I'm not sure about the distinction between a rotor and a wing - they are essentially the same thing from a physics perspective, and both deflect the airflow downwards. Are you alluding to the trajectory of the disturbed air, which would be downwards and backwards in the helicopter frame of reference during forwards flight? That certainly would further delay the effects of the prop wash on objects in the flight path.
Yeah, I wasn't real clear on that part. My apologies. You're 100% right in that a rotor is actually made up of multiple wings spinning round and round. In a hover and at low speeds the helicopter is held in place by the lift of the individual blades/wings. However, at the point of translational lift, the aircraft is no longer held up by the actions of individual blades going around in circles and instead is now held up as if under a disc-shaped solid wing. The airflow is now the same as it is under a fixed wing aircraft. So it really does allow the drone to approach the windscreen without interference. Before this speed there actually might be enough downward prop wash to interrupt the flight path of the drone--especially if neither the helicopter nor drone is moving very fast. It's also at this point that efficiency goes up considerably. This increase in efficiency is what allows helicopters to fly forward at a higher altitude than they are capable of hovering. For one particular small helicopter (the only one I know the numbers for off the top of my head), the service ceiling is 11,500 feet but it cannot hover any higher than 9,000 feet (in ground effect).
I think you missed the point of my post. The point of it is that a pilot is not going to fly in an area where a drone is known to be flying as it is a risk management decision that NO pilot will ever take.
Having read books like Young Men and Fire, if you're in a situation where you need a drone to navigate out, you probably don't have enough time to get the drone in the air. I remember the fire in Redding CA literally advanced like 5 or 10 miles in as many minutes. And if you do manage to get your drone up, there's an excellent chance that the fire's creating it's own wind patterns that would make it very difficult to navigate a consumer drone.
You know what? I think I got comments reversed when I made that remark. I was thinking of things one way at that moment but when I go back and look at stuff, without having to go through the whole topic again, I see what you're saying and see the reason for your remark. You know what they say about hindsight...
No problem @jaswalt , it would be great if we as a community could get people to fly their drones like they were a pilot actually in the drone and their life depended on flying it safely. I’m sure that would stop some of the stupidity associated with drone flights.
Off topic, but I'm not quite sure where you're getting your information from. Translational lift is just an aerodynamic effect that increases the efficiency of the rotors in forward flight (or in a wind). There's no difference to how the rotors work - they don't suddenly act like a solid wing.
The real issue here is spotting them in time to take evasive action.
Well, you do bring up another issue. It's just not the issue I did. Que Sera Sera.
Sorry, I buried the lede.
It's more a matter of size than distance. You only need to look at the number of birdstrikes every year to see how difficult it is for a pilot to spot a bird-sized drone.
Part of the problem is that drone pilots aren't really at the scene so they aren't risking anything — so it's a moral hazard situation.
