Development of Helicopter Flight Path Models

The objective of this paper is to present general techniques for simulating helicopter flight trajectory response. During flight the pilot manipulates the controls either to trim the helicopter for steady flight by balancing the external forces and moments or to produce a desired maneuver by controlling the unbalance of these forces and moments. Discussions of the physical phenomena involved with the aerodynamics of the rotors and fuselage are given in [1] through [3]. The simulated control function will be composed forward-aft cyclic, lateral cyclic, pedal, and collective. This control will be represented by the vecto

Helicopter Motion: Equation Linearization

The nonlinear set of equations which represent helicopter motion is linearized about a prescribed nominal state. Once the linearized system is obtained it is validated by comparing the output of the nonlinear system to that of its linearized counterpart. Having obtained a linear model, linear system theory may then be applied in order to investigate the stability and control characteristics of the aircraft