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Helicopters Facts & Worksheets

Helicopter, aircraft with one or more power-driven horizontal propellers or rotors that enable it to take off and land vertically, to move in any direction, or to remain stationary in the air.

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Helicopter, aircraft with one or more power-driven horizontal propellers or rotors that enable it to take off and land vertically, to move in any direction, or to remain stationary in the air.

See the fact file below for more information on the helicopters or alternatively, you can download our 23-page Helicopters worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

INVENTION AND EARLY DESIGNS

  • Although earlier concepts of flight were designed before the time of Leonardo Da Vinci, it was his drawings of a helicopter using a spiral airscrew to obtain lift that initiated the idea of vertical flight.
  • Soon, Launoy and Bienvenu presented to the French Academy of Science in 1784 a helicopter using rotors made out of birds’ feathers.
  • In 1843, Sir George Cayley, who is also regarded by many as the father of fixed-wing flight, showcased the scientific principles of helicopters.
  • In November 1907, bicycle maker Paul Cornu attained a free flight of about 20 seconds, reaching one foot using a twin-rotor craft powered by a 24-horsepower engine.
  • At the same time, Igor Sikorsky also continued experimenting vertical flights.
  • On December 18, 1922, George de Bothezat designed a helicopter for the US Army Air Force which lifted off the ground for slightly less than two minutes.
  • In the late 1920s and 1930s, helicopters reached a distance of a kilometer. Autogiros were also introduced using lift by mechanical rotation as the autogiro moves forward through the air.
  • However, they became obsolete and Germany introduced two three-bladed rotors powered by a 160-horsepower radial engine named Focke Achgelis Fa 61 in 1936.
  • The Fa 61 reached an altitude of 11,243 feet and made a cross-country flight of 143 miles.
  • Meanwhile, Igor Sikorsky rekindled his interest in helicopters and finally made a successful series of test flights of his VS-300 in 1939–41.
  • In 1967, two Sikorsky S-61R helicopters made a non-stop, transatlantic flight from New York to Paris, France for 30 hours and 46 minutes.
  • In 1988, Bell-Boeing produced V-22 Osprey, a tilt-rotor aircraft that could take off like a helicopter but fly like a plane.

FLIGHT AND OPERATION

  • A helicopter is an aircraft that uses rotating, or spinning, wings called rotor blades to fly. It moves air over its rotors by spinning its blades in order to take off.
  • A helicopter has three basic flight conditions: hover, forward flight, and the transition between the two.
  • Hover – when the helicopter is flown so that it maintains a constant position over the ground.
  • Forward flight – to achieve forward flight, the plane of rotation of the rotor is tipped forward.
  • Transition – when the airspeed reaches approximately 16–24 knots which provides extra lift without increasing power.
  • Helicopters have four controls:
    • Collective pitch control – a lever that moves up and down to change the angle of the main rotor blade.
    • Throttle control – used to increase rotor rpm (revolutions per minute) when twisted outboard and decrease rpm when inboard.
    • Antitorque controls – pedals linked to operate a pitch change mechanism in the tail rotor.
    • Cyclic pitch control – controls the direction of flight by tipping the plane of rotation in the desired direction.

USES AND SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS

  • Helicopters don’t need a runway. Pilots can operate helicopters more easily from ships, from the center of a city, and in the middle of a jungle.
  • They can pause mid-flight to rescue someone, pick up a load, or drop it off with a winch.
  • The extensive use of helicopters emerged after the Second World War. Besides warfare, they are also designed for agricultural crop spraying, mosquito control, medical evacuation, and carrying mail and passengers.
  • Today, people also use helicopters for a tours and cinematography. Have you ever wondered how movies capture beautiful landscapes?
  • The average altitude for a helicopter to fly at ranges from around 12,000 to 15,000 feet, so its wide spectrum also helps a lot in high-speed police chases, firefighting, and search and rescue.

Helicopters Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the helicopters across 23 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Helicopters worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the helicopter, aircraft with one or more power-driven horizontal propellers or rotors that enable it to take off and land vertically, to move in any direction, or to remain stationary in the air.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Helicopter Facts
  • Basic Parts of a Helicopter
  • How Heli Works
  • Heli-types
  • In History
  • Military Helicopters
  • Chinook!
  • Super Helicopter
  • Helicopter Rescues
  • Record Holders
  • Vehicles on Air

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Link will appear as Helicopters Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, November 2, 2020

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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