Talk:Saunders-Roe Skeeter

Tail rotor

"Power was directed to the tail rotor via a torque shaft contained within the tail cone, which featured gearing so that pilots could readily adjust the speed and direction of tail rotor movement"

A helicopter tail rotor gearbox is a simple fixed ratio gearbox that gears down a fast, low torque shaft into the tail rotor. It's a fixed ratio box and the tail rotor always turns at a constant speed ratio with the main rotor. It has nothing to do with flight control and is not controllable in any way by the pilot. The tail rotor runs at a constant speed, the pitch of the blades is changed to control lift, and the movement of the tail, via an entirely separate system. Unless this aircraft uses a wildly different system than any other helicopter I have ever heard of. I can't really see why a multiple speed gearbox to control tail rotor lift would be a desirable feature. Idumea47b (talk) 07:29, 2 September 2024 (UTC)