A yaw control system for a helicopter having an airframe that includes a tailboom includes one or more tail rotors rotatably coupled to the tailboom and a flight control computer implementing an airframe protection module. The airframe protection module includes an airframe protection monitoring module configured to monitor one or more flight parameters of the helicopter and an airframe protection command module configured to modify one or more operating parameters of the one or more tail rotors based on the one or more flight parameters of the helicopter, thereby protecting the airframe of the helicopter.

A yaw control system coupled to a tailboom of a helicopter includes tail rotors. The tail rotors include a clockwise tail rotor and a counterclockwise tail rotor. The clockwise tail rotor is configured to rotate in a first rotational direction. The counterclockwise tail rotor is configured to rotate in a second rotational direction, the second rotational direction opposite of the first rotational direction.

An electrically distributed yaw control system for a helicopter having a tailboom includes a plurality of tail rotors rotatably coupled to the tailboom and a flight control computer implementing a tail rotor balancing module. The tail rotor balancing module includes a tail rotor balancing monitoring module configured to monitor one or more parameters of the helicopter and identify a first set of one or more tail rotors in the plurality of tail rotors based on the one or more parameters. The tail rotor balancing module also includes a tail rotor balancing command module configured to modify one or more operating parameters of the first set of tail rotors.

According to an aspect, a clevis assembly includes a shackle having two ends, each end respectively including an aperture, a structure connecting the apertures and housing a bearing, and a shearing device that includes a frangible point and is in operable communication with the bearing, where the shearing device is housed in a hollow portion of the structure.

An anti-torque system for a rotorcraft includes a first tail fan assembly including a plurality of first fan blades and a second tail fan assembly including a plurality of second fan blades. The first tail fan assembly has a larger diameter than the second tail fan assembly. The first fan blades have a larger rotational inertia than the second fan blades such that the second fan blades experience a larger angular acceleration than the first fan blades in response to torque, thereby providing yaw control for the rotorcraft.

A flying passenger rotor lifted vehicle that is capable of taking off and landing vertically, that is relatively light-weight, has responsive control, and increased safety against failure of propulsion/thrust systems. The flying vehicle can include a body having a tail section, a central thrust unit arranged along the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, at a distance from the rotation axis of the main rotor, a mounting support on either side of the body, and a side thrust unit mounted to each mounting support. The central thrust unit includes a fan which provides air flow with a flow component perpendicular to a virtual vertical midplane of the vehicle. Each of the side thrust units includes a fan which provides air flow with a flow component parallel to the virtual vertical midplane. At least one of the thrust units has controllable air deflection to deflect the corresponding output air flow in a controllable manner.

An exemplary aircraft includes a turbine engine having a gas generator spool and a power spool, the power spool operational to drive a rotor, a first generator coupled to the gas generator spool, and a controller operable to increase a load on the gas generator spool when the gas generator spool is on a speed limit thereby increasing a speed limit margin in order to increase power available from the turbine engine.

There is disclosed in one example a flight control computer for a rotary aircraft, including: a first interface to communicatively couple to a flight control input; a second interface to communicatively couple to flight geometry actuators; a data source; a multi-dimensional lookup table including a data structure to correlate flight control inputs to flight geometry actuator outputs according to a third-factor; and circuitry and logic instructions to: receive an input via the first interface; query the data source for the third-factor; query the multi-dimensional lookup table for a control input modifier according to the flight control input and the third-factor; and compute and send via a third interface a flight geometry output according to the control input modifier.

A yaw control system for a helicopter having an airframe that includes a tailboom includes one or more tail rotors rotatably coupled to the tailboom and a flight control computer implementing an airframe protection module. The airframe protection module includes an airframe protection monitoring module configured to monitor one or more flight parameters of the helicopter and an airframe protection command module configured to modify one or more operating parameters of the one or more tail rotors based on the one or more flight parameters of the helicopter, thereby protecting the airframe of the helicopter.

A yaw control system for a helicopter having a tailboom and a forward flight mode includes a surface coupled to the tailboom, one or more tail rotors coupled to the surface, a flight control computer implementing a yaw controller having a rudder control module and a tail rotor rotational speed reduction module and a rudder rotatably coupled to the surface. The tail rotor rotational speed reduction module is configured to selectively switch the one or more tail rotors into a rotational speed reduction mode in the helicopter forward flight mode. The rudder control module is configured to rotate the rudder in the rotational speed reduction mode of the one or more tail rotors to control the yaw of the helicopter.