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The helicopter has a variable pitch main rotor. The "swash plate" is used to set
the rotor angle-of-attack. The swash plate for the Blade 400 3D helicopter is
shown next.
The
collective control
raises the entire swash plate assembly as a unit. This has the effect of
changing the pitch of both blades simultaneously.
Moving the left hand stick, which usually controls the engine speed when flying
a fixed wing model plane, this time sets the angle of attack of the main rotor,
so increasing or decreasing the lift provided by the fixed speed rotor blades.
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The elevator pitch cyclic control
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The
cyclic control
pushes one side of the swash plate assembly upward or downward. This has the
effect of changing the pitch of the blades unevenly depending on where they are
in the rotation. The result of the cyclic control is that the rotor's wings have
a greater angle of attack (and therefore more lift) on one side of the
helicopter and a lesser angle of attack (and less lift) on the opposite side.
The unbalanced lift causes the helicopter to tip and move laterally.
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The aileron roll cyclic control
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Rudder yaw is achieved by varying the pitch of the tail rotor.
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