Show THIS IS A helicopter the following letter a reprint tak en from the july issue of FLYING SAFETY the hill air force base magazine is considered interesting enough to pass on we hope you will enjoy it as much as we did because a certain recent local epi sode involving a helicopter dian didn t turn out too well the following 9 item gleaned from our best known heh heli copter ace is included for whatever good purpose it may serve the helicopter is an amazing as sort ment of nuts bolts rotors push pull rods ir longitudinal collective diff differential erenthal erent ial quadrants swash plates wobble plates gimble rings cuff and assemblies and other gadgets too numerous to mention here all of these are weld ed riveted bolted or screwed to gether to make a single machine capable of flight in fact it is capa ble of flight in any direction back wards forwards sideways up down and even standing still standing still is known as hovering this comes in handy for those who like to fly but have no place to go one of the more necessary corn com portents is the engine this unit is expected to start with ordinary fuel c change hange it to BTU the BTU to the to RPM the RPM is then transmitted through a series of shafts and gears to the main rotor blades which are cespon sible for the frantic eggbeater egg beater motion the engine has several im parts among these are the cylinders A cylinder is a long hole covered on one end with a plate full of holes containing valves the holes admit air fuel and sometimes water and carelessly miss placed tools the other end is closed with a plug called a piston this is free to move up and down and would come out altogether if it were not fasten ed to a connecting rod the connect ing rod too is important because it is responsible for converting your to RPM without it you would be left which no one knows how to use up to now the power of the engine is mea in horsepower why who knows its often difficult to get a self respecting horse in close amity unit yv ith one of these machines it is better beter to rely on instruments the electrical men have invented they in inid ideate cate power in amps volts or kilowatts depending on the ual whims of the designer with a little imagination these values can be converted to horsepower starting the thing requires some knowledge steady nerves and a certain amount of bravery first make a careful check of all your instruments this gives you a little self confidence and adds prestige in the eyes of the onlookers on lookers after everything has been check ed it is safe to start the engine if everything is as it should be there will be considerable noise and you will start to shake and tremble this means the engine has started when your audien audience cp has returned syn chromie chr onize your eyeballs and look wisely at the instrument panel note pressure RPM and before you for get it check the flight controls this is important even though they quite often do not perform the function for which design it is very embarras to get in the air and find those items not working properly or just not vi working period once airborne you are on your own you have willfully and knowingly placed yourself in the most horrible of all predicaments may the lord have mercy on your soul you have earned all it |