Special thanks to Nick Aukland and the crew at Helicopter Maintenance Help Desk ( www.youtube.com/@helicoptermaintenance ). Nick was super responsive and enlisted his team to help me get the details right!
How is lift transferred from the rotors to the airframe? If the rotors have lift, what stops them just being lifted up out of the aricraft? That fixing point must transfer lift. But how and where? Ive been wanting to know this for years!!!
Caught an error in the video. When discussing disymetry of lift you said maximum down flapping occurs at the front and up flapping at the rear. This is actually the opposite of the truth. As the blade on the advancing side moves forward it generates more lift and flaps up so the blade is at maximum up flap at the front. This compensates for disymetry of lift because as it flaps up that reduces its angle of attack to the relative wind. Thus less upward force is transfered to the rotor hub. The opposite is true on the retreating side. As it flaps down the downward motion of the blade causes an increase in the angle of attack to the relative wind thus creating more lift.
As detailed as this was I would've liked to see more explanation of translation tendency rather than it being mentioned as well as perhaps showing high forward velocity induced lift. Full collective and forward cyclic will grant high forward acceleration but at a certain point it becomes draggy, can bog the rotor rpm, and the heli will fly significantly faster while level and less collective as at speed the rotor plane becomes more like a solid wing so less collective is needed with high rotor rpm. It may sound like advanced to some but it's really rather important for most basic helicopter flight. Also it is possible to fly with no tail rotor authority while maintaining high forward velocity, low collective use, and if necessary synched cyclic commands to go general directions. It can even be done without tail boom but of course is much more difficult. The tailboom really helps stabilize yaw at high forward speed regardless of the tail rotor. A lot of people just give up but that's how you can save a heli with inoperable tail.
I am helicopter mechanic 25 years ago, i have worked with a lot of models (at present with Airbus H-135) and i have to say this is the best teaching video i have ever seen, you should use it at helicopter mechanic schools to train students, congratulation for this great video and thanks for sharing, best regards!
As someone in my first year of flying helicopters, I can say this video explains the mechanics and interactions better than 90% of my instructors. Especially rotor flapping, feathering, flight control mixing, dissymmetry of lift, and the sprag clutch. Thank you for this, it should be shown to every aspiring helicopter pilot!
It's the same with watching David Malan at Harvard, talk about how a computer works. If you've ever had the subject in high school, it's like the difference of seeing something for the first time, vs. having had it told to you by a blind man.
If he did then I didn't stick around long enough to see it as I stopped watching when he said that jet (turbojet) engines use exhaust gases to create thrust.
@@Tom-zs6bb 5:03 "The turbo shaft engine gets its name because it's designed to power a mechanical shaft instead of producing thrust with a stream of jet exhaust." 8:21 "The exhaust gas flow turns ninety degrees as it enters the exhaust chamber, having spent its energy." Not sure what you are talking about.
@@soulextracter What I was talking about should be quite obvious. Perhaps you should re-watch the video. Or do you also believe that a turbojet engine creates thrust by ejecting the exhaust gases rearward?
Means you are secretive and selfish Engineer are you not tapping from him? bought you don't want to share your knowledge experience, where those knowledge and skills kept from you? Today you are comfortable and proud to bear that tittle"Engineer"😁😄😀🤪🤣
I’m an A&P mechanic with a focus on UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters. I’ve also spent time working on Bell stuff (what’s in this video) and the differences are significant insofar as the main rotor system is concerned. However, I can say with confidence, that this video is spot on. I expected to be able to pick it apart and find places where you got lazy and didn’t thoroughly explain a concept or system. I was wrong! You actually made it simple to understand concepts that took me literally years to learn and understand. I will be showing this video to any young, prospective rotorcraft students that are interested in learning about helicopters moving forward. You have a gift.
I'm very grateful to how you show things working from close, then a little further out, then a little further out, with certain model parts turned on and off, repeating the motions over and over again so we can put it all together and see the sum of the parts. Holy moly the work the work you put into breaking down one of our wackiest and versatile inventions.
Chinook pilot here; This video should be shown in flight school. Amazingly well explained and animated, and much more palatable than a 97 year old grumpy retired Huey pilot presenting a 20yr old Powerpoint slide deck... lol
Damn man, that sux big time. I asked my boss if I could run some of the classes in the workshop, get real eyes on real machines. Would have been great to have this tut' also. Know your tools, execute your job with excellence.
Amazing work. Probably the most detailed (mind blowing!) animations yet. I'm not ready to pilot a copter, but know a helluva lot more about their workings!👏💯👍
Wow, from a 31 Year EMS Helicopter pilot that currently flies a Bell 407 GXI . Excellent Job. I am sending this video to all my friends that are always asking me questions on the function of the helicopters I fly. If I would have had this 20 years ago when I was also actively a Helicopter flight instructor, it would have made my job so much easier. I wouldn't have wasted so many dry erase markers and exposed my lack of drawing skills. Bravo Jacob.
I feel like 50% of the appeal of these videos is the information, and the other 50% is just drooling over how high quality and clear the videos are. I'm fully confident that there is no better package of information out there. This guy deserves millions. As soon as I'm not a broke college student, I'll be joining patreon
i like this channel better than others. his attention to detail is sooooo much better than "aitelly" and others. i enjoy 'aitelly" but animagraffs will always be my go to.
As a professional helicopter pilot for 23 years and counting (and currently flying a 407) this is done really well. Many details are left off but the bulk of this information is not only correct but nicely done. Thanks
As a chinook mechanic, this is spot on and you should be dang proud of yourself. 100% correct and very smooth. You took a month long class and condensed it to an hour. Bravo. Edit: I would love to see more rotary wing videos; fenestron breakdown, co-axial birds and of course, tandem rotor systems.
If you could do me a favor, please send Jake a Chinook maintenance manual or whatever drawings you have in the mail. I won't be mad if he decides to do a v-22 or something instead, but I think we can agree the Chinook is absolutely timeless and deserves the video
@@mgmchenry amen to doing the Chinook. And despite a few growing pains (and casualties, sadly) the Osprey is a marvel of flight mechanics and I wouldn’t be upset about a V-22 video either. From a civilian on a marine base who watches them often 😊
@@krash2fast99 I feel like the Chinook is like a semi truck - big, expensive, reliable, and effective. Osprey is like modern cargo van with a decent payload capacity, powered loading ramp, sliding driving door, gets into places you can't take the semi, sleek and versatile. But we'll always need the Semi. The big jobs don't go away.
@@krash2fast99 I don't accept V-22 hate. Compared to other airframes, the lifetime safety record is solid. They'll get the clutch sorted and she'll be back in business. That said said, in the right hands, a chinook is a beast and still nimble as a ballerina. Witnessing a proper j-turn will change your life. Either would make a fantastic video. Tilt rotor is an interesting mechanism to look at, but it takes someone of Jake's level to illustrate how the physics behind CH-47 ground resonance can rapidly disassemble a chinook.
The fact that humans have created such a complex, intricate, robust, and reliable machine (that weighs less than a Miata and carries 5 people) is nothing less than astonishing. That you were able to condense it all into such a beautiful and informative hour-long video is a testament to your skill and talent. Now I feel like if just given the materials, tooling, and FAA clearance, I too could build one of these in my garage.
Hey Jake, I know I'm just one dude, but I got more stoked seeing you'd posted a new video than I have for any creator in a while. These animations and narrations are amazing, keep crushing it!
Not trying to take away from the man's work because it is awesome but making better content than the history channel isn't that hard. It irritates the hell out of me that history and nat geo have become a mockery of what they were and supposed to be.
Jacob, as a lifelong helicopter enthusiast who has drawn and assembled models, checked out books from the public library for book reports, and been a frequent passenger in helicopters since I was 8 years old, I must say that your presentation had me GLUED TO THE EDGE OF MY CHAIR. I am shaken and shocked. Every helicopter how-it-works video on the web should be removed as each plays for a distant second to your video. There is just no reason to watch them. I wondered how or if you would handle gyroscopic progression vs. phase lag. The explanation was a master class. I would click the thumbs up on all comments below, as I agree with all the kudos, but there are not enough hours in the day. Keep doing great work, my man. Pat yourself on the back, knowing that all the efforts that got you to this point were well worth it.
It really doesn't get any better than this for clear, technical, visual information of complex mechanical systems. Animagraffs is the gold standard and is used as reference material in industries such as Formula 1 in aerodynamics and engine management.
Wow, I though I knew how a helicopter was controlled but this made me realize that other than knowing the most basic principal I knew next to nothing about how that principal was actually mechanically implemented and the multiple intricacies involved. Brilliant work.
Every time I see the notification, I get a little excited and plan when I can watch it uninterrupted. Make a nice meal, sit down, and just... Enjoy. One hour of serenity.
I had a few interruptions, honestly it took me 3 days to watch this. Even during my peaceful times I had to rewind it a hundred times to understand it.
Jake O'Neil I am a very lazy content creator of sorts and believe me I understand and appreciate the months of research and hard work that goes into each and every one your videos. The amount of detail is mindblowing. And now I will watch the rest of this video.
How the hell does he get all these intricate designs animated? Does he use existing 3D files from some other product? I'm astonished at how detailed this is. I have been wondering for decades how some of these mechanisms worked and this video finally answered some of my questions.
@@stopthephilosophicalzombie9017 he has a breakdown video for the locomotive and for the SR-71 that goes way behind the scenes on how he does it. If you're short on time, I can spoil it for you. It's work. Careful, obsessive, dedicated long hours and weeks go into these. He's got too much respect for his viewers, for the material, and for the people and history behind these technical marvels to take the kinds of shortcuts most productions get by with. The formula is so simple, anyone can make these videos. Spend half a lifetime developing the skills and talents, set a very high standard for yourself, and work work work until you get it right. Easy!
Thank you very much for teaching those of us who haven’t been to flight school how these machines work. This video deserves the opening of a new academy awards category. The amount of work you have put in researching, modeling and animating all this must be insane. Thank you also for paying hommage to the pure genius that went into developing such a complex mechanism. Cheers!
I’m a professional helicopter mechanic working on Bell 407s (the exact model used for the video) full time and you are spot on at every point. Incredibly well done.
This was amazing to watch. I swear there was a point in there where I understood how the controls work together. It lasted about four seconds, but it was more than I have ever understood before. To be clear, the limitation is my cognitive ability. The intuitive explanation in the video is amazing.
as a commercial and instrument rated helicopter pilot, I have never found a more clear and precise explantation of gas producer and power turbines. Such incredible job for such a confusing topic for most pilots.
Yeah I was thinking the same thing as I watched. I'm a fixed-wing pilot who always was curious about that aspect. Only flew as a passenger a few times, but it would be incredible if I could learn to fly rotary one day! In the meantime, I'm having a blast in DCS with the Kiowa in VR 😂
This is exquisite, perfectly explaining a helicopter’s inner workings, and not just visually, but verbally as well. This is not an easy thing to communicate, but this video does it masterfully. Well done. I’m sure this took considerable effort.
Research, Narration, 3D modeling and Animation by just 1 person! An amazing video by any standard! Can't thank you enough Mr. Jacob O'Neil, for creating such a detailed, coherent and fun to watch content. 👌🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Hands down the best I've seen in explaining swashplate-rotor assembly. Never been able to comprehend fully from other sources. Thank you thank you thank you!
Your efforts have created the best, easiest to follow description of rotor blade dynamics and control I've ever come across, much better than the FAA handbook used in ground school.
I can’t imagine how many hours of work it takes to animate, edit, and narrate these videos. Which can’t happen until in-depth research is done on the current machine being animated, and all of the technical details understood. Genuinely impressive work. Also impressive, is that every extremely specialized mechanical nut, bearing, bushing, coupling, etc. on machines like this are tested so extensively that, with scheduled maintenance, have a failure-rate of practically and virtually close to never. The main takeaway I see from the design of this machine is that everything can elegantly flex and absorb forces so as to create an entire system that is actually very durable to the exceptional and complex forces they must operate in unison within as one smoothly functioning, truly exceptional example of engineering on so many levels.
I am continually amazed at how in a month's time you can put out an hour long video like this. As an aerospace engineer, I might spend a year working on one small component (albeit at a deeper level), whereas you can dive into the workings of the whole vehicle in a tenth that time!
I thought “yeah I know how a helicopter works, I know the basics, it’s a relatively simple machine” and then I watched the video and was in awe😳 your videos never cease to amaze me!!
@@pieterpretorius1014 I cannot believe helicopters don't just fall apart, with 100,000 points of failure, 90,000 spinny parts, being held together with 50,000 bolts & also that one nut at the top of the mast clamping it all down. That one nut makes me worried. I believe in god now.
I can't even imagine how long it took to figure this out and how many different experiments and iterations were necessary. Definitely an engineering marvel.
Nice. I finished my A&P college classes and received my diploma From OCC in Orange county Ca. 3.5 years of night school including summers. We had 2 UH-1 Huey's (the type used in Vietnam) we used to teach us all about Helicopters. This video was outstanding
This is a masterclass explanation. I have been trying to wrap my head around swash plates for a few years and never got the right animation. Thanks for you content.
This is absolutely amazing! Helicopters never made any mechanical sense to me, always found them scary, this video gave me a new appreciative perspective.
@@skorpius2029 I cannot believe helicopters don't just fall apart, with 100,000 points of failure, 90,000 spinny parts, being held together with 50,000 bolts & also that one nut at the top of the mast clamping it all down. That one nut makes me worried. Also I believe in god now.
Animagraffs the amount of time and research you put into these 3D visuals is mind boggling, the results are truly informative and fascinating. Thank you.
Wow! I always wondered how all of that worked. I can't imagine the trial and error in figuring out what was going on with all of the forces involved. I'm glad there are no cables involved moving things around. Good job on this one. Really well done.
Award winning video, if there is any such awards for YT videos. This one is truly deserving. Better than any movie I could’ve watched, I learned while being entertained. Excellent, thank you for your time putting this together.
This video is an utterly astounding accomplishment. It makes me realize that YT needs a robust set of annual video awards to recognize towering achievements such as this.
I run a company here in Aus called Mayday Helicopters. We’re a Ground School that tutors students who are going through their PPL-H and CPL-H pass their exams. This is by far the best video I’ve ever seen and probably the best I ever will see explaining the mechanics and aerodynamics of helicopter flight. My god 👏🏽
As a serious flight sim enthusiast who built a full H145 heli sim I absolutely love this video! This is incredibly accurate! Thank for bringing us this a awesome video!
At 48 years old, I thought I understood the basics of how a helicopter works. Then I taught myself to fly one in DCS. I was wrong. Everything I thought I knew, both theory and practical was wrong. It was amazing. Thanks for the mesmerizing video. I learned many new things about the mechanics of rotor craft.
Wow, this video is amazing. The detailed breakdown of the helicopter's mechanism is incredibly thorough and well-explained. I finally understand how everything works, from the main rotor dynamics to the tail rotor function and the intricacies of cyclic and collective pitch control. Your clear explanations and animation made complex concepts easy to grasp. Thank you for such an informative and engaging animation.
As someone who wants to change career at the age of 45 to hopefully be a commercial helicopter pilot this video is very valuable. I've been interested in aviation for a very long time but now I want to pursue it. This video was very helpful with learning about how they work in great detail and content. Thank you.
Jesus, you're amazing. What a service you provide. This is fantastic. I have never flown anything real, but when I tried to get into gas model helicopters, which were very expensive, I read everything I could on how helicopters work, and you put 2 years of nervous study into 1 hour. I wish I saw this then. All the engineering for model helicopters is just shrunken down and things happen faster, but I wish I could learn to fly real helicopters.
I served the U.S. Army for 23yrs as an aircraft “master crew chief” in Army aviation. I worked on the OH-58 Scout, then later transferred to the UH-60 Blackhawk crew chief, crew member and door gunner. Your video does a better job than I can in explaining the physics of rotary flight to my family members….❤ Thank You
I run a Basic Rotary Class in one of the many DCS communities where we teach people how to fly helicopters through theory and practice, and this video will be shown before every start of a BRC class! This was beautifully created and informative! Thank you for you hard work! Much Appreciated!
I can't tell what's more impressive...how these things fly...or the time, skill, effort and energy it took to recreate this in blender for us to watch. insane work and channel dude please keep this up. you're doing amazing things
If you think auto-rotation is cool, check out autogyros. They look like helicopters with propellers. The main rotor is unpowered, and relies on auto-rotation using the forward propulsion of the propeller.
This is great! I am an A&P, mostly fixed-wing jets, but also went to a few helicopter schools. This video is absolutely perfect and clearly describes and illustrates the operation of components clearer and better than any school I have been to.
@@brodriguez11000? Microchips and PID controllers are the witchcraft that makes quad rotors work. They have nothing to do with the manned rotorcraft that have been flying for decades. What?
Im not sure if it has been stated yet but as a privet pilot i can yell you the first thing you do to enter an auto rotation change from a "nose down" position / "nose level" to a nose up position. Your trying to get wind passing through the rotors to force them to spin. You also change the blade pitch to a much flatter angle in an auto rotation to maintain maximum blade RPM (with out going past an overspeed) as the RPM and Inertia in the system is what is used to cushion your landing when you flare at the bottom.
Funny I was thinking about Helos today as a fixed wing guy. I just started flying for a company that also has helos and I have been getting lots of stick time. I love the amazing timing of this video
I'm amazed that someone actually invented this, and now they are used commonly all over the world. One single failure in any single blade or gear, and the entire thing tears itself apart. At least airplanes can glide, but this is just so insanely complex I'm surprised it works at all.
The maintenance to keep them safe and reliable also makes them very expensive. Every moving part has a very conservative inspection or replacement hour life.
Outstanding video. As a a mechanical engineer and fixed wing pilot, I still can't believe helicopters are as dependable as they are given the complexity of the design and number of components.
helicopter technician here, great video and thorough explenation! if i was a teacher at a flight mechanics school this would be in the first or second class lesson.
nice! Ok halfway through. I knew about collective and cyclic pitch but never saw a good animation. As a machinist and mechanical engineering student, I can safely say I don't know if I will ever ride in a helicopter hahaha. So many points of failure. They are amazing pieces of mechanical engineering/manufacturing feats. After watching the whole thing I have to say bravo! Well done man. Helicopters are crazy.
As a Mechanical Engineer by trade in industry, this video is outstanding. Full of in-depth learnings that usually only come with 'experience' and 'on the job learning' in industry. Undoubtedly these videos take hours upon hours to produce, and for little reconciliation considering the harshness of TH-cam's algorithm and payment system. However, please do keep on producing this content as it is invaluable for the next generation of engineers that would otherwise have no way to 'fast-track' and learn their craft.
Wow, I never knew how intricate, and just how many incredible moving parts there were to a helicopter? Amazing. I also know the more moving parts you have the more problems you can have but these things are amazingly designed!!
@@RabidLemurs I was in the Royal Canadian Air Force for 9 years as an Aero Engine Tech, a jet engine mechanic, and it didn't matter how much Loctite or safety wire you used, part loosen ed up, your job was to find them before they fell off.
Retired A&P here. Amazing video, detailing an incredible machine. Never got to do any MX on helicopters, other than a littlen pin-striping and some inspection duty on an Amerijet Bell Jet Ranger, back in 1988 at Fort Lauderdale Airport. But a flight mechanic I spoke with there said his bird required 10 hours MX for each hour of flight, because otherwise it would shake itself to pieces. 😆 I think he might have been exaggerating a bit. Thanks for this spectacular work you've done. I much enjoyed the education.
Special thanks to Nick Aukland and the crew at Helicopter Maintenance Help Desk ( www.youtube.com/@helicoptermaintenance ). Nick was super responsive and enlisted his team to help me get the details right!
How is lift transferred from the rotors to the airframe? If the rotors have lift, what stops them just being lifted up out of the aricraft? That fixing point must transfer lift. But how and where? Ive been wanting to know this for years!!!
This is the best video I've seen on TH-cam thank you
Caught an error in the video. When discussing disymetry of lift you said maximum down flapping occurs at the front and up flapping at the rear. This is actually the opposite of the truth. As the blade on the advancing side moves forward it generates more lift and flaps up so the blade is at maximum up flap at the front. This compensates for disymetry of lift because as it flaps up that reduces its angle of attack to the relative wind. Thus less upward force is transfered to the rotor hub. The opposite is true on the retreating side. As it flaps down the downward motion of the blade causes an increase in the angle of attack to the relative wind thus creating more lift.
Are you sure the body and tail boom are made of aluminum? Bell 407
As detailed as this was I would've liked to see more explanation of translation tendency rather than it being mentioned as well as perhaps showing high forward velocity induced lift. Full collective and forward cyclic will grant high forward acceleration but at a certain point it becomes draggy, can bog the rotor rpm, and the heli will fly significantly faster while level and less collective as at speed the rotor plane becomes more like a solid wing so less collective is needed with high rotor rpm.
It may sound like advanced to some but it's really rather important for most basic helicopter flight. Also it is possible to fly with no tail rotor authority while maintaining high forward velocity, low collective use, and if necessary synched cyclic commands to go general directions. It can even be done without tail boom but of course is much more difficult. The tailboom really helps stabilize yaw at high forward speed regardless of the tail rotor. A lot of people just give up but that's how you can save a heli with inoperable tail.
I am helicopter mechanic 25 years ago, i have worked with a lot of models (at present with Airbus H-135) and i have to say this is the best teaching video i have ever seen, you should use it at helicopter mechanic schools to train students, congratulation for this great video and thanks for sharing, best regards!
Totally agree!
Me too. 🙂👍
As someone in my first year of flying helicopters, I can say this video explains the mechanics and interactions better than 90% of my instructors. Especially rotor flapping, feathering, flight control mixing, dissymmetry of lift, and the sprag clutch. Thank you for this, it should be shown to every aspiring helicopter pilot!
It's the same with watching David Malan at Harvard, talk about how a computer works. If you've ever had the subject in high school, it's like the difference of seeing something for the first time, vs. having had it told to you by a blind man.
Solid endorsement.
If he did then I didn't stick around long enough to see it as I stopped watching when he said that jet (turbojet) engines use exhaust gases to create thrust.
@@Tom-zs6bb 5:03 "The turbo shaft engine gets its name because it's designed to power a mechanical shaft instead of producing thrust with a stream of jet exhaust."
8:21 "The exhaust gas flow turns ninety degrees as it enters the exhaust chamber, having spent its energy."
Not sure what you are talking about.
@@soulextracter What I was talking about should be quite obvious. Perhaps you should re-watch the video. Or do you also believe that a turbojet engine creates thrust by ejecting the exhaust gases rearward?
As a rotor design engineer, I can’t tell you how excited this video made me. Beautiful job explaining such a complex system!
Means you are secretive and selfish Engineer are you not tapping from him? bought you don't want to share your knowledge experience, where those knowledge and skills kept from you? Today you are comfortable and proud to bear that tittle"Engineer"😁😄😀🤪🤣
@@trentson6965 Whaat?
@@adrianmaree8352 Chief why the What's? Sorry I didn't take to check for edits before post probably why you said what's 🤜🤛
@@trentson6965 what are you asking lol
@@thatoneguy6725 Am asking thatoneguy6726 🤜🤛👍
I’m an A&P mechanic with a focus on UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters. I’ve also spent time working on Bell stuff (what’s in this video) and the differences are significant insofar as the main rotor system is concerned. However, I can say with confidence, that this video is spot on. I expected to be able to pick it apart and find places where you got lazy and didn’t thoroughly explain a concept or system. I was wrong! You actually made it simple to understand concepts that took me literally years to learn and understand. I will be showing this video to any young, prospective rotorcraft students that are interested in learning about helicopters moving forward. You have a gift.
I'm very grateful to how you show things working from close, then a little further out, then a little further out, with certain model parts turned on and off, repeating the motions over and over again so we can put it all together and see the sum of the parts. Holy moly the work the work you put into breaking down one of our wackiest and versatile inventions.
Chinook pilot here; This video should be shown in flight school. Amazingly well explained and animated, and much more palatable than a 97 year old grumpy retired Huey pilot presenting a 20yr old Powerpoint slide deck... lol
Damn man, that sux big time.
I asked my boss if I could run some of the classes in the workshop, get real eyes on real machines.
Would have been great to have this tut' also.
Know your tools, execute your job with excellence.
100% concur.
horaaaah
After Rucker, I can confirm.
My dad flew in Vietnam the Huey’s and he tells a story of him calling the chinooks to slow down.
Another Animagraffs video makes the world a better place
And he's doing it without an ad
HERE HERE!
Incredible Chanel
Amazing work. Probably the most detailed (mind blowing!) animations yet. I'm not ready to pilot a copter, but know a helluva lot more about their workings!👏💯👍
I just stumbled here. If I was training heli pilot I’d say hell yes
Wow, from a 31 Year EMS Helicopter pilot that currently flies a Bell 407 GXI . Excellent Job. I am sending this video to all my friends that are always asking me questions on the function of the helicopters I fly. If I would have had this 20 years ago when I was also actively a Helicopter flight instructor, it would have made my job so much easier. I wouldn't have wasted so many dry erase markers and exposed my lack of drawing skills. Bravo Jacob.
I feel like 50% of the appeal of these videos is the information, and the other 50% is just drooling over how high quality and clear the videos are. I'm fully confident that there is no better package of information out there. This guy deserves millions. As soon as I'm not a broke college student, I'll be joining patreon
Well said.
i like this channel better than others. his attention to detail is sooooo much better than "aitelly" and others. i enjoy 'aitelly" but animagraffs will always be my go to.
100%
Yes! Well said that man👏👍
Brother I am sleeping
As a professional helicopter pilot for 23 years and counting (and currently flying a 407) this is done really well. Many details are left off but the bulk of this information is not only correct but nicely done. Thanks
As a chinook mechanic, this is spot on and you should be dang proud of yourself. 100% correct and very smooth. You took a month long class and condensed it to an hour. Bravo.
Edit: I would love to see more rotary wing videos; fenestron breakdown, co-axial birds and of course, tandem rotor systems.
If you could do me a favor, please send Jake a Chinook maintenance manual or whatever drawings you have in the mail. I won't be mad if he decides to do a v-22 or something instead, but I think we can agree the Chinook is absolutely timeless and deserves the video
@@mgmchenry amen to doing the Chinook. And despite a few growing pains (and casualties, sadly) the Osprey is a marvel of flight mechanics and I wouldn’t be upset about a V-22 video either. From a civilian on a marine base who watches them often 😊
@@krash2fast99 I feel like the Chinook is like a semi truck - big, expensive, reliable, and effective.
Osprey is like modern cargo van with a decent payload capacity, powered loading ramp, sliding driving door, gets into places you can't take the semi, sleek and versatile.
But we'll always need the Semi. The big jobs don't go away.
@@krash2fast99 I don't accept V-22 hate. Compared to other airframes, the lifetime safety record is solid. They'll get the clutch sorted and she'll be back in business.
That said said, in the right hands, a chinook is a beast and still nimble as a ballerina. Witnessing a proper j-turn will change your life. Either would make a fantastic video. Tilt rotor is an interesting mechanism to look at, but it takes someone of Jake's level to illustrate how the physics behind CH-47 ground resonance can rapidly disassemble a chinook.
The Osprey and v22, are a joke. And a sick Nepotism one at that.!
Typical hubris.
CH47 = genuine Legend.
The fact that humans have created such a complex, intricate, robust, and reliable machine (that weighs less than a Miata and carries 5 people) is nothing less than astonishing. That you were able to condense it all into such a beautiful and informative hour-long video is a testament to your skill and talent. Now I feel like if just given the materials, tooling, and FAA clearance, I too could build one of these in my garage.
Hey Jake, I know I'm just one dude, but I got more stoked seeing you'd posted a new video than I have for any creator in a while. These animations and narrations are amazing, keep crushing it!
Do you have any children?
I've got three children, and I felt the same as Chris
I feel the same way about the things I like. Because really great stuff is a little rare, so when it comes around I get jazzed!
Spent six years crewing CH47 and Hueys in the Army and still learning about flight control functions from your video. Awesome job!
Buds casually making better content than the history channel for free on TH-cam
Was the helicopter created by aliens?....ancient astronaut theorists say YES.
Not trying to take away from the man's work because it is awesome but making better content than the history channel isn't that hard. It irritates the hell out of me that history and nat geo have become a mockery of what they were and supposed to be.
Finding better content than modern cable TV online is not hard, if you know where to look.
History channel: Aliens bro.
Without cluttering it with any ads!
Jacob, as a lifelong helicopter enthusiast who has drawn and assembled models, checked out books from the public library for book reports, and been a frequent passenger in helicopters since I was 8 years old, I must say that your presentation had me GLUED TO THE EDGE OF MY CHAIR. I am shaken and shocked. Every helicopter how-it-works video on the web should be removed as each plays for a distant second to your video. There is just no reason to watch them. I wondered how or if you would handle gyroscopic progression vs. phase lag. The explanation was a master class. I would click the thumbs up on all comments below, as I agree with all the kudos, but there are not enough hours in the day. Keep doing great work, my man. Pat yourself on the back, knowing that all the efforts that got you to this point were well worth it.
That sprag clutch mechanism is fascinating you did an amazing job explaining and showing it
It really doesn't get any better than this for clear, technical, visual information of complex mechanical systems. Animagraffs is the gold standard and is used as reference material in industries such as Formula 1 in aerodynamics and engine management.
This video is not only educational it’s a work of art.
Wow, I though I knew how a helicopter was controlled but this made me realize that other than knowing the most basic principal I knew next to nothing about how that principal was actually mechanically implemented and the multiple intricacies involved. Brilliant work.
Time to make a coffee and enjoy 55 minutes of awesomeness!
Every time I see the notification, I get a little excited and plan when I can watch it uninterrupted. Make a nice meal, sit down, and just... Enjoy. One hour of serenity.
@@CuthbertNibbles Giving it the attention it deserves, love it.
I had a few interruptions, honestly it took me 3 days to watch this. Even during my peaceful times I had to rewind it a hundred times to understand it.
The complexity of helicopter rotor assembly design is humbling!
Jake O'Neil I am a very lazy content creator of sorts and believe me I understand and appreciate the months of research and hard work that goes into each and every one your videos. The amount of detail is mindblowing. And now I will watch the rest of this video.
Now all we have to figure out is if Australian helicopter rotors turn the opposite way. 🙂
@@brodriguez11000 technically maybe you could say the do, if you really do some mental gymnastics
How the hell does he get all these intricate designs animated? Does he use existing 3D files from some other product? I'm astonished at how detailed this is. I have been wondering for decades how some of these mechanisms worked and this video finally answered some of my questions.
@@stopthephilosophicalzombie9017 he has a breakdown video for the locomotive and for the SR-71 that goes way behind the scenes on how he does it. If you're short on time, I can spoil it for you. It's work. Careful, obsessive, dedicated long hours and weeks go into these. He's got too much respect for his viewers, for the material, and for the people and history behind these technical marvels to take the kinds of shortcuts most productions get by with. The formula is so simple, anyone can make these videos. Spend half a lifetime developing the skills and talents, set a very high standard for yourself, and work work work until you get it right. Easy!
He's also got a special ability to find the people willing to give him accurate intimate details of the inner workings of all the stuff
Thank you very much for teaching those of us who haven’t been to flight school how these machines work. This video deserves the opening of a new academy awards category. The amount of work you have put in researching, modeling and animating all this must be insane.
Thank you also for paying hommage to the pure genius that went into developing such a complex mechanism.
Cheers!
This is by far one of the most comprehensive animations I've seen regarding helicopters. Thanks for sharing.
I’m a professional helicopter mechanic working on Bell 407s (the exact model used for the video) full time and you are spot on at every point. Incredibly well done.
This was amazing to watch. I swear there was a point in there where I understood how the controls work together. It lasted about four seconds, but it was more than I have ever understood before. To be clear, the limitation is my cognitive ability. The intuitive explanation in the video is amazing.
as a commercial and instrument rated helicopter pilot, I have never found a more clear and precise explantation of gas producer and power turbines. Such incredible job for such a confusing topic for most pilots.
Yeah I was thinking the same thing as I watched. I'm a fixed-wing pilot who always was curious about that aspect. Only flew as a passenger a few times, but it would be incredible if I could learn to fly rotary one day! In the meantime, I'm having a blast in DCS with the Kiowa in VR 😂
This is exquisite, perfectly explaining a helicopter’s inner workings, and not just visually, but verbally as well. This is not an easy thing to communicate, but this video does it masterfully. Well done. I’m sure this took considerable effort.
I’m blown away by how well-made this video is. Excellent!
Research, Narration, 3D modeling and Animation by just 1 person! An amazing video by any standard! Can't thank you enough Mr. Jacob O'Neil, for creating such a detailed, coherent and fun to watch content. 👌🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Hands down the best I've seen in explaining swashplate-rotor assembly. Never been able to comprehend fully from other sources. Thank you thank you thank you!
Your efforts have created the best, easiest to follow description of rotor blade dynamics and control I've ever come across, much better than the FAA handbook used in ground school.
I can’t imagine how many hours of work it takes to animate, edit, and narrate these videos. Which can’t happen until in-depth research is done on the current machine being animated, and all of the technical details understood.
Genuinely impressive work.
Also impressive, is that every extremely specialized mechanical nut, bearing, bushing, coupling, etc. on machines like this are tested so extensively that, with scheduled maintenance, have a failure-rate of practically and virtually close to never.
The main takeaway I see from the design of this machine is that everything can elegantly flex and absorb forces so as to create an entire system that is actually very durable to the exceptional and complex forces they must operate in unison within as one smoothly functioning, truly exceptional example of engineering on so many levels.
Well, if you're a visual learner, this is as good as it gets.
Apparently, I must be a visual learner, because if this were explained any other way, I would still be at: Step 1… 😂
I am continually amazed at how in a month's time you can put out an hour long video like this. As an aerospace engineer, I might spend a year working on one small component (albeit at a deeper level), whereas you can dive into the workings of the whole vehicle in a tenth that time!
I thought “yeah I know how a helicopter works, I know the basics, it’s a relatively simple machine” and then I watched the video and was in awe😳 your videos never cease to amaze me!!
its a thousand parts flying in close formation around an oil leak. words from a helicopter technician i talked too a long time a go on the internet
@@pieterpretorius1014 I cannot believe helicopters don't just fall apart, with 100,000 points of failure, 90,000 spinny parts, being held together with 50,000 bolts & also that one nut at the top of the mast clamping it all down. That one nut makes me worried. I believe in god now.
I can't even imagine how long it took to figure this out and how many different experiments and iterations were necessary. Definitely an engineering marvel.
Nice.
I finished my A&P college classes and received my diploma From OCC in Orange county Ca. 3.5 years of night school including summers. We had 2 UH-1 Huey's (the type used in Vietnam) we used to teach us all about Helicopters. This video was outstanding
This is a masterclass explanation. I have been trying to wrap my head around swash plates for a few years and never got the right animation. Thanks for you content.
This is absolutely amazing!
Helicopters never made any mechanical sense to me, always found them scary, this video gave me a new appreciative perspective.
On the opposite side, it shows just how many things can go wrong because of how complex the whole system is.
@@skorpius2029 I cannot believe helicopters don't just fall apart, with 100,000 points of failure, 90,000 spinny parts, being held together with 50,000 bolts & also that one nut at the top of the mast clamping it all down. That one nut makes me worried. Also I believe in god now.
Animagraffs the amount of time and research you put into these 3D visuals is mind boggling, the results are truly informative and fascinating. Thank you.
Wow! I always wondered how all of that worked. I can't imagine the trial and error in figuring out what was going on with all of the forces involved. I'm glad there are no cables involved moving things around. Good job on this one. Really well done.
Yeah their alot more stuff also different stuff you need to think about with make them work
Research early helicopter flight. Alot of deaths and accidents. Was thought to be impossible by some
Award winning video, if there is any such awards for YT videos. This one is truly deserving. Better than any movie I could’ve watched, I learned while being entertained. Excellent, thank you for your time putting this together.
This video is an utterly astounding accomplishment. It makes me realize that YT needs a robust set of annual video awards to recognize towering achievements such as this.
Stop everything - new animagraffs just dropped!!!!
I run a company here in Aus called Mayday Helicopters. We’re a Ground School that tutors students who are going through their PPL-H and CPL-H pass their exams.
This is by far the best video I’ve ever seen and probably the best I ever will see explaining the mechanics and aerodynamics of helicopter flight.
My god 👏🏽
Truly one of the most culturally valuable channels on TH-cam.
As a serious flight sim enthusiast who built a full H145 heli sim I absolutely love this video! This is incredibly accurate! Thank for bringing us this a awesome video!
3D section has made this video a masterpiece
At 48 years old, I thought I understood the basics of how a helicopter works. Then I taught myself to fly one in DCS. I was wrong. Everything I thought I knew, both theory and practical was wrong. It was amazing.
Thanks for the mesmerizing video. I learned many new things about the mechanics of rotor craft.
Wow, this video is amazing. The detailed breakdown of the helicopter's mechanism is incredibly thorough and well-explained. I finally understand how everything works, from the main rotor dynamics to the tail rotor function and the intricacies of cyclic and collective pitch control. Your clear explanations and animation made complex concepts easy to grasp. Thank you for such an informative and engaging animation.
Watching your videos reminds me of reading illustrated encyclopedia with diagrams and cutaways of all thing when i was a kid i love it
As someone who wants to change career at the age of 45 to hopefully be a commercial helicopter pilot this video is very valuable. I've been interested in aviation for a very long time but now I want to pursue it. This video was very helpful with learning about how they work in great detail and content. Thank you.
I LOVE YOUR STUFF MAN, and I love airplanes and helicopters,
Same, this is a treasure
This is the most useful YT video I have ever watched. Today, I am a slightly smarter helicopter pilot than I was yesterday. Thank you!
Jesus, you're amazing. What a service you provide. This is fantastic. I have never flown anything real, but when I tried to get into gas model helicopters, which were very expensive, I read everything I could on how helicopters work, and you put 2 years of nervous study into 1 hour. I wish I saw this then. All the engineering for model helicopters is just shrunken down and things happen faster, but I wish I could learn to fly real helicopters.
I served the U.S. Army for 23yrs as an aircraft “master crew chief” in Army aviation. I worked on the OH-58 Scout, then later transferred to the UH-60 Blackhawk crew chief, crew member and door gunner.
Your video does a better job than I can in explaining the physics of rotary flight to my family members….❤ Thank You
this channel just keeps getting better and better
Little excites me more than a new animagraffs video. Well done as always.
This guy's absolutely rethinking the whole educational/technical animation genre
I was fortunate enough to fly in this exact helicopter less than a month ago, really cool to see everything going on underneath the body panels
Love that these videos are getting longer and longer. More details on EVERYTHING please!!!!
I run a Basic Rotary Class in one of the many DCS communities where we teach people how to fly helicopters through theory and practice, and this video will be shown before every start of a BRC class! This was beautifully created and informative!
Thank you for you hard work! Much Appreciated!
Probably the best TH-cam video I've seen for years. Thanks for going to all this effort.
I can't tell what's more impressive...how these things fly...or the time, skill, effort and energy it took to recreate this in blender for us to watch. insane work and channel dude please keep this up. you're doing amazing things
Never knew about the blade flapping. Super interesting.
That heck rotor is a thing of engineering beauty.
auto-rotation is one of the coolest things in human flight
great animation!
If you think auto-rotation is cool, check out autogyros. They look like helicopters with propellers. The main rotor is unpowered, and relies on auto-rotation using the forward propulsion of the propeller.
@@jsax01001010 cool!
@@jsax01001010 after looking, f that haha
This is great! I am an A&P, mostly fixed-wing jets, but also went to a few helicopter schools. This video is absolutely perfect and clearly describes and illustrates the operation of components clearer and better than any school I have been to.
This one hour video is way way way more enlightening than the 50 hours VTOL course I took back in my undergrad time.
Excellent explanation of rotory aircraft. Enjoyed the video!
You outdo yourself with every video! I swear the more I learn about helicopters the more it truly seems like absolute witchcraft that they work at all
Or microchips.
@@brodriguez11000? Microchips and PID controllers are the witchcraft that makes quad rotors work. They have nothing to do with the manned rotorcraft that have been flying for decades. What?
@@brodriguez11000 and their fabrication, especially everything to do with EUV
I have to say , this channel by far has the best break down of things and how they work!! Thank you for all the work it must take!
Very well done! You do an incredible job of explaining the complicated engineering of seemingly everyday machines. Can't wait to see your next one!
Best hour ever spent on TH-cam.
As a Bell 407 pilot I have only one thing to say, amazing video!
Thank you very much for this explanation on how helicopter works
Im not sure if it has been stated yet but as a privet pilot i can yell you the first thing you do to enter an auto rotation change from a "nose down" position / "nose level" to a nose up position. Your trying to get wind passing through the rotors to force them to spin. You also change the blade pitch to a much flatter angle in an auto rotation to maintain maximum blade RPM (with out going past an overspeed) as the RPM and Inertia in the system is what is used to cushion your landing when you flare at the bottom.
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING out of breath with the ease of understanding AWESOME
Funny I was thinking about Helos today as a fixed wing guy. I just started flying for a company that also has helos and I have been getting lots of stick time. I love the amazing timing of this video
One of the most beautiful explanations I have ever heard or seen in my life regarding helicopter flying.
I just freaking love the animation quality of your videos! Nice work bro👏🏻👏🏻
Excellent, thanks for sharing.
I'm amazed that someone actually invented this, and now they are used commonly all over the world. One single failure in any single blade or gear, and the entire thing tears itself apart. At least airplanes can glide, but this is just so insanely complex I'm surprised it works at all.
The maintenance to keep them safe and reliable also makes them very expensive. Every moving part has a very conservative inspection or replacement hour life.
Outstanding video. As a a mechanical engineer and fixed wing pilot, I still can't believe helicopters are as dependable as they are given the complexity of the design and number of components.
Amazing work
I worked on the OH-58 in the Army, 1986-1989. I sure wish we had this video for our training. It is excellent!
The world stops when Animagraffs uploads.
I guess this comment is an improvement on "first" and "Babe, animagraffs drop a new banger." But no, the world has not stopped.
helicopter technician here, great video and thorough explenation! if i was a teacher at a flight mechanics school this would be in the first or second class lesson.
nice! Ok halfway through. I knew about collective and cyclic pitch but never saw a good animation. As a machinist and mechanical engineering student, I can safely say I don't know if I will ever ride in a helicopter hahaha. So many points of failure. They are amazing pieces of mechanical engineering/manufacturing feats.
After watching the whole thing I have to say bravo! Well done man. Helicopters are crazy.
This was very educational. Thank you.
Am I the only weirdo who already knows generally how something works, but still loves to watch these videos showing it?
As a Mechanical Engineer by trade in industry, this video is outstanding. Full of in-depth learnings that usually only come with 'experience' and 'on the job learning' in industry. Undoubtedly these videos take hours upon hours to produce, and for little reconciliation considering the harshness of TH-cam's algorithm and payment system. However, please do keep on producing this content as it is invaluable for the next generation of engineers that would otherwise have no way to 'fast-track' and learn their craft.
First to marvel at this godsend of an episode!
Congratulations on your victory! Here's your participation trophy!!
🏆😂
Wow, I never knew how intricate, and just how many incredible moving parts there were to a helicopter? Amazing. I also know the more moving parts you have the more problems you can have but these things are amazingly designed!!
90,000 bolts trying to unscrew themselves all at the same time.
90000 bolts flying in close formation
@@man-from-2058
No, No. The correct definition is " 50,000 parts rapidly rotating around a series of fluid leaks, while looking for a place to crash".
@@RabidLemurs I was in the Royal Canadian Air Force for 9 years as an Aero Engine Tech, a jet engine mechanic, and it didn't matter how much Loctite or safety wire you used, part loosen ed up, your job was to find them before they fell off.
@@Chuck59ish Yikes!
Retired A&P here. Amazing video, detailing an incredible machine. Never got to do any MX on helicopters, other than a littlen pin-striping and some inspection duty on an Amerijet Bell Jet Ranger, back in 1988 at Fort Lauderdale Airport. But a flight mechanic I spoke with there said his bird required 10 hours MX for each hour of flight, because otherwise it would shake itself to pieces. 😆 I think he might have been exaggerating a bit. Thanks for this spectacular work you've done. I much enjoyed the education.
I heard Leon Kaplin say that a helicopter is 10,000 parts that all hate each other.