Autorotation.

Practical part
An autorotation (theory see 3.1.13) is used to land the helicopter in a variety of situations where normal flight control becomes impossible. Among these may be a malfunction or complete failure of the engine, tail rotor system, tail rotor drive system, or other problems requiring minimi ing torque from the main rotor. !he "#$1# has e%cellent autorotation characteristics, which helps perform autorotation landings safely. !his is made possible by the low disc loading of the main rotor from 3.&' lbs(ft) (1& *g(m)) for an empty helicopter up to +.,- lbs(ft) (,+.+ *g(m)) for a fully loaded helicopter 1, as well as a heavy main rotor that carries a lot of inertia and potential energy. #ere is how these factors were described by the "#$1 pilot .obert /ason in his boo*, 0hic*enhaw*1 2!he heavy, thudding noise of the main rotors the characteristic wop$wop$wop sound was caused by their huge si e, -3 feet from tip to tip, and a ,1$inch chord (width). 4ith ballast weights at each blade tip, the whirling rotor system had tremendous inertia. !he 56 demonstrated this inertia with a tric* that only a #uey could do. 7n the ground at normal rotor speed (33' rpm) he cut the power, pic*ed the machine up to a four$foot hover, turned completely around, and set it bac* on the ground. 5ncredible8 Any other helicopter would 9ust sit there, not rising an inch, while the rotors slowed down. !hese big metal blades with the weights in the tips would serve me well in :ietnam. !heir strength and inertia allowed them to chop small tree branches with ease . ;ecause of these design features, learning to perform autorotation landing on the #uey is considerably easier than on most other helicopter types. A. Transitioning to autorotation !ypically the need to perform an autorotation arises suddenly while the pilot is focused on flight tas*s not directly related to managing the power system. <or e%ample these might be1 conducting visual scanning, maintaining formation, weapons employment, etc. =%perience has shown that it can ta*e from , to + seconds between a system malfunction and the start of corrective actions by the pilot. A safe autorotation landing begins with a timely recognition of the problem and immediate, appropriate control actions to transition into autorotation. !he greatest .6/ drop occurs in cases of a complete engine failure during level flight with velocity above 3' *nots or climb. A corrective control lag of ,$+ seconds can result in rotor .6/ dropping to ,3'. 5n such cases, immediately perform the following steps1 a) .estore the rotor .6/ by lowering the 0ollective all the way down. 5f speed is above >' *nots, pull the 0yclic bac* to increase rotor .6/ using the energy of the oncoming airflow, but maintain above +' *nots by ad9usting the 0yclic forward as necessary. b) 5f transitioning from a hover at an altitude of -'' ft or greater, accelerate to ?' 3' *nots. At lower altitudes, ma*e an effort to gain airspeed, but consider that accelerating and decelerating the helicopter will require short and accurate ad9ustments of the 0ollective and there is little room for error in control input. c) 4hen reducing airspeed, control heading using the pedals. d) /aintain rotor .6/ between 31' $ 3-' by carefully raising the 0ollective (1(1' 1(,' of movement range) to reduce .6/ and lowering it to increase .6/. @o not e%ceed 3-' .6/.

e) /aintain a glide speed of ?' &' *nots. f) 5f in the transition to autorotation there is insufficient 0yclic pull range to affect the required pitch change necessary to maintain rotor .6/, increase 0ollective by 1(? 1(+ of its movement range. !his will increase pitch authority. 7nce the desired glide speed of ?' &' *nots is reached, the 0ollective can be reduced again in order to maintain main rotor .6/. B. Autorotation descent @escent parameters (airspeed and rotor .6/) for an autorotation landing are planned based on the desired goals of the pilot as determined before initiating autorotation either to maintain a minimum rate of descent or ma%imum glide distance. <igure &.3 displays control positions for balancing the helicopter during autorotation. /5A5/"/ .A!= 7< @=B0=A!. /inimum rate of descent is achieved using a glide speed of ++ ?+ *nots (indicated). !he rate of descent at these airspeeds should be 1-'' 13'' ft(min, while the glide distance should be -.3 3.-% altitude. !his descent can be used when altitude is greater than 1,'' ft, and the pilot will be ma*ing an attempt to restart the engine in the air (so long as this is not forbidden), see 11.1.3. /AC5/"/ DE5@= @5B!AA0=. /a%imum glide distance is achieved using a glide speed of 3' &' *nots (indicated). !he rate of descent at these airspeeds should be 1?'' ,-'' ft(min, while the glide distance should be +.3 3.?% altitude. !his descent can be used when the landing point is at a considerable distance from the current position. !he rate of descent depends primarily on rotor .6/ and to a lesser degree on helicopter weight. .otor .6/, in turn, depend on the position of the 0ollective. 5f the 0ollective is set to minimum (down), rotor .6/ will be 3,' 3-' and the rate of descent will be close to ma%imum. 4ith a slightly raised position of the 0ollective so that rotor .6/ is ,&+ 3,', the rate of descent will be close to minimum. As you can see, the higher rotor .6/ correspond to higher rates of descent. 4ith increased helicopter weight, the rate of descent increases slightly1 the difference in the rates of descent between an empty and fully loaded helicopter is F,'' 3'' ft(min, if all else is equal. C. Autorotation landing ;elow will be described one of the methods that can be used for an autorotation landing. 5t is not the only possible method. 0hoose a landing point that provides 3'' +'' ft of clear glidepath from any obstacles 1'' ft or lower. 6erform the following steps1 a) /aintain 3' >' *nots and 3'' 3,' .6/ until reaching an altitude of ,'' 1+' ft. !he rate of descent should be ,''' 1>'' ft(min. Geep in mind that appro%imately 1, 1+ seconds will pass between passing through ,'' ft and landingH b) (t I ' sec) from an altitude of ,'' 1+' ft slowly (3 - seconds) (<igure &.&) pull the 0yclic bac* to set a pitch angle of F1+ ,'J while (<igure &.1')1 (1) (t I F- sec) rotor .6/ will increase slightly (up to 33' 3-')H (,) rate of descent will decreaseH (3) the helicopter may slide slightly left due to increased tail rotor liftH (-) any left sliding tendency should be corrected with slight right 0yclic

ad9ustment (1(3 1(1' of movement range). Geep in mind that during an autorotation landing, the helicopter will generally be balanced with a slight right ban* (<igure &.11) the slower the airspeed, the greater right ban* (up to 1 3J). c) (t I F? sec) focus eyes on the landing pointH d) (t I F? > sec) from an altitude of 1''..3' ft or when passing through -' 3+ *nots on the airspeed indicator (typically accompanied by a Ksin*ingK of the helicopter), smoothly ad9ust the 0yclic forward (within about 3 - sec) to set a landing pitch angle (from F1+ ,'J to F- ?J) while simultaneously increasing 0ollective for the first time from its lowered position to 1(+ 1(3 of its movement range within appro%imately 1 1.+ sec while1 (1) (t I F& sec) main and tail rotor .6/ will begin to drop, producing a left turning tendency, up to 1'JH (,) correct the left turning tendency by increasing right pedal by appro%imately 1( 1(3 of its movement range, while slightly increasing right 0yclic to compensate for any left slideH e) (t I F1' 1+ sec) as the ground is nearer and based on the rate of descent increase collective once more up to 1(, ,(3 of its movement range within 3 - sec. ;e careful to prevent the helicopter from nosing over upon touchdownH f) the helicopter will touch down and possibly continue to roll for another + 1' ft before coming to a stop.
4A.A5AD8 Aever Kyan*K the collective all the way up8 !his can cause the helicopter to KfloatK up and enter a short hover at an altitude of 1+ ,' ft, before rotor .6/ drops toward ,'' and less, resulting in a drop down to the ground with a high sin* rate and li*ely damage.

After touchdown, if the forward speed is e%cessive, pull the 0yclic bac* appro%imately 1(3 1(, of its movement range to slow the helicopter using the main rotor. 7nce the helicopter is stopped, return the 0yclic to neutral and carefully (within , 3 sec) lower the 0ollective all the way down.