Heliports Facts for Beaverton

A heliport is a type of airfield devoted to use by helicopters exclusively. Consisting of many helipads and hangers used to protect the helicopters from the elements, helicopters are able to avoid the confined and typically crowded airspace associated with a common airport.

FAA - A History of Aircraft Structures Factoid for Beaverton

Octave Chanute, a retired railroad and bridge engineer, was active in aviation during the 1890s. His interest was so great that, among other things, he published a definitive work called “Progress in Flying Machines.” This was the culmination of his effort to gather and study all the information available on aviation. With the assistance of others, he built gliders similar to Lilienthal’s and then his own. In addition to his publication, Chanute advanced aircraft structure development by building a glider with stacked wings incorporating the use of wires as wing supports.

Helicopter Factoid for Bends for Bend

Currently, helicopters are used to dust crops, apply pesticide, access remote areas for environmental work, deliver supplies to workers on remote maritime oil rigs, take photographs, film movies, rescue people trapped in inaccessible spots, transport accident victims, and put out fires. Moreover, they have numerous intelligence and military applications.

Aviation Facts - Stability and Control of an Aircraft

An aircraft must have sufficient stability to maintain a uniform flightpath and recover from the various upsetting forces. Also, to achieve the best performance, the aircraft must have the proper response to the movement of the controls. Control is the pilot action of moving the flight controls, providing the aerodynamic force that induces the aircraft to follow a desired flightpath. When an aircraft is said to be controllable, it means that the aircraft responds easily and promptly to movement of the controls. Different control surfaces are used to control the aircraft about each of the three axes. Moving the control surfaces on an aircraft changes the airflow over the aircraft’s surface. This, in turn, creates changes in the balance of forces acting to keep the aircraft flying straight and level.

Fun Helicopter Facts for Corvallis

Early efforts to imitate maple pods produced the whirligig, a children's toy popular in China as well as in medieval Europe. During the fifteenth century, Leonardo da Vinci, the renowned Italian painter, sculptor, architect, and engineer, sketched a flying machine that may have been based on the whirligig.

Helicopter Factoid for Corvalliss in Corvallis

The U.S. Forest Service acquired 25 retired AH-1Fs from the U.S. Army. These have been designated Bell 209s and are being converted into Firewatch Cobras with infrared and low light sensors and systems for real time fire monitoring. Army attack helicopters have been stripped of their weapons and lasers. Cameras and infrared sensors have been added to convert them to Cobra Firewatch Helicopters for the CAL Fire Air Program.

Helicopter Facts for Eugene

Emmanuel Dieuaides steam-powered design featured counter-rotating rotors powered through a hose from a boiler on the ground. If you include military helicopters it is estimated that there are more than 45,000 operating worldwide. Helicopters can be flown across oceans if additional fuel is made available or in-flight refueling is employed.

FAA - A History of Aircraft Structures Factoid for Eugene

Into the 1930s, all-metal aircraft accompanied new lighter and more powerful engines. Larger semimonocoque fuselages were complimented with stress-skin wing designs. Fewer truss and fabric aircraft were built. World War II (WWII) brought about a myriad of aircraft designs using all metal technology. Deep fuel-carrying wings were the norm, but the desire for higher flight speeds prompted the development of thin-winged aircraft in which fuel was carried in the fuselage. The first composite structure aircraft, the De Havilland Mosquito, used a balsa wood sandwich material in the construction of the fuselage. The fiberglass radome was also developed during this period.

Fun Helicopter and Airplane Facts for Gresham

Igor Sikorsky is considered to be the “father” of helicopters not because he invented the first. He is called that because he invented the first successful helicopter

The International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) is focused on reducing all helicopter accidents and it envisions an international civil helicopter community that experiences zero accidents. To reach this goal, the IHST is focused on educating all operators and pilots about how civil helicopter accidents occur and how they can be prevented.

FAA - A History of Aircraft Structures Factoid for Gresham

In the 1960s, ever larger aircraft were developed to carry passengers. As engine technology improved, the jumbo jet was engineered and built. Still primarily aluminum with a semimonocoque fuselage, the sheer size of the airliners of the day initiated a search for lighter and stronger materials from which to build them. The use of honeycomb constructed panels in Boeing’s airline series saved weight while not compromising strength. Initially, aluminum core with aluminum or fiberglass skin sandwich panels were used on wing panels, flight control surfaces, cabin floor boards, and other applications.

Helicopter Training Facts for Hillsboro:

All helicopter pilot training programs have long hours, packed schedules, and a very heavy workload. Students are expected to dedicate the time and effort required to be successful in this exclusive program. When Student Pilots put in the long hours, the payoff is a phenomenal career filled with adventure and excitement.

FAA - A History of Aircraft Structures Factoid for Hillsboro

The work of all of these men was known to the Wright Brothers when they built their successful, powered airplane in 1903. The first of its kind to carry a man aloft, the Wright Flyer had thin, cloth-covered wings attached to what was primarily truss structures made of wood. The wings contained forward and rear spars and were supported with both struts and wires. Stacked wings (two sets) were also part of the Wright Flyer.

Heliports Facts:

The typical heliport contains several helipads. Helipads are smooth and flat areas devoted to helicopter landing and take offs. The heliport consists of a control tower in most instances, a radio station as well as identification and emergency lighting.

Helicopter History for Medford

In the 1880s, the well-known scientist and inventor Thomas Edison experimented with small helicopter models. He tested several rotor configurations driven by a gun cotton engine, which was an early form of internal combustion engine. A series of explosions and other mishaps deterred further experiments with these engines. Later, Edison used an electric motor for power, and he was one of the first to realize from his experiments the need for a large diameter rotor with low blade area to give good hovering efficiency. Unlike other inventors of the times, Edison's more scientific approach to the vertical flight problem proved that both high aerodynamic efficiency of the rotor and high power from an engine were required if successful flight was to be achieved.

Helicopter History Fact

In 1783, Christian de Launoy, and his mechanic, Bienvenu, made a model with a pair of counter-rotating rotors, using turkey flight feathers as rotor blades, and in 1784, demonstrated it to the French Academy of Sciences.

Helicopters are classified as rotary wing aircraft, and their rotary wing is commonly referred to as the main rotor or simply the rotor.

FAA - A History of Aircraft Structures Factoid for Portland

In 1909, Frenchman Louis Bleriot produced an aircraft with notable design differences. He built a successful mono-wing aircraft. The wings were still supported by wires, but a mast extending above the fuselage enabled the wings to be supported from above, as well as underneath. This made possible the extended wing length needed to lift an aircraft with a single set of wings. Bleriot used a Pratt truss-type fuselage frame.

Helicopter Facts for Salem

In 1878 the Italian Enrico Forlaninis unmanned vehicle that was also powered by a steam engine, was the first of its type that rose to a height of 12 meters (40 ft), where it hovered for some 20 seconds after a vertical take-off.

Over 3 million lives have been saved by helicopters in both peacetime and wartime operations since the first person was rescued from the sea in 1944.

FAA - A History of Aircraft Structures Factoid for Salem

More powerful engines were developed, and airframe structures changed to take advantage of the benefits. As early as 1910, German Hugo Junkers was able to build an aircraft with metal truss construction and metal skin due to the availability of stronger powerplants to thrust the plane forward and into the sky. The use of metal instead of wood for the primary structure eliminated the need for external wing braces and wires. His J-1 also had a single set of wings (a monoplane) instead of a stacked set.

Helicopter Fun Facts for Springfield

Numerous individuals have contributed to the conception and development of the helicopter. The idea appears to have been bionic in origin, meaning that it derived from an attempt to adapt a natural phenomenain this case, the whirling, bifurcated fruit of the maple treeto a mechanical design.

The FAA World From The Perspective of Air Traffic

At any given moment there are approximately 5,000 aircraft traversing the U.S. skies.The FAA is a year-round, 24/7 operation, responsible for 5.3 million square miles of U.S. domestic airspace and 24 million square miles of U.S. airspace over the oceans. There are 43,290 average daily flights in and out of the U.S. More than 14,000 air traffic controllers manage traffic from many of the FAA’s 700 facilities. Fifty-five hundred airway transportation system specialists maintain more than 70,000 pieces of equipment.Aviation contributes $1.6 trillion annually to the U.S. economy and constitutes 5.1 percent of the gross domestic product. Aviation generates 10 million jobs in the U.S. annually.