Calling all Blackhawk experts!

Well I'm no expert, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express lastnight. Ha, Ha !
Checking my references shows that the main rotor rotates counter-clockwise when viewed from above.


Mark

Thanks. I thought I was becoming dislexic!

Guys,

As far as I know, the 'Hawk rotates counterclockwise. There's some good footage of a Hawk starting to rotate in Blackhawk Down when Wolcott's bird is about to take off. It's clearly rotating counterclockwise.

Helo's made by US manufacturers rotate conterclock wise.
Helo's made by European countries rotate clockwise.
Rumor has it Igor Sikorsky started the anti-clockwise movement when he got to the US as a snub to Russia. . .
Got alot of guff from the Sikorsky boys when the Aerospatiale (now Eurocopter) started turning up with the blades "goin' the wrong way!"

Don

I've got it on disc. That was my first reference. Sometimes your eyes can be fooled when a rotating object is accelerating or decelerating. What made me ask the question is that I've seen several model sites with MH-60's, UH-60's etc. with some birds haveing the blades positioned clockwise and others counter clockwise IN THE SAME PICTURE!

From the prototype perspective, it seems like the tail rotor would pull more air if it were on the "port" side of the tail.

Thanks for the info.

Remember that slides can be reversed and (take it from personal experience), even photos can be reveresed in the printing process. All H-60 variants have the tail rotor on the right (starboard) side and any photo that shows otherwise has been reversed. Also, the main rotor spins counter clockwise when viewed from above. I agree that all US manufacturers helicopters turn the same direction while all other countries rotors turn clock wise when viewed from above. Some confusion could come from viewing film at times also. Remember that film reverses rotating objects.
Good luck!
Paul

This is probably an obvious moot point seein' as how the subject is the rotors that are spinning and which direction,but if you llok at a good picture that shows the blades in full stop,you can tell which direction they are going to be spinning by the orientation of the leading edge.
Since the rotor is essentially a long airfoil,the fatter part of the blde will be the cutting edge like the wing...okay everyone ..repeat after me.....DUUUUUH.

I am a Blackhawk Crewchief (actyally TI now) and all the blades Ive ever installed do, in fact, rotate counterclockwise. I guess the easiest way to think about it is that the blades rotate one way, the fuselage wants to rotate the other way, and the tail rotor is trying to stop the fuselage. clear as mud? Anyway the leading edge faces forward on the right side (tail rotor) of the aircraft.

Ok Mogwa, you're the guy who can answer the question (from an engineering prospective), does the tail rotor pull more air pulling into the tail or pushing the air through the tail? I understand torque, etc.

OK I'm not sure what your asking now. Whether The T/R is pushing or pulling has no effect om the actual force applied that I know of. Let me know what your looking for and Im happy to try and answer. Feel free to E mail me if you want.

the laws of physics dictate that the tail rotor will 'push' the same amount of air as it 'pulls' -- Newton's Third Law

Is that what you're asking?

according to leo da vinci the rotor of chopper rotates coputer-clockwise.........

thislonelyplanet and Mogwa got it right. You have to look at the blades of the main rotor or at the position of the tail rotor.
If you have pics of a helo on the ground the first method is the easyest. The second is a bit more tricky and you have to know your physics; let's look at a blackhawk:
if you look at the helo from the left side (the one with the green/blue ligts) you have the tailrotor spinning counterclock wise; this will have the tail moving toward you because the air is "pushed" from the rotor towards the tail fin. If there was only the tail rotor the bird would rotate counterclockwise.
Knowing that the T/R's purpose is to compensate the torque due to the main rotor we can say that this torque is clockwise so the main rotor will rotate counterclockwise.

If you look at a Littlebird you have the T/R on the other side but the main rotor still rotates counterclockwise. This comes because the blades of the T/R are angled to push air from the tailfin towards the right (looking at the bird from the front) impressing a counterclockwise rotation to the helicopter.

mattp is right quoting Sir Newton but it has nothing to do with the direction of the rotation.

I'm sorry delta dagger: Da Vinci did draw a helo and probably it did rotate counterclockwise but it is no law of physics. It depends on how the blades are attached to the rotor (actually you build the blades on the rotor knowing wich way it spins).

Lection is over! Don't forget your homework!
Now you may guess what I do for a living!

Hi,

seems like some of you helicopter experts believe that "all US manufacturers helicopters turn the same direction while all other countries rotors turn clock wise when viewed from above".

Actually this is not always true. There are lots of not US-built helos with main rotors turing counter clockwise: Bo105, BK117, NH90, PAH-2 Tiger, EC 135, EC 145, AS312 Super Frelon ....

Probabely this information will help for future projects.

Regards,
Gunther

Gunther,

All those Helios you mentioned were designed and built by foreign manufacturers. The US firms just sold them in the states and later built some of the examples. All US designed and built do turn the same way. Left pedal to counter act torque!

You are correct Mel.

But some fellows in this forum claimed that “all other countries rotors (here I understand helos of foreign manufactures – not US) turn CLOCK WISE when viewed from above". This statement is not correct as you can see on my examples.

Regards,
Gunther