RESUMEN DE CONCEPTOS DE

ESTABILIDAD EN
HELICOPTEROS

RESUMEN DE CONCEPTOS DE ESTABILIDAD EN HELICOPTEROS

1 STATIC STABILITY
1.1 LONGITUDINAL STATIC STABILITY
ITEM
TRIM

STATIC STABILITY

HOVERING FLIGHT

FORWARD FLIGHT

DEFINITION
An aircraft is in trim when all forces and
moments acting on it are in balance. The
aircraft is in a state of equilibrium and
would continue in that condition unless
acted upon by a gust, or affected by pilot
action
A body is statically stable if there is an
INITIAL TENDENCY for it to return to
its trim condition after an angular
displacement or after a change in the
transitional velocity. In helicopter
parlance static stability, in forward flight,
describes the response of the helicopter
following a change in translation velocity
(speed stability). Manoeuvre stability is
the response to angular changes (AOA
stability)
If a helicopter suffers an angular
disturbance while hovering no
direct aerodynamic moment arises
which will restore it to its original
attitude. The resultant rotor thrust
always passes through the center
of gravity irrespective of the
angular position of the helicopter
(assuming no download on the
horizontal stabilizer and fuselage).
The response is then NEUTRAL
STABILITY.
If a hovering helicopter is
subjected to a disturbance in
translational velocity then it is
only the flap back effect from the
rotor that will tend to return the
helicopter to its original attitude.
At very low speeds contributions
from the horizontal stabilizer and
fuselage may be ignored.
The contributors to static stability are:
The main rotor. The main rotor
provides a stable contribution to

ITEM

MANOEUVRE STABILITY
(longitudinal stability due to changes in
AOA angle of attack)

MANOEUVRE STABILITY
(longitudinal stability due to changes in

DEFINITION
static stability. The size of the
stabilizing moment increases with
speed and rotor thrust.
The horizontal stabilizer. The
horizontal stabilizer produces a
stabilizing contribution to static
stability provided that it is down
loaded. Therefore the inherent
stability of the isolated main rotor
(with speed) can be increased, or
reduced, by the addition of a
suitably sized downloaded, or
uploaded, tailplane. The
magnitude of the moment from the
tailplane increases with speed.
The fuselage. The contribution to
static stability from the fuselage
can be either stabilizing or
destabilizing depending on the line
of action of the lift and drag forces
Contributors to manoeuvre stability are:
The main rotor. The main rotor
provides an unstable contribution
to manoeuvre stability. The size of
the destabilizing pitching moment
will increase with trim speed,
above minimum power speed, and
load factor.
The horizontal stabilizer. The
horizontal stabilizer provides a
stabilizing contribution to
manoeuvre stability. It does not
matter whether the stabilizer is
uploaded or down loaded when at
the trim condition, since an
increase in fuselage incidence will
result in a nose down pitching
moment in both cases. The
magnitude of the stabilizing
moment increases with trim speed,
but not load factor.
The fuselage. The contribution to
manoeuvre stability from the
fuselage can be either stabilizing
or destabilizing depending on the
line of action of the lift and drag
forces .
If the CG is forward of the rotor, the
increase in rotor thrust and aft tilt of the

ITEM
AOA angle of attack)

DEFINITION
vector associated with an up gust may
produce a stabilizing nose down pitching
moment, or at least, a less severe nose up
moment. With an aft CG position,
however, the situation is reversed and an
increase in thrust and rearwards tilt of the
thrust vector will generate an unstable
pitching moment

1.2 LATERAL/DIRECTIONAL STATIC STABILITY

ITEM
MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS

DIRECTIONAL (YAWING) STATIC

STABILITY

DEFINITION
Major contributors are the main rotor, the
tail rotor, the fin and the fuselage.
The lateral cyclic displacement is related
to the lateral (rolling) static stability, and
the yaw pedal displacement is related to
the directional (yawing) static stability
Contributors to the directional stability of
a helicopter arise from the tail rotor, the
fin, the fuselage and the main rotor.

The tail rotor always provides a

stabilizing contribution, which
arises from the change in tail rotor
thrust with change in sideslip
velocity. In steady forward flight,
the thrust produced depends on the
blade angel of attack.
Fin contribution. In forward flight
with no sideslip or rotor wake
interference a symmetrical fin
produces no net sideforce.
However, should the helicopter
sideslip to the right, say, the
relative airflow is such that the fin
now has an effective angel of
attack equal to the sideslip angle.
The net sideforce produced by the
fin comprises components of both
the fin lift and drag. This force will
give rise to a yawing moment. The
direction of this moment is such
that it will always tend to yaw the
helicopter into the direction of the
sideslip, thus it is stabilizing. The
size of the moment for a given fin
design will depend on the forward

ITEM

LATERAL (ROLLING) STATIC

STABILITY

DEFINITION
speed and lateral velocity
Fuselage contribution. The
fuselage will produce a yawing
moment which will be stabilizing
or destabilizing depending on the
relative positions of the force and
the CG of the aircraft. In forward
flight with no sideslip, a
symmetrical fuselage would
produce no net sideforce.
However, in the same manner as
the fin, the fuselage in a sideslip
presents an angle of attack to the
relative airflow equal to the
sideslip angle. Fuselage lift and
drag forces will then be produced
(although the lift will usually be
very small) parallel with and
perpendicular to the relative
airflow. These forces will in turn
produce a yawing moment. The
point of action of the force in
relation to the CG will determine
whether or not this moment is
stabilizing. The magnitude of the
fuselage contribution for a given
fuselage shape will increase with
increasing forward speed, sideslip
velocity and fuselage drag area
Main rotor contribution. As the
helicopter sideslips, the main rotor
will flap away from the direction
of the airflow. The tilting of the
thrust vector will produce a
horizontal thrust component that
manifest itself as a sideforce at the
rotor hub. If the main rotor is tilted
forward with respect to the z axis
of the helicopter then a yawing
moment will be generated. This
moment will provide a
destabilizing contribution, but it
will be small in relation to the
others
Main contributors are: Main rotor. Other
contributors are: Tail rotor, fin , fuselage
and horizontal stabilizer.
No direct restoring moment arises as a
result of a disturbance in bank angel. The

ITEM

LATERAL (ROLLING) STATIC

STABILITY. MAIN ROTOR
CONTRIBUTION

LATERAL (ROLLING) STATIC

STABILITY. OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

DEFINITION
lateral static stability is, in fact, provided
by the sideslipping motion that occurs
subsequent to a change in bank angle
Sideslip induces the characteristic flap
back effect with the rotor flapping away
from the relative wind direction. This
causes a tilt of the thrust vector that will
produce a restoring moment about the CG.
The magnitude of the rolling moment wil
be dependent on the size of the flapping
angle and the height of the rotor hub
above the CG. Offset hinges will also
increase its magnitude
The contributions to lateral static stability
from the tail rotor, the fin and the fuselage
all arise as a result of the sideforces
produced on these components during a
sideslip. The magnitude of each
contribution will depend on the individual
forces and the distances of their lines of
action from the rolling axis. Normally all
the contributions are stabilizing

DYNAMIC STABILITY

2.1 LONGITUDINAL DYNAMIC STABILITY AND CONTROL RESPONSE

ITEM
BASICS

HELICOPTER MODES OF MOTION

DEFINTION
Dynamic stability determines the aircrafts
longer term response to a disturbance. An
aircraft is dynamically stable if, following
the removal of a disturbing force, it
returns to its equilibrium position. Control
response is concerned with the response of
the aircraft to a control input made by the
pilot
The three modes of motion of a helicopter
describing its dynamic behaviour are:
Vertical velocity mode. The
vertical velocity mode is a stable,
heavily damped subsidence in
vertical velocity. The motion is
decoupled from speed and pitch
and has a time constant of the
order of 1 to 2 seconds.
Forward speed mode. The forward
speed mode is a stable, heavily

ITEM

DYNAMIC STABILITY IN THE

HOVER

DYNAMIC STABILITY IN FORWARD

FLIGHT

DEFINTION
damped subsidence in speed. The
motion is coupled with pitch
attitude and pitch rate. It has a
short time constant of the order of
0.5 seconds
Pitching oscillation. The stability
of the pitching oscillation is both
speed and flight condition
dependent. In the climb or at high
speed the oscillation can be
unstable, possibly degenerating to
an exponential divergence at high
speed. The oscillation couples with
the forward speed mode and is
mainly due to rotor flapping
caused by speed changes.
It should be remembered that all modes
will be excited following a disturbance or
pilot input. The various dynamic modes
described above can be separated into
long term modes and short term modes.
The long term modes characterize the
dynamic stability of the helicopter,
whereas the short term modes affect the
pilots perception of the aircraft during
manoeuvres, that is its control response
The dynamic equation has four roots. Two
real roots and a pair of complex roots.
One real root represents a heavily damped
subsidence such that if a helicopter is
disturbed, by a vertical gust for example,
the subsequent heave motion is quickly
damped out. The motion is a pure
convergence with no oscillation and
confirms that the vertical motion is
completely decoupled from the pitching
and fore/aft motions. The other real root
represents the forward speed mode. In the
hover the pitching oscillation or falling
leaf mode masks this mode.
The motion associated with the complex
root is generally unstable and its
amplitude increases steadily, bearing out
the analytical solution. The instability is
entirely due to the characteristic backward
flapping of the rotor with forward speed
Helicopters do not, strictly speaking,
exhibit the SPPO (short period oscillatory

ITEM

SHORT TERM OR PITCH MODE

EFFECTS ON DYNAMIC STABILITY

DEFINTION
motion) and the Phugoid (long period
oscillatory motion), there are certain
analogies to be drawn.
A sort of phugoid is exhibit by the
rotorcraft and its frequency is inversely
proportional to the trim speed. An
increase in trim speed thus reduces the
frequency resulting in a larger period for
the oscillation. An increase in trim speed
will increase the damping in addition to
reducing the frequency of the response. A
helicopter carrying large external stores
(higher drag coefficient) is therefore likely
to exhibit a more heavily damped long
term response.
Instead of SPPO there are usually two
aperiodic motions, one with a short time
constant and one with a longer time
constant, the former being masked by the
latter. Just as the dynamic stability of the
helicopter is directly related to its long
term modes the control response is
characterized by the short term modes
The following factors affect dynamic
stability, but their influence can only be
determined by solving the stability
equation.
Reminder: A negative real part is
indicative of a convergent response and a
pair of complex roots imply an oscillatory
motion.

Airspeed
Increased pitch damping
Change in speed stability

2.2 LATERAL/DIRECTIONAL DYNAMIC STABILITY AND CONTROL

RESPONSE
ITEM
LATERAL/DIRECTIONAL DYNAMIC
STABILITY MOTION MODES

DEFINITION
The four modes of motion are:
Heading mode. The heading mode
indicates that the aircraft has
neutral yaw angle stability
Yawing mode. The mode (spiral
mode) is independent of roll and
lateral translation and is an

ITEM

DYNAMIC STABILITY IN THE

HOVER

DYNAMIC STABILITY IN FORWARD

FLIGHT. THE SPIRAL MODE

DYNAMIC STABILITY IN FORWARD

FLIGHT. LDO MODE

DEFINITION
exponential motion that can be
either convergent or divergent.
The time constant is moderately
long being typically between 5 and
20 seconds
Rolling mode. It is a damped
subsidence in pure rol. The motion
has a short time constant of the
order of 1 to 2 seconds
Lateral/directional oscillation. The
lateral/directional oscillation
(LDO) or Dutch roll, is an
oscillation in roll and yaw, which
like the pitching oscillation can be
flight condition dependent.
Typically the oscillation is
unstable in the hover and in a
climb
Hover dynamic stability is characterized
by four equation roots.
One real root represents a damped
subsidence in yaw. Any disturbance
generating a yaw rate will be damped out
and the aircraft will be left pointing in a
new direction. The other real root is
usually a large negative root representing
a heavily damped roll subsidence.
The complex root represents a divergent
oscillation involving changes in bank
angle, heading and sideways velocity and
is often referred to as the falling leaf
mode. A disturbance in bank angle causes
the helicopter to move sideways; this
motion causes the rotor to flap back and
eventually stop the sideways velocity but
the aircraft is left with some bank angel
and the motion reverses direction. At the
same time, the sideways velocity causes a
change in tail rotor thrust and sideforce
which then produces a yawing moment.
The falling leaf motion can be considered
as an undamped oscillation
This mode depends on the trimmed
forward speed. However, the effect of
changes in speed are difficult to determine
theoretically since the values of all the
important derivatives change with speed
LDO will always be stable provided there
is no sign change in the derivatives. These

ITEM

FACTORS AFFECTING DYNAMIC

STABILITY

DEFINITION
changes may come from modifications in
CG position that result in the fuselage
contribution becoming negative, also main
rotor wake interference may reduce or
increase the value for the tailplane. When
negative, the destabilizing effect would
increase with forward speed.
Airspeed
Increased roll damping
Increased yaw damping
Increased lateral static stability
Increased directional static
stability
No general comments can be done about
the stabilizing or destabilizing effects of
the aforementioned factors