Left The Notar testbed hovers with its tail in the
treessomething the unmodified OH-6 could
never do. Far left MDH plans the ten-seat tail -rotorless MDX, but will pave the way with the Notar-equipped MD520L, bottom, which is based on the MD500E, below required. The remaining one-third, and the excess moment required for direc- tional control, is provided by a thruster at the tip of the boom. This thruster comprises a fixed cone with port and starboard air outlets, over, which is a second, movable cone with just one outlet. Air exiting the pressurised boom is directed to port or starboard by this outer cone, which rotates in response to rudder pedal inputs. Several improvements have been made to the Notar concept since the admittedly crude testbed flew in 1981. At one point ungainly fences and an engine exhaust diverter had to be added to isolate the boom from flow off the fuselage. Then came the acquisition of Hughes Helicopters by McDonnell Douglas. More research money became available and Notar engineers gained access to a water tunnel at St Louis. Using this facility they discovered t hat rotor downwash was sepa- rating from the boom before reaching the slot. The solution was to add a second slot higher up on the starboard side of the boom. This kept the downwash attached. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 27 February 1988 At the same time it was realiseo ^nat the fan used to pressurise the boom, a cut- down fenestron, was less than 65 per cent efficient. A new fan with wide-chord blades was designed that is at least 85 per cent efficient. The Notar testbed is now flying success- fully with the redesigned fan and two-slot boom, and MDH now has its own water tunnel at Mesa. Notar' s primary purpose is to improve safety. The US Army attributes more than 10 per cent of its helicopter accidents t o' the tail rotor striking something or losing effectiveness. Notar will eliminate those causes and at the same time make the heli- copter less hazardous to those on the ground. Flight tests have brought another Notar characteristic to the fore, however. The system has been found to reduce pilot workload significantly, requiring far fewer rudder pedal inputs to hover or manoeuvre. To increase rotor thrust in the hover, the pilot increases blade collective pitch. Torque increases, but so does rotor down- wash, and with it tailboom anti-torque sideforce. The system is self- compensating. According to MDH, almost no rudder pedal inputs are needed to maintain heading in the hover. Other advantages claimed for Notar include a reduction in vibration and mechanical complexity, and a consequent increase in reliability and maintainability. MDH also claims that every area of OH-6 performance is improved by Notar. Side- ward and rearward flight speeds are nearly doubled. The 520N will incorporate several Notar improvements. The tail boom will be smaller and lighter and the empennage more effective than on the testbed. The metal boom and empennage together weigh more than 1001b on the modified OH-6, requiring ballast to be added in the nose. The composite boom and empennage on the 520N will weigh just 201b, less than the boom, empennage, and tail rotor on the 520L. Certification of the Notar-equipped 520N in late 1989 will pave the way for the larger MDX, a ten-seat commercial heli- copter which MDH aims to begin delivering in 1994. The MDX is now in preliminary design, with the company seeking risk-sharing partners to provide roughly half the funds required. In addition to Notar, MDX will feature a composite airframe, an all-composite bearingless main rotor, a grease- lubricated transmission, and a single- display glass cockpit. gj 27