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Three-blade fully articulated main rotor similar to that of Alouette II.

Three-blade semi-articulated tail rotor.

Four-blade main rotor, fully articulated hub.

Five-blade semi-articulated tail rotor (flapping hinges only).

Three-blade fully-articulated main rotor with friction-type lead-lag dampers. Rotor head and mast form a single unit.

13-blade shrouded tail rotor, Fenestron 'fan-in-fin' type with evenly spaced variable pitch blades.

Four-blade main rotor, fully articulated hub. Drag hinges are fitted with elastomeric frequency adaptors.

Five-blade tail rotor, flapping hinges only.

Five-blade fully-articulated main rotor with composite hub.

Four-blade canted tail rotor.

Five-blade articulated main rotor with elastomeric bearings. Main rotor hub combines a metal core with two composite plates and multiple bearing rings. Blades feature BERP high-speed tips.

Four-blade cross-beam teetering tail rotor.

Two-blade semi-rigid main rotor, stabilizing bar perpendicular to blades. Underslung feathering axis head.

2-blade tail rotor.

Two-blade semi-rigid main rotor, stabilizing bar perpendicular to blades. Underslung feathering axis head.

2-blade tail rotor.

Two-blade semi-rigid main rotor, stabilizing bar perpendicular to blades. Underslung feathering axis head.

2-blade tail rotor.

Two-blade semi-rigid main rotor, stabilizing bar perpendicular to blades. Underslung feathering axis head.

2-blade tail rotor.

Two-blade semi-rigid main rotor with teetering hinge. Flex-beam yoke bolted to trunnion with elastomeric bearing caps which restrain flapping of rotor through steel sleeves and rubber cores.

2-blade semi-rigid tail rotor system that is underslung and delta hinged with a flex beam employing 1 degree preconing.

Two-blade semi-rigid main rotor with Lastoflex elastomeric and Teflon-faced bearings.

2-blade semi-rigid tail rotor system that is underslung and delta hinged with a flex beam employing 1 degree preconing.

Two-blade semi-rigid main rotor (same as Bell 222).

2-blade tail rotor (same as Bell 222)

Four-blade hingeless flex-beam soft-in-plane main rotor. Hub composed of two titanium flex-beam yokes,  four steel spindles with grip lugs for blade attachment, and elastomeric bearings and dampers. Mechanical pendulum dampers mounted on leading and trailing edges of yoke absorb 4/rev vibrations.

2-blade delta-hinge mounted teetering tail rotor.

Four-blade soft-in-plane main rotor (same as Bell 406 / OH-58D).

2-blade tail rotor (same as Bell 407).

Four-blade fully-articulated main rotor with blades attached by laminated strap retention system.
Elastomeric lead-lag dampers and offset flapping hinges.

Twin two-blade teetering tail rotors mounted one above the other and set at 55/125 degrees.

Boeing CH-47D Chinook

Tandem interconnected three-blade main rotors, fully-articulated, all bearings submerged in oil.

Boeing-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche

Four-blade bearingless FVW main rotor adopted from MBB Bo108

Eight-blade Fenestron ducted-fan tail rotor.

Three-blade main rotor, fully articulated.

2-blade tail rotor.

Three-blade Spheriflex main rotor.

Eight-blade Fenestron tail rotor with unevenly spaced blades for noise abatement.

Four-blade hingeless and bearingless FVW main rotor adopted from MBB Bo108

Fenestron ducted fan tail rotor.

Three-blade hingeless main rotor, Starflex glass-fiber/carbon-fiber hub.

Two-blade tail rotor.

Four-blade hingeless main rotor, Starflex glass-fiber/carbon-fiber hub.
Single steel-rubber sandwich ball joint per blade.

11-blade shrouded tail rotor, Fenestron 'fan-in-fin' type with unevenly spaced blades.

Five-blade hingeless main rotor, Spheriflex glass-fiber/carbon-fiber hub.

10-blade shrouded tail rotor, Fenestron 'fan-in-fin' type with unevenly spaced blades.

Four-blade main and tail rotors with Spheriflex glass-fiber/carbon-fiber hub.
Elastomeric spherical bearings and Kevlar blade retention bands.

Four-blade hingeless FEL main rotor consisting of only 24 parts (w/o bolts and bushings).

Hub made of titanium centerpiece with composite star plates bolted on top and below.

Flap and lead/lag motions allowed by elastic bending of blade root, pitch allowed by elastomeric bearings.

Lead/lag damping by solid-state visco-elastic dampers.

Three-blade Spheriflex tail rotor with fork blade roots.

Five-blade hingeless Spheriflex main rotor head with elastomeric spherical bearings.

Main rotor blades are multi-box structure with composite spar and parabolic tip.

Spheriflex tail rotor head with four all-composite blades.

Four-blade FEL hingeless main rotor head with fiber-elastomeric bearings sandwiched between two CFRP star plates (same technology as EC665). Blades are manually foldable.

Four-blade FVW flexbeam tail rotor.

Two-blade contra-rotating intermeshing twin-rotor with servo-flap control. Rotor blades are attached to hub by drag hinges only, the servo-flaps eliminating blade pitch change and associated bearings. Movement of servo-flaps twists the blades with the natural resilience of the blades used to obtain torsional deflection.

Tail unit has twin rudders controlled by autostabilizer.

Two three-blade co-axially mounted main rotors, fully articulated.

Anti-torque tail rotor obviated by counter-rotating main rotors.

Four-blade hingeless main rotor with rigid titanium hub. Only articulation is roller bearings for pitch change.

Two-blade semi-rigid tail rotor.

Four-blade hingeless main rotor with rigid titanium hub identical to Bo105, but larger.

Two-blade semi-rigid tail rotor.

Fully articulated five-blade main rotor. Blades retained by laminated steel 'strap packs'

NOTAR anti-torque system.

All-composite five-blade hinge-less and bearing-less main rotor with flexbeam retention. Blade tips have parabolic sweep.

NOTAR anti-torque system.

Three-blade fully articulated main rotor.

Three-blade tail rotor.

Four-blade fully articulated main rotor.

Three-blade tail rotor.

Five-blade fully articulated main rotor.

Four-blade tail rotor.

Five-blade fully articulated main rotor, forged and machined steel hub. Hydraulic lead-lag dampers.

Three-blade tail rotor (starboard).

Mi-8S walkaround

Mi-9 walkaround

Five-blade fully articulated main rotor, forged and machined steel hub. Hydraulic lead-lag dampers (same as Mi-8).

Three-blade tail rotor (port).

Five-blade fully articulated main rotor, forged and machined steel hub. Hydraulic lead-lag dampers (same as Mi-8).

Three-blade tail rotor (same as Mi-17)

Mi-24V walkaround

Mi-24P walkaround

Eight-blade fully articulated main rotor with titanium hub. Hydraulic lead-lag dampers.

Five-blade tail rotor with titanium hub.

Five-blade fully articulated main rotor with titanium hub. Hydraulic lead-lag dampers. Same design as Mi-24, but doubled hinge-offset for enhanced agility.

Two independent two-blade tail rotors set as narrow X (35º/145º) on same shaft with self-lubricating bearings.

Five-blade fully articulated main rotor (same as Mi-28).

Twin two-blade scissored tail rotor (same as Mi-28).

Four-blade hingeless Spheriflex main rotor, titanium hub with elastomeric spherical thrust bearings.

Blades feature swept and curved down high-speed tips.

Bearingless four-blade tail rotor with cross-beam hub.

Three-blade fully articulated tandem rotors.

Four-blade fully articulated main rotor hub. Salomon-type vibration absorbers.

Three-blade tail rotor.

Fully articulated three-blade main rotor. All blades are glass-fiber epoxy composite.

Two-blade tail rotor.

Two-blade semi-articulated main rotor, with tri-hinged underslung rotor head and elastic teeter hinge stop to prevent blade-boom contact when starting or stopping rotor in high winds

Two-blade tail rotor.

Semi-rigid two-blade teetering rotor with underslung hinge.

Two-blade teetering tail rotor.

Three-blade fully articulated main rotor with elastomeric dampers.

Two-blade teetering tail rotor.

Three-blade fully articulated main rotor.

Two-blade tail rotor with teetering hinge.

Three-blade fully articulated main rotor.

Two-blade tail rotor with teetering hinge.

Four-blade fully-articulated main rotor.

Four-blade semi-articulated tail rotor.

Six-blade fully articulated main rotor.

Four-blade fully articulated tail rotor.

Five-blade fully-articulated and oil-lubricated main rotor with all-steel head.

Five-blade semi-articulated tail rotor with aluminum blades.

Three-blade fully articulated main rotor (same as S-55)

Two-blade tail rotor with teetering hinge (same as S-55)

Six-blade fully-articulated main rotor with aluminum blades and aluminum and steel head.

Four-blade semi-articulated tail rotor with titanium head and aluminum blades.

Six-blade fully articulated main rotor adopted from S-64, but with titanium and steel hub. Hydraulically folding blades.

Four-blade tail rotor.

Four-blade articulated main rotor with one-piece forged titanium head and elastomeric blade retention bearings.

Hydraulic drag dampers, bifilar self-tuning vibration absorber above head.

Ballistically tolerant main rotor blades with titanium spars, fiberglass skins, and honeycomb cores

Four-blade flexbeam tail rotor tilted to port to produce lift, anti-torque thrust, and to extend permissible CG range.

Three-blade main rotor, fully articulated with hydraulic lead-lag dampers.

Two-blade anti-torque tail rotor.

Four-blade rigid main rotor. Hub and inboard portion of flexible blade attachment arms made from a single mono-block titanium forging. BERP tipped blades.

Four-blade tail rotor (direction of turn reversed on later models)

Five-blade fully-articulated main rotor. Automatic, hydraulically-powered folding system

Five-blade, later models six-blade tail rotor.

copyright ©  2000-2009 by Burkhard Domke

Aviation Images > Rotorheads | Walkarounds | Links