How long can helicopters hover

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Can all helicopters hover, and how long does it take to "stop"? Ask Question. Asked 1 year, 9 months ago. Active 1 year, 9 months ago. Viewed 14k times. Improve this question. Hovering a helicopter is a bit like that.

You forgot "on top of a balance board. It seemed so much easier than that, but evidently it's much more difficult than it looks like! Well if the choice is between that and walking into the wall of the bank Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. Zeiss Ikon Zeiss Ikon My understanding is that to move forward, the helicopter is somewhat "tilted forward" nose down , and that what was vertical lift is now split into a smaller upwards component and a forward component.

How is more lift generated in this situation? Is it the airflow from the forward motion that "adds" to the airflow from the rotation motion and thus generates more lift?

Unlike an autogyro, this airflow is downward from above because the collective is positive, where an autogyro has a negative blade pitch to ensure it autorotates , and the more air is added to the hover condition, the more lift is generated or the less power is needed for the same lift.

Helicopters in mountain rescue operations often crash when they come into a high-altitude hover but lack the power to maintain it. Of course it is a low aspect ratio and inefficient wing, but it works nonetheless. Show 3 more comments. Forward airspeed provides stability and flying a helicopter with forward airspeed is comparable with flying a fixed wing plane, while hovering is comparable with standing on top of a large inflatable ball.

More power to hover than to fly with forward airspeed. This is because in the hover, there is more induced drag than in forward flight. The graph below is from the linked answer and shows the dip in total required power as airspeed increases from zero.

But even below the OGE hover ceiling, it is simply safer for a helicopter to pick up forward airspeed shortly after takeoff: As stated, flying at speed leaves more fuel on board for the required trip duration.

While hovering OGE, altitude must be kept using the altimeter, while unstable pitch and roll must be corrected. The concentration required during looking at the instruments reduces situational awareness. Keeping the helicopter level cannot be done using only the instruments since the peripheral vision is not involved. Where the wind takes the helicopter cannot be viewed from the instruments, and onflying fixed wing aircraft are much harder to focus on.

If altitude is not maintained in OGE hover, there is the possibility that the helicopter enters vortex ring state , a dangerous situation where it sinks into its own rotor wake. Vortex ring state does not exist when flying forwards. Koyovis Koyovis Bin laden's place seems completely obvious to me. To an extent, even with no sink rate, there is some reverse flow at the blade tips which is noticeable as a slight loss of lift and increase of drag. The tip effect is normally accounted for when dimensioning engines and rotors, which all goes down the drain if the helicopter sinks into its own downwash.

The faster your forward speed, the more roll you have to correct unbalanced lift between advancing and retreating blades , the more power you apply the more tail rotor needed, and there's still the constant juggling of throttle and collective to manage altitude and RPM -- but it's still easier than hovering.

In addition to the Sikorsky S92, the EC also has the possibility of flying for roughly miles without stopping. Choppers such as the Apache Attack helicopter are able to fly for around miles without stopping. You have to realize that a lot of things come into play when it comes to how far or high a certain helicopter can fly. This is the longest range helicopter with a flight range of miles.

About the Author Editorial Team. More Like This Helicopters. Latest Articles WW2. Any answers? Nooks and crannies. Semantic enigmas. The body beautiful. Red tape, white lies. Speculative science. It can see if a house, room, or roof is hotter than its surroundings. So helicopters flying night time police operations will usually operate with bright lights turned off. One example is the Arkansas State Police, which for several years used a handful of Camaros as stealth vehicles on state highways.

The truth is, simply, that the Dodge Charger is the absolute best for police because it fares better in the process of a pursuit.