Red Helicopter Low-poly 3D model

cgtrader

A rotorcraft is a type of helicopter that supplies lift and thrust using horizontally-spinning rotors. This allows the rotorcraft to take off and land vertically, hover, and fly forward, backward, and laterally. These attributes make it possible for helicopters to be used in congested or isolated areas where fixed-wing aircraft and many forms of VTOL (Vertical TakeOff and Landing) aircraft cannot perform. The English word helicopter is derived from the French word hàlecophere, coined by Gustave Ponton d'Amecourt in 1861. The Greek words helix, meaning spiral or whirl, and pteron, meaning wing, are also part of its origin. In addition to the common term "helicopter," English speakers often use nicknames such as chopper, copter, heli, and whirlybird. Military slang in the United States includes the pronunciation "helo" with a long e. Helicopters were developed during the first half-century of flight. The Focke-Wulf Fw 61 was the first operational helicopter, built in 1936. Some helicopters reached limited production before Igor Sikorsky's design achieved full-scale production in 1942, resulting in 131 aircraft being built. Today, most common helicopter configurations feature a single main rotor accompanied by a vertical anti-torque tail rotor. However, twin-main rotor helicopters and coaxial-rotor helicopters are also used due to their greater payload capacity. Other types of multicopters have been developed for specialized applications such as drones, with quadrotor helicopters being pioneered in France as early as 1907.