Directional control for coaxial rotary wing craft

Abstract

A rotary winged aircraft includes an airframe and a drive system located at the airframe. A main rotor system is positioned at the airframe and is operably connected to the drive system to provide lift for the rotary winged aircraft. An auxiliary propulsor is located at the airframe and includes a plurality of propeller blades rotatable about a propulsor axis. Collective and cyclic pitch input applied to the auxiliary propeller blades increases yaw performance of the aircraft. A method of operating a rotary wing aircraft includes powering an auxiliary propulsor secured to an airframe of the aircraft and including a plurality of propeller blades rotatable about a propulsor axis. Individual propeller blades are cyclically rotated about their respective propeller blade axes to cyclically change a propeller blade pitch. Rotation of the aircraft about a yaw axis is induced via the collective and cyclic pitch change of the propeller blades.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.