, the first time he left the ground in one of these contraptions! 😂
3 years ago, I had never even seen a closeup of the swashplate before. The only swashplate I was familiar with was the one inside an automotive air conditioning compressor. This vid right here is the most detailed an explanation I've ever seen on this component. Thanks, Mischa! 👍🍻
I knew I heard that team before. Thanks.
A radio controlled helicopter would be a great tool to teach this concept. It’s amazing that the actual pitch on each individual rotor blade is changing throughout the 360 degree rotation allowing for a fixed main shaft. Love your channel and your footage. Great editing!!!!
I purchased a Blade 450 RC helicopter for that exact reason, so i could study swash plate and this curious phenomenon of pushing on the side of the spinning rotor to make it tilt forward.
This thing is the automatic transmission of the aviation world.
I'm an aircraft mechanic.
And even *I* can not wrap my head around exactly how this enchanted hardware works.
Truly a marvelous construct of great engineering prowess.
And here I was trying to understand it in 5 minutes 🤣
Helicopter mechanic here.
It all plays into Bernoulle's principle and angle of attack influencing lift. I agree that it is an engineering marvel.
Когда думаеш что знаеш как оно работает.
there is literally no one else on the internet mentioning phase lag. great video
Whilst the presenter is essentially correct about the mechanical and physics of a rotor head operation there is several errors that need correcting. Phase lag is more correctly precession. The Swash plate is a single component comprising a fixed lower part and a freely rotating upper part. There are not two separate swash plates.
Furthermore, whilst the most common method in use, swash plates are not the only method used. Alternatives are the spider method which utilises a fixed control rod with an external spider at its upper end and which mounted inside the rotor drive shaft which is hollow.
@@EVISEH Also he mentioned that with cyclic input the pitch of the blade changes 90 degrees later but that's actually incorrect. Pitch changes exactly where the swash plate is directing it but the force this creates is "felt" 90 degrees later.
Very well explained.
Thank you for this video. I was particularly surprised by the fact that inputs are not felt until 90° later in the rotation... What a complex and incredible machine the helicopter is.
The "Phase Lag" was shown very well.
Gyroscopic precession
There is a term for that and people speak it and are proud to know. Do they ? Let me try to make it more understandable: Take a line and fix a stone at the end. Then play cowboy and let the stone rotate over your head like a lasso. Now, I will stand in front of you waiting for the flying stone. Just when it is over my head I push it upwards. So now, when will the stone have its maximum height? Over my head ? No, I pushed it and give only an upward impulse. The stone will rise and will have its maximum height on your left or on your right side, depending on the rotation direction you have chosed.
I know nothing about helicopters. I don't even know why I'm here but I found this facinating.
I'm glad you did, helicopters are amazing
@@datdang9113 I know nothing also but helicopters are many parts pulling and pushing each other.
A lot of stress everywhere. Maintenance is key for sure.
Love Yur Handle
I've been intrigued for years. Now I'm learning how. Brilliant young man.
Great video! Seeing the cuts to the cockpit with the cyclic and collective movements is an excellent visual aid
Outstanding explanation of the Swashplate and how all the parts work on a Helicopter.
Interesting to learn at age 55 yrs, what the Controls of the Sticks in the Chopper and what they do together to raise and move forward, right, left, and move the Chopper backwards.
Now, “Get in the Chopper!”
In my humble opinion, I think that the whole assembly is called a “swashplate “. Not an “upper” and a “lower” swashplate. The upper half of the swashplate rotates with the rotor head and blades, the lower half of the swashplate is held stationary and is connected to the control inputs from the pilot. I am a BIG fan of helicopters! Get it? FAN? LIKE A MACHINE THAT BLOWS AIR? is this thing on? Take my wife, PLEASE!
You should be on a stage. There's one leaving in 5 minutes. ba dum dum!
Aircraft mechanic here.
You are correct.
There is no "upper or lower" plates.
There is, if you so desire, an "upper section" and "lower section."
So this will go over great at the next helicopter meetup...god luck!
Thank you for the vid. As an airplane flyer (and builder) I am always frightend of so many moveble parts which not only move but need to move in an exact manner. I know it works. However, my little ultralight seems to be more safe to me. If the engine stops I can glide to the next field (only one time happened since now). When the rotor of a heli crashes . . . . not thinking about that.
A very good explanation of the helicopter swashplate & how it works for those who do not understand helicopter flight. You should also do a video with the anti-torque control pedals in relation to the pitch control changes of the tail rotor & how this affects helicopter flight (anti-torque from the main rotor to keep the helo fuselage straight as an arrow during forward flight & left/right directional turn of the nose/tail of the airfraft of the vertical axis plane)!
in my opinion, in terms of engineering this device is one of the most interesting.
I am a heli watcher and enthusiast and an rc heli pilot and this is The Best Explanation I have ever seen on the functions of the swashplate !!
Good explanation for a complex flight control system.
This is the best close up view of swashplate i have seen...great video and nicely explained
It is called gyroscopic precession. Easily demonstrated by pushing down on a rotating gyroscope. The gyroscope does not migrate directly away from the downward push but it goes sideways.
The best way to really understand this is to build an authentic replica scale RC helicopter model.
Thats exactly what I did! Bought a two foot 500D model at Toys R US and then taped small flash cards to each component
VERY COOL! THANK YOU! For including actual mechanical demonstrations with the phrasing.
An excellent video on how the rotor controls work. Excellent!
Helicopter swashplates are one of the greatest mechanical inventions ever
One of the chief engineers at bell helicopter in Hurst texas in the late 70s was a German immigrant named Emmit Koele. His daughter was a schoolmate and friend. He had this workshop with all these radio controlled models that fascinated me but nothing like his big reduced size Rotor assembly That Worked in slow motion. It was built by him and another engineer and he gave me a little demonstration of how the rotor worked. When the realization hit me of just how much engineering had to go into any part of the helicopter mechanism, it kept me up that night. “Why aren’t there more helicopters crashing all over the place?”
I couldn’t get my head to accept that there wasn’t REAL MAGIC involved and that helicopters weren’t a form of witchcraft. He told me that the blades were the real magic, They endure a truly monumental amount of stresses and they rarely break! I took a ride on a Vietnam era bell Huey….legs hanging out the door! The entire time, I could feel magic beating the air into submission.
I truly believe that helicopters are one of the most phenomenal machines ever created.
A helicopter swash plate always reminded me of mechanical contraptions used in carnival rides.
Simple, easy to follow, practical.
Added to favourites.
A great practical explanation of a main rotor. Cheers dude.
I'm learning on a Cabri in London but if I were in BC I'd want to learn from these guys...Awesome teaching. Thanks!
Helicopters must have been invented by aliens. There’s no way a human thought of that. It’s amazing.
Lol even more complicated is a bell-hiller mixing setup for the swashplate. It'll blow your mind.
Excellent explanation of the swashplate operations! Thanks!
Killer Video Mischa! By far one of the most fascinating components of a Helicopter. Especially on the Cabri. Thanks!
This is aweseome! I almost had my head around it but i was a little unsure of how the direction of the copter was changed by adjusting the swash! Makes perfect sence now! I wasnt to build a rc chopper from scratch soon. Already got a bicopter to fly in chinook config but now its time for a real helocopter!
Amazing video, millions of thanks for such a basic but most important information in a short clip, please keep it up and all the best.
Swashplates and gyroscopic precession are my most favorite topics to talk about 😂😂 thanks for the video keep it coming 👍👍😁
I am with you there, JJT
That stuff is really cool, but relatively easy to understand because you can just watch it like demonstrated here.
What I found more interesting to learn about is the finer details of aerodynamics, like transverse flow effect and going into the finer details of why the helicopter reacts to ETL like it does.
czcams.com/video/gIMx2lNPZuE/video.html
JJT marais and angular momentum and centrifugal and centripetal forces ? Me too 🤓
Im with you their but we are not much fun at partys.
@@johnbrookes2196 You're going to the wrong parties ;)
And that‘s the part, the whole heli is hanging from when airborne. As they say: „A helicopter is 10.000 parts rotating around an oil leak and the pilot is trying to keep them flying in close formation!“. Having had the extreme pleasure to have flown an R44 two times for 30 minutes each actually on the controls with a flight instructor riding shotgun but not touching the controls I can tell you, I was soaked both times but the smile up to my earlobes lasted for hours! Flying a helicopter is the most fun you can get with your clothes on!
Thank you for this perfect explanation of the most crucial part up close so that we all know how the blades are mechanically programmed for the complex movement!
I've waited for years for such a clear explanation.
I didn't know about the 90 degree "thing". Learn something new every day. Cool
Nice job! Wish I had these videos 22 years ago
Thank you.you are an excellent teacher👍👍👍👍👍👍
The absolute coolest thing about the helicopter is the swashplate. I just found out about it and it's fn genius.
Thank you, you’re teaching of how a helicopter work is fantastic. I really appreciate someone like you doing this.
Nice vivid explanation
Yes, and my first flight in a helicopter( New Mexico State Police) was exciting and so adrenaline inducing, I thought it was going to tear itself to pieces and in my mind I related it to the churning blades of a kitchen mixer. I would volunteer to fly in any helicopter I could because I love them so much. Oh, great short video 👍🏽
Outstanding video! Easy to grasp the swash plate concept.
Excellent explanation.
Awesome explanation of the swashplate! Love the sound of that Fenestron tail rotor coming in at the end too.
Thanks … love the demonstration!
awesome video I watched after watching an animated one. Yours was better than the other one for the visuals. Great job.
Great video and demonstration!
I still don't know much about helicopters, but after watching this video I now know more than nothing.
Thanks and keep up the good work!
Phase lag refers more to blades moving ahead or behind the zero position during rotation.
Absolutely great video. Loved it.
Concise and precise, it is almost the same approach for the tail rotor ; the action on the pedals will lead to an adjustment in the tail rotor blades pitch angle, one pitch angle will increase and the second will decrease. My question is what is the difference between the different types of rotor (rigid,semi-rigid and fully articulated)?????
First, imagine, in this case, a rigid 3-bladed rotor head and blade system where all blades are mechanically separated by 120 degrees of angle. When it rotates, all blades are 120 degrees apart from one another. Now, let's talk about a Fully Articulated rotor head. Each blade has a vertical hinge, to allow the blade to "lead" or "lag", i.e., seek a position ahead or behind that 120 degree line due to aerodynamic forces, and a horizontal hinge, to allow the blade to rise or fall, i.e., seek a position up or down from that 120 degree line due to aerodynamic forces. The rotor head that Pilot Yellow is using as a teaching aid appears to be Semi-Rigid, with only a vertical hinge. A rigid rotor has neither of these hinge features.
A tiny bit of correction: Only two-bladed rotors can be semi-rigid. This is a fully articulated rotor system.
Wikipedia explains it well enough
I just love your videos. Straight to the point and you're very good at explaining things easily to understand, for everyone. Thanks a lot! Cheers from a coming helipilot (hopefully😅)
Yes! #1....what a great instructor!
Just remember that phase lag really refers to whether the Cyclic (and rotor disc) is in sync with the swash plate. The whole 90 degrees later phenomenon is simply gyroscopic precession. A spinning mass will always show a "phase lag" of 90 degrees from the point where a force is applied. However, the swashplate can have any phase lag between it and the cyclic between 0 and 90 degrees, depending on the advance angle of the pitch links.
Advance angle is the angular difference between where a pitch-link attaches to the swash plate and the feathering axis of the blade to which it controls. I hope that makes sense, it's pretty hard to describe in writing without diagrams.
So, an advance angle of 90 degrees on all of the pitch-links will cause the phase lag between the swash plate and cyclic to be 0 degrees! Which is exactly how two-bladed rotors typically operate (R22, R44, B206 etc). This DOES NOT mean that gyroscopic precession is not occurring. A swashplate that tilts forward with pitch-links that are advanced 90 degrees, will still cause the lowest blade angle to be 90 degrees to the right in a counter-clockwise rotor (left in a clockwise, but we hate clockwise rotors :P). How? Because although the pitch-link is being pulled most down at the forward position, it is attached to a blade (through the pitch horn) that is 90 degrees to the right of it. So that 90-degree-to-the-right position is still the point of lowest blade angle, and through precession will therefore cause the point of lowest flapping to be in-front of us, thereby tilting the rotor disc forward.
Jesus that's hard to explain with only writing >:(
From the perspective in this video, it seems as if the Cabri has an advance angle of around 45 degrees, which means that the phase-lag between the swash plate and the cyclic (and rotor disc) would also be 45 degrees. But I would need to play around with one in person to be sure.
phase lag = gyroscopic effect 👍. swash plate is amazing! Especially if you imagine that in each rotation of the swashplate (when the cyclic moves) the pitch on the blades actually changes continuously during the swashplate spin ! Absolutely mind blowing ! Wish I could fly with you but flying costs/hour are X2.5 more than in my country. Too expensive ! You should implement special prices for international students (at lower profit for you ) if you would like to accommodate more international students! You might profit less but if you have open slots for students, your end balance would be greater! I don't know if you are fully booked but I am sure it's very expensive to have those machines grounded. I know a lot of friends who would fly to canada for training if the prices were closer to their homeland. Love your videos. Keep them coming 💪
It's not gyroscopic, it's velocity and amplitude of blade flap being out of phase. If it was precesssion it would always be exactly 90 degrees and it's not on some designs like on the R22 which has 72 degrees of phase lag. On most helicopters it's pretty close to 90, but not exactly and the exact amount changes depending on what the helicopter is doing.
Phase lag = Gyroscopic ? Do you even know what "gyroscopic" effect is? Well the phase lag has nothing to do with any gyroscopic effects...
Excellent explanation
Thankyou so much for this brother, it really helped me a lot, the way how you explained and showed how the cyclic control works made it easier for me to understand thank you so much. May GOD bless you brother, keepsafe.
but it squeaks LOL… Yeah it's my favorite mechanical device. I fly a radio -controlled MD 500 with the five bladed rigid rotor head. A lot of people don't realize that the rotor blades are constantly in motion as they spend the accuracy is just amazing. Closest thing I can think of would be a hummingbird. Cool video I just love helicopters. Thank you
I've been searching for videos like this for months now! Loving all these video's. Thanks for sharing!
Awesome video Mischa. Very informative!👍
Kind of functions like a BMX D brake gyro mechanism sort of. Stationary and rotating plates linked together using bearings so that one can rotate while still being able to change angles. Pretty cool stuff!
I can watch helicopters all day!
Excellent video. Always wondered how non rotating stick input could alter the pitch of rotating posts
We were always taught the mixing unit is where the real magic happens
Awesome, I didn't even know those plates where there. Had no idea what the cyclic did on the blades. This was very informational
That Is The Most Awesome Part Of The Helicopter*******
Great explanation
Very clear and concise, outstanding!
Can you maybe do a video explaining Phase Lag and how it is a separate phenomenon from Gyroscopic Precession since there seems to be a massive misunderstanding that gyroscopic precession is the main reason helicopter blades act out of phase?
great vid man, so crazy engineering found in helis.
FYI, at 4:11 for forward cyclic plate action, the maximum blade angle does happen perpendicular (pilot's left side) not 90 deg later (blade is in front of pilot) but you're right that the *reaction* happens 90deg away from where force is applied because of gyroscopic precession. That's a WHOLE other can of worms, and I recommend checking out youtube videos on that. Great video though. Thanks.
Very nice.. good information. Thanks!
The swashplate is like the mechanical version of a slip-ring, which is a rotating electrical connection on a shaft using concentric rings to isolate each connection. The current goes through a stationary ring(s) which are connected via copper leaf springs to a rotating wire. Think carousel.
if you had a swashplate on a ceiling fan you could direct air to specific corners of the room
This is why I chuckle every time I see a video on CZcams where someone in some third world outback is trying to make a homemade helicopter out of junk parts. That swash plate and the bearings and control rods are critical to both flight and control. Lots of engineering and design goes into making sure they not only operate correctly but do not fail due to metal fatigue. Not something the average “hack” can do!
the lower one is fixed to the transmission or mean gear box, not to the mast I guess it is mistakenly spoken. however this is an amazing explanation about both of them.
Amazing training. Wish you were reachable so I can learn one on one. Thumbs up pilot
Good explanation 👍
Didn't know that the reaction occurs 90° later. Thanks it helped me!
It doesn't always but it's close to 90 degrees for most helicopters. Some like the R22 have lower phase lag (72 degrees on the R22). It's commonly explained on informative TV as gyroscopic precession but the actual explanation is much more complex than that and has to do with resonance and blade flap velocity and amplitude being out of phase.
That's why I love the AS350 main rotor. Just simple.
Super short and super Brilliant! One of the best explanations I have seen. Thanks as always.
Awesome video
Thanks for this interesting technical explanations about the cycling on the helicopters. You are a súper professional on helicopters flying and operating this important system. I fully appreciate that you take your time on upload the video. Thanks.
"These are called control rods..."
Legassov has entered the chat
Blyatlov has entered the toilet.
I find it very funny how much that thing creaks as it moves.
Full book explained in a couple of sentences great vid
Awesome and simple explanation. Thanks!!
you have good recture. love it.
Great...i like it.. simple to understand.. thanks from indonesia...
So good suggestion and very nice explain about that helicopter wing.
Thanks this video is very helpful for me.love you bro keep it up
Thank you for that. I love to know how stuff really works. Good job..!!!
Nice, Good vid. very informative
THOUSAND A'S FOR THE DAY GUY - 9 TIMES OUT OF TEN I'D BET IF SOMEONE ELSE TRIED TO EXPLAIN THIS STUFF I'D BE LOST BEFORE THE END OF THE FIRST SENTENCE. SEMPER FI !
It's funny to watch a pilot try to show you around a rotor head.
That was great. Very simple explanation of something very complex, Thanks 😀
Wow was that informative. I keep thinking that there is a lot of friction translating the non rotating swash plate to the rotating one.. How many hours of flight time before these bearings are replaced? The 90 degree delay is interesting. Must correspond to the inertia in the blade above to rotate it a bit in the blade socket. The most brilliant explanation and demo I have EVER SEEN on how the collective and cyclic work to actually control the helicopter flight control surfaces. THANK YOU!
If I remember correctly the 90 degree reaction is caused by angular momentum torque...but you may want to double check that since its been a long time since I was in flight school. 😁
Each aircraft manufacturer publishes recommended inspection and replacement information in their owner's manuals. They are not the same for every helicopter.
@@drewbello8721 It's not it's caused by amplitude and velocity of blade flap (the up/down movement of the blade that happens when lift increases or decreases due to cyclic pitch changing and lift changing on the advancing and retreating blades during flight) being out phase with each other. If it was just precession it would always be exactly 90 degrees and it's actually less than that on some designs like 72 degrees on the Robinson R22.
So I learned a little something today from your video. Ain't never gonna need that knowledge, but it's fun to learn random stuff.