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Student Lessons & Information
Hello All,
This Page is a work in progress as always suggestions are appreciated. The PowerPoint's are all uploaded as well as quick reference links. Also, here are some great videos to get you started; most are from Robinson Helicopter Company. They are free of charge on Robinsons website, but they are a little more "out of the way" so they are linked below for your convenience. Also, don't forget to grab yourself a copy of the R22 POH linked HERE
or the R44 POH linked HERE
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How is Lift Made? Bernoulli Summary
•Bernoulli Principle
•The air splits and goes around the top and bottom of the airfoil
•The airstrikes below the chord line it has further to travel on the top than on the bottom
•The air wants to meet at the trailing edge at approximately the same time
• The air on the top having a further distance to travel must go faster
•This means its speed or velocity must increase and Bernoulli tells us that as velocity increases the Pressure decreases
•↑Velocity ↓Pressure
•The reverse is also true, on the bottom of the airfoil the air has a shorter distance to travel, so it does not have to travel as quickly (the velocity decreases) as the velocity decreases the pressure increases
•↓ Velocity ↑ Pressure
•This then means there is a low pressure on the top and a high pressure on the bottom
•Which causes the airfoil to lift
•Note: Some will say that the air from the top of the airfoil does not reach the trailing edge at the exact same time as the air from the bottom this is correct. However it is close enough for this discussion. Our recommendation is that you do not go that deep into this to start. The explanation listed above is sufficient for a commercial or CFI applicant. If you are an aeronautical engineer by all means go as deep as you would like.
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