What do helicopters sound like

Why do helicopters sound like that? Why are helicopters so loud sound waves? Why is helicopter flying over my house? What does it mean when there a helicopter is circling? What do helicopters do at night? What are the lights on a helicopter? Do helicopters have blinking lights? What does it mean when a plane flashes its headlights?

Is it safe to fly a helicopter at night? What do the flashing lights mean on a plane? Do airplanes have to have blinking lights? Do airplanes have blue lights? Previous Article Can you steer a soap box derby car? Next Article What is the most recognizable characteristic of late Baroque music?

NYC Tours. Departing from Manhattan Departing from New Jersey. Contact Us. Why Are Helicopters So Loud? February 25, Helicopters are well known for the loud sound they make as their blades spin, but many people do not know what causes the noise.

Then there was the sudden excitement of the sound of the half-dozen choppers accelerating their engines and rotors, churning up the dust.

The whine of the engines and the chuf, chuf of the whirling blades then increased in pitch and intensity and rapidly heightened to a final whizzing takeoff. From Rob Loughran, High Steaks :. But his voice floundered in the chuff-chuff, chuff-chuff of a US Navy helicopter that bulleted down the valley about forty feet off the ground. From James Doss, Stone Butterfly :. The chuff-chuff of an approaching helicopter awakens the feline dreamer. From T. The first helicopter was almost even with the barn now, moving fast over them.

Felix heard a muffled chuff, chuff, chuff from it. From Matthew Ewald, Human Nature :. The sounds from outside intensified, he cocked his head as he heard a soft whisper, the chuff chuff whirring of a helicopter, a news helicopter, he Helicopters are said to whir. The whirring helicopters.

Due to their blades. Any machine with blades is said to whir. Origin of whir Middle English Scots quirren, probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Dan hvirre to whirl, whir. Rebel Heart. The thump-thump-thump of the helicopter got louder and louder until they could feel it vibrating through them. This is a demonstration of my new sound-effect-gauge for FSX-Helicopters. It simulates the blade slap in several flight conditions YouTube video link. Rotorcraft Aeromechanics. Impulsive noise or blade slap is a sharp cracking, popping, or slapping sound occurring at the blade passage frequency There are numerous characteristics of helicopter sound that cause it to be objectionable to many within earshot.

To begin with, noises with a beat or pulsating qualities tend to be more annoying. The main-rotor and anti-torque systems in turbine helicopters tend to dominate the acoustical signature. The distinctive aerodynamic rotor blade slap noise generated by helicopter rotors is difficult to disguise. These interactions generate a complex unsteady pressure field that propagates below the rotor as high impulsive noise. This noise tends to propagate forward of the helicopter.

Aviation week. In some cases turns at high speed, descent the blades may also be hitting the wake vortex shed by the previous blade resulting in sharp increase in the puslating sound called "blade slapping".

What you are talking about though is the noise you hear primarily in low speed descent when the helicopter is coming in to land.

This is when the helicopter makes its distinctive "whop whop" noise. This results from the tip vortices produced by preceding blades passing through the disk plane and interacting with later blades.

Different helicopter types make different noises. The twin-bladed Huey of the Vietnam era was a whop - whop sound. The twin rotor Chinook Vietnam and later, still in service today is more of a wokka - wokka. That's what its crews call it.

Earlier helicopters were sometimes described as 'clattering'. Modern ones can make a 'thrumming' sound when far away, becoming more of 'beating' sound close to. I've often seen the word 'low' added in front of all the above -the low beating of the helicopter A loud heli noise filled the air. The B. Rika looked up and ran to Piers. Seems fair to me since he's AFK and its irritating having a really loud heli noise above you when you're in spawn waiting for an MHQ to deploy.

My son's British childminder, when we were living in France, called the sound a helicopter makes:. I suppose the vowel sound connecting the consonants is more or less a schwa. It's not like saying the letter F. The F sound is definitely the beginning of a distinct syllable.

I'm not sure how to notate it properly. A search for "thwack-thwack" got me webpage links from Google today, with a search for "thwack-thwack" AND "helicopter" getting from the same company. That's better than "choo-choo" surely a train sound! For helicopters, an onomatopoeic term may exist that has better numbers than "thwack-thwack" but if so I didn't find it.

Loading noise is an aerodynamic adverse effect due to the acceleration of the force distribution on the air around the rotor blade due to the blade passing through it, and is directed primarily below the rotor.

In general, loading noise can include numerous types of blade loading: some special sources of loading noise are identified separately. Changes in blade-section motion relative to the observer as the steadily loaded propeller rotates, generally referred to as "loading" noise. This source tends to dominate at low blade speed.

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