Helicopter Rides

A helicopter is an aircraft that is lifted and propelled by one or more horizontal rotors, each rotor consisting of two or more rotor blades. Helicopters are classified as rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft to distinguish them from fixed-wing aircraft because the helicopter derives its source of lift from the rotor blades rotating around a mast. The word 'helicopter' is adapted from the French hélicoptère, coined by Gustave de Ponton d'Amecourt in 1861. It is linked to the Greek words helix/helik = "spiral" or "turning" and pteron = "wing".

Although helicopters were developed and built during the first half-century of flight, some even reaching limited production, it was not until 1942 that a helicopter designed by Igor Sikorsky reached full-scale production,with 131 aircraft built.Even though most previous designs used more than one main rotor, it was the single main rotor with antitorque tail rotor configuration of this design that would come to be recognized worldwide as the helicopter.