Helicopter Types
Helicopters come in all shapes and sizes nowadays and are used for different purposes. For example, you can use a small helicopter to get a couple of people from A to B, a larger helicopter as an alternative to an airplane to ferry more people about and, of course, the military and emergency services use specially designed helicopters for various purposes.
The various types of helicopter are differentiated in various ways. For example, some helicopters:
- Will have a piston engine and others will have a jet engine.
- Will have one engine and some will have twin engines.
- Will be designed to carry just two people whilst others can carry a number of people.
- Will be designed for certain conditions (i.e. fair weather and day time flying) whilst others may offer more options (i.e. all weather and night time flying).
- Will only be limited to certain speed ranges whilst others can fly faster.
- Will have two rotors whilst some will just have one.
- Will have different types of blades than others. Blades may be rigid or semi-rigid (where they move together), fully articulated (where they can move separately), or they may have a combination system.
Obviously, the more a helicopter can do, the bigger it is and the more features is has, the more money it will cost to buy.