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How does a NOTAR tail rotor work?

How does a NOTAR tail rotor work?

NOTAR (“no tail rotor”) is a helicopter system which avoids the use of a tail rotor. The system uses a fan inside the tail boom to build a high volume of low-pressure air, which exits through two slots and creates a boundary layer flow of air along the tailboom utilizing the Coandă effect.

Are NOTAR helicopters safe?

Using the natural characteristics of helicopter aerodynamics, the NOTAR system provides safe, quiet, responsive, FOD-resistant directional control.

What is the tail of a helicopter for?

A helicopter tail rotor serves two essential functions. It provides a counteracting force to the helicopter’s main rotor; without the sideways thrust produced by the tail rotor, the torque generated by the main rotor would spin the helicopter’s body in the opposite direction.

Do all helicopters have tail rotors?

All helicopters do not need tail rotors. The tail rotor counteracts the angular momentum created by the main rotor, to control the machine. Some helicoptors have different ways to counteract the momentum without using the tail rotor, such as those that use two main rotors or those that use NOTAR.

Why do NOTAR helicopters not have a tail rotor?

Eliminating the tail rotor removes this hazard and enables NOTAR helicopters to go where tail rotor layout helicopters cannot i.e. close to trees or buildings. They are also safer for ground crews to work near as there is no danger posed from a spinning tail rotor.

What does NOTAR stand for in helicopter category?

NOTAR ( no tail rotor) is a helicopter system which avoids the use of a tail rotor. It was developed by McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems (through their acquisition of Hughes Helicopters ). The system uses a fan inside the tail boom to build a high volume of low-pressure air, which exits through two slots and creates a boundary layer…

Is the MD 520 a true NOTAR helicopter?

The MD 520 is a true NOTAR, it does not have an external fan but a kind of side jet out of the tail boom. Early designs used a straight jet which was kind of expensive, the Hughes design uses the Coanda effect to deflect the main rotor downwash sideways, thus providing a side force in the hover.

When was the first NOTAR helicopter first flown?

Well up jumped McDonnell Douglas and off their drawing boards came the NOTAR (an acronym for NO TAil Rotor). The NOTAR concept first saw practical, and highly successful, testing in a modified Hughes OH-6 helicopter that first flew in this guise on December 17, 1981; the aircraft still bearing its US.