Optimal Flare And Landing Of A Helicopter In Tail Rotor Failure

Abstract

The main goal of this study is to find an optimal flare and landing maneuver for a helicopter that has been stabilized and has been brought into autorotation trim after experiencing a tail rotor failure. In this work, the previous studies of the authors are concluded by covering a landing scenario, starting from stable autorotation and ending with a safe landing. The trajectory generation process utilizes linearized models from the default FLIGHTLAB helicopter model. The obtained trajectories are then fed into a tracking controller, and nonlinear simulations are performed in FLIGHTLAB environment. The investigation is repeated for different types of tail rotor failure.