I've known the theory of this for years but never really fully understood - nothing beats a good practical demonstration and that's exactly what this is. I've learnt loads, thanks. Really interesting.
Hello sir. Am i correct in saying that the swashplate is causing the whistle/chirping heard from some helicopters? And if so, what exactly creates that sound?
Hi Brian. The whistle you heard is usually from the non aerodynamic components moving through the wind. Pitch links and rotor heads are most likely the cause. The further away from the centre of rotation, the higher velocity of airflow will be moving over the surfaces. I don't believe the swashplate has enough airflow, but anything is possible.
It changes the individual blade angles at specific sectors along the blade's rotation. As a result the whole disc will tilt, because of the unequal distribution of lift that this entails. So yes, the final desired result with cyclic pitch is to tilt the rotor disk, but rather than doing this directly (or by "brute force"), it is done by increasing lift on one half of the disc and decreasing in the other half, by varying the blade pitch along the rotation.
