What do anti-torque pedals control?

What do anti-torque pedals control?

• A. Antitorque Pedals
• B. Ailerons
• C. Pitch and Thrust of Tail Rotor
• D. Rudder

Answer: (C)

Anti-torque pedals change the tail rotor blade pitch to produce thrust, counteracting the main rotor’s torque and providing yaw control. In a helicopter the fuselage would spin in the opposite direction of the main rotor if unchecked, so the pedals adjust how much thrust the tail rotor pushes to rotate the nose left or right and hold a heading or execute a turn. Ailerons steer roll on fixed-wing aircraft, not yaw in rotorcraft, and the rudder on a fixed-wing airplane handles yaw too—neither of those describe how rotorcraft control yaw. Simply naming them anti-torque pedals doesn’t specify the mechanism; the essential action is changing tail rotor pitch to create thrust that controls yaw.

Anti-torque pedals change the tail rotor blade pitch to produce thrust, counteracting the main rotor’s torque and providing yaw control. In a helicopter the fuselage would spin in the opposite direction of the main rotor if unchecked, so the pedals adjust how much thrust the tail rotor pushes to rotate the nose left or right and hold a heading or execute a turn. Ailerons steer roll on fixed-wing aircraft, not yaw in rotorcraft, and the rudder on a fixed-wing airplane handles yaw too—neither of those describe how rotorcraft control yaw. Simply naming them anti-torque pedals doesn’t specify the mechanism; the essential action is changing tail rotor pitch to create thrust that controls yaw.