๐ Inventions and machines โ๏ธ In the air
Helicopters
๐ In short
A helicopter is an aircraft with a big rotor spinning on top. It can rise straight up, land in a small space, hover in one spot, and fly forward, backward and sideways!
๐คฉ Did you know?
- One helicopter reached a speed of 555 kilometers an hour.
- In 1907 the Frenchman Paul Cornu built a helicopter that rose a little off the ground.
- Some helicopters have two big rotors.
- A little helicopter has flown on the planet Mars!
๐ Find out more
๐ A spinning wing
The big rotor on top of a helicopter is really long wings spinning very fast, pushing air down and lifting the helicopter up.
๐ The little tail rotor
When the big rotor spins, it tries to turn the helicopter's body the other way. That's why there's a little rotor in the tail to stop the helicopter spinning round.
๐ก Rescue missions
Helicopters can reach difficult places where planes can't land, like mountain tops and the sea, so they rescue people, take patients to hospital and put out fires.
๐ฏ An old idea
More than 500 years ago Leonardo da Vinci drew a flying machine with a spiral screw, but the first practical helicopter flew centuries later.
๐ธ More pictures
๐งฉ Test yourself
1 What can a helicopter do that an ordinary plane can't?
2 Why is there a small rotor in the tail?
3 One helicopter reached a speed of ?? kilometers an hour.
4 Which picture shows โHelicoptersโ?
๐ Discover more
๐ท Picture sources: Wikimedia Commons
- Fly45yt ยท CC BY 4.0
- Petty Officer 1st Class Levi Read ยท Public domain
.jpg){kind=link}