Fun Helicopter and Airplane Facts for Roswell, NM

By derating the engine at sea level, the R22 achieves acceptable high-altitude performance without use of supercharging or turbocharging, thus saving the weight, complexity, unreliability, and shortened engine life of a forced induction system.

Fun Facts About Helicopters

While light-weight, general-purpose helicopters often have a two-bladed main rotor, heavier craft may use a four-blade design or two separate main rotors to accommodate heavy loads.

The first reference to a rotor system is credited to inventor Leonardo da Vinci, who designed an aerial screw in 1480. No full-scale variant was constructed during his lifetime.

During World War I, Hungarian engineer Theodore von Karman constructed a helicopter that, when tethered, was able to hover for extended periods. Several years later, Spaniard Juan de la Cierva developed a machine he called an autogiro in response to the tendency of conventional airplanes to lose engine power and crash while landing.