The distinctions in aircraft flying are best as Fixed-Wing Airplane and Rotor Lift Helicopters. The major differences of the aforementioned types comes from range, atmospheric compatibility, weight capacity, speed, maneuverability and equipment, to sum it all up, we can say it’s the performance.
There’s one difference that can’t be defined, that is the designs that stem from aerodynamics. Different methods to generate lift and keep a margin for safety.
Students can step into this world, and always look at something new. There are designs and ideas out there that one would wonder how come he never seen, good examples of that are the Airbus Beluga, AT-802 Air Tractor and Kaman K-Max.,
Overall, range is always less in helicopters than airplanes, excess speed and long distance travel doesn’t interest the first respectively. Even the Lockheed AH-56A Cheyenne, had to acquire some fixed wing characteristics to allow such a range of 1225 miles, you can see that it has a small airfoil to generate secondary lift, that adds up the performance envelope and allows for more, but the golden rule in aerodynamics is that, every time you add an element, you will loose another, every calculation is locked as a square, you reduce this, you increase that. Design must depend on the need.
What are the needs ? by just looking at the AH-56A, you can see that the increased longitudinal length was needed to maintain stability in high speeds, otherwise it can get thrown like a crumbled paper. It’s also obvious that this aircraft depends more on Translational Lift, which in summery means that less hovering is possible due to excess weight and airflow blockage, so it can climb up high altitudes but it has to remain within horizontal speed minimums. It isn’t necessarily hard to hover at low altitudes but fuel costs will be higher than a runway landing. You can see the pros and cons and complexity of purpose, a great aircraft like this allows you to initiate different missions with different resources and criteria. That’s intelligence at its best. We all owe a sincere respect and admiration towards those who had to live among numbers and physics just to invent such power.
Please refer to FAA’s performance text book to understand the rest of the performance differences above. Link : https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/phak/media/13_phak_ch11.pdf
With these performance differences comes different jobs. Students and pilots are better to know these varieties,
A Heavy-lift Airbus A350 or Boeing 747-8 are designed to withstand weight, consume economically but needs a larger distance and longer steps to complete procedures.
A Medium-Lift rotor aircraft like the Airbus H-145, can maneuver in small radius, hover within buildings and even conduct low and slow flight to follow targets and screen images. It can also land and depart quickly without many shifts in power settings, which is good as an ambulance.
A TBM-850 can be the best air taxi, it won’t require long runways or long takeoff distance, it goes fast, consumes lesser fuel and travel amazing distance comfortably, these can be used to work as a private pilot for 4-6 passengers and arrive at islands, industrial areas and even houses. Hell you can even get a license and fly that one yourself and still save money. The new TBM-950 has it’s own emergency homing and auto-landing intelligence system. It can save lives and not leave the one pilot as the only source for hope. For long contracts and companies that need personnel to move around would spend less money renting these aircraft, hiring a pilot than to make an airline budget and lose money, time and flexibility altogether.
While some students that don’t want to fire missiles only look up to airlines, they should also look into carriers that don’t do any of that, C17’s AC-130’s, needs a civil pilot license (CPL/IR) just like the airline and work as carriers of people and supplies.
A fixed-wing pilot cannot fly a rotor craft, without taking two subjects back from the beginning and vice versa, these two subjects are Aerodynamics and Airframe & Powerplant. Meteorology, Instruments and Procedures might have their special cases but they’re very little in comparison to how different thrust gets generated from a rotor than it is by a Fixed-Wing. Pitch angle is more than just a prop pitch for the airplane.
Helicopters gain lift directly from the upper vector, the rotors have the same shape as the wing but they move in circles. The way the engines are made can’t allow for speed of rotation to be the controller of how much can it go up, but the pitch angle is what does, an immediate surprise to anyone who thought otherwise. In Fixed-Wing planes, pitch is usually used in high speeds to reduce drag and deal with air directly. In this sense propeller pitch and throttle control are totally something else in each.
There are multiple ways a helicopter can land and take off. The extra inclinations of the vertical axis allow for more maneuverability. It’s necessary to understand translational lift, hovers and drift. In Fixed-Wing it’s always about crosswinds, headwinds and tailwinds, while here is more about blade-stall and compensation techniques.
It costs less to get your commercial pilot license and instrument rating with a helicopter than with airplanes. It’s more simple in terms of flight planning but doesn’t step into the realm of routes, charts, satellite communication and reporting, high altitudes and flight management.
The aviation industry is confusing, without a clear purpose in the beginning, you can end up lost. Most choose to step this game up one by one and they’re the wisest.
Pilot licenses are categorized the same way across the world, they only have regulations that are required by each administration but they always remain as the following :
- CPL (Commercial Pilot License)
- PPL (Private Pilot License)
- Airforce.
Ratings are set of certifications that allow you to fly under hard weather, certain types of aircraft, etc, they go as follows :
- IR (Instrument Rating)
- Night rating
- Class rating
- Type rating
Guys with little money and want to start somewhere, go for PPL license with IR rating, this way they spend less to obtain certificates but can still rent and conduct superb flight and see what’s more for them.
You can always visit the Pilot Career Center to get information of institutions, schools and news at : https://pilotcareercenter.com/Europe
