Aeronautical experts gathered to see if one of the strangest of flying machines would take the air. The inventor of this helicopter, Raul Pescara, a Spanish engineer, climbed into the narrow cockpit of the bar metal tubing. Above him, two giant “windmills” of eight blades each began to flail the air, while an ordinary airplane propeller at the front idled slowly. Then the craft rose bodily into the air, slowly and deliberately, as if its great weight had vanished. It dipped, and skimmed across the flying field. The helicopter was a success.
Its ability to rise straight up distinguishes a helicopter from any other type of flying machine, such as the autogiro. Because a helicopter could use a roof top or a back yard as a landing field, instead of requiring an extended area, inventors have long dreamed of perfecting a vertical-flying craft. Only after a series of heart-breaking failures was the successful Pescara craft evolved, the indomitable inventor building one craft after another.
The first Pescara helicopter, could not rise because it could only lift three fourths its own weight. A second got off the ground but was unable to balance itself in the air. Another, when flown out the hangar door, tipped over and injured its pilot.
Obviously, at this time, there wasn't anywhere to get helicopter flying lessons.
Keeping the machine upright was the problem that dogged the inventor, and he fashioned ingenious outriggers and attached them to the axles of his next craft’s landing wheels. These short poles were tipped with shock absorbing “footballs.” Pescara practiced piloting the craft until he learned to skim over the earth at the height of a foot or two, bouncing the poles off the ground with acroabatic skill whenever the craft started to tip. He held the world’s helicopter distance record of 2,414 feed made in 1924.
Recognition of Raoul Pescara’s work came in 1927 when the British government commissioned him and an associate to build a helicopter. The present machine is the result of his latest studies.
Learning to fly a helicopter can be tricky. You need to attend an aviation school that offers helicopter flying lessons.
Some of the best flight schools can be found online and hopefully there is one in your area.
If you're interested in flying a modern day helicopter, you'll need helicopter flying lessons. You can find a helicopter flight school near you, online. A helicopter flight school will help you with helicopter flying lessons, obviously.
