A helicopter in a crosswind is exactly the same as a fixed wing in a crosswind ie you keep the nose of the aircraft into the wind for as long as possible before kicking straight for actual touchdown during the flare.
The big difference is that the into wind aileron that you put on during the flare it is not so noticable on a helicopter in visual terms.
The other factor is that Vs is much less of a factor.
Source: A friend who flies helicopters out to the North Sea oil platforms.
My perhaps simplistic reasoning has always been that this is due to air movement over lifting surfaces being primarily locally generated (rotor tips move at 2-300 mph) rather than due to the global movement of the craft through the air at 0-60mph, so changes in the global windspeed due to gusts become relatively less significant.
Sounds right to me. Flying is all the relative velocity of lifting bodies Vs the air.
The “more engines because they are light” makes alot of sense. I wish they hadnt mentioned “near future fuel cells” though… to me its like talking about cold fusion or anti-gravity lift – its not here, so you cant rely on it happening while you build an airframe!!
Regards, SD..
I think the “lots of little engines” must be primarily an investor magnet operation, because the small prop efficiency is poor, the noise level is high, etc.
gallois wrote:
A helicopter in a crosswind is exactly the same as a fixed wing in a crosswind ie you keep the nose of the aircraft into the wind for as long as possible before kicking straight for actual touchdown during the flare.
The big difference is that the into wind aileron that you put on during the flare it is not so noticable on a helicopter in visual terms.
The other factor is that Vs is much less of a factor.
Source: A friend who flies helicopters out to the North Sea oil platforms.
I have never flown into an offshore oil rig but I don’t think anything I am about to write is controversial. As ever, happy to be corrected though :-)
Most of the time helicopters come in to land at a single point; there is no landing roll and so the only reason to track a straight line with a crosswind is to avoid other traffic or ground obstacles. Coming down final approach they will indeed “bear off” to maintain that track. However once in the hover at the “H” there is no reason to “kick” into runway alignment they will just complete their turn into wind. I say “complete” because as they come down final and their airspeed drops they must “bear off” at an increasing angle.
For the main rotors there is no such thing as a “crosswind”. They rotate so which way is “sideways”? In normal flight blades advance and retreat and that is dealt with by “Flapping to Equality” (rotors can move up and down a little as well as go round and round :-). The main rotors are actually happier with a “crosswind” as it provides “Translational Lift”.
The tail rotor is a different beast. Because of its horizontal axis there most definitely is a “sideways”; crosswinds will change its blades’ effective angle of attack, requiring pitch changes to compensate. (Its RPM is fixed.) If the crosswind is strong enough, that pitch change will not be available. This is what makes most helicopters more vulnerable to crosswind than their fixed-wing equivalents. Given they usually have to hover taxy in various directions, you could just as well say “more vulnerable to wind”.
kwlf wrote:
Rotorcraft and quadcopter drones typically deal with wind much better than fixed wing aircraft of comparable size.
I am guessing they have no tail rotors?
Unrelated to any particular to the point and interesting post in this thread !
Would it be possible to have a separate thread where the discussion is on electric hybrid aircraft exclusively? It would not be a thread for:
Those things are probably interesting and “important” for some, but they have nothing to do about electric/hybrid aircraft. What the thread would include, is topics about the evolving technology and it’s possible uses. Topics about recent development and solutions. Topics about electric/hybrid aircraft on it’s own terms.
I wonder.
Feel free to start one 
But, aren’t you basically asking for the same discussion but without anyone questioning anything?
It reminds me of one US fb group for avionics for sale. The mod implemented a rule that nobody is allowed to post any comments on the stuff for sale. So all those trying to sell a 1945 altimeter with the hands falling off for USD 5000 with an 8130, or a G430 for USD 8k, could do it in peace
@DavidS like many commercial helicopter operations landing on oil platforms is hampered by obstacles, so it is not always (in fact in my experience it rarely is) possible to touch down facing the wind and it is in the last few feet that needs a specific technique. I have spent countless hours in the left hand seat (ie not pilot) whilst the pilot wrestles with that last few feet to avoid being blown into obstacles.
Whilst I have landed and taken off in heavy crosswinds as a fixed wing pilot, I have never done it in a helicopter but all the heli pilots I have flown with have said it is not that much different except making sure you get it right takes a lot more feel and perhaps concentration on one spot.
That’s interesting – thank you!
