Rotor blade deflection sensing system

A rotary wing aircraft comprising:

• an airframe having an extending tail;
• one or more engines supported by the airframe;
• a rotor assembly operatively connected to the one or more engines, the rotor assembly including a hub and a plurality of rotor blades extending radially outwardly of the hub, each of the plurality of rotor blades including a first surface, a second surface, a third surface and a fourth surface;
• a rotor blade deflection sensing system including at least two fiber optic sensor arrays mounted to at least one of the plurality of rotor blades, at least one of the at least two fiber optic sensor arrays being mounted to one of the first surface, the second surface, the third surface and the fourth surface and another of the at least two fiber optic sensor arrays being mounted to another of the first surface, a second surface, a third surface and a fourth surface;
• and
• a controller operatively connected to the at least two fiber optic sensor arrays, the controller determining one or more of a flapwise and an edgewise displacement based on inputs from the at least two fiber optic sensor arrays.