AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2020 - 38

PILOT BRIEFING
FUTURE FLIGHT |

a high-pitched noise signature, and is dangerous for people on the ground.
Bell said EDAT may solve many of these
problems. Safety is probably the biggest benefit. Because the small rotors are variable
speed, and not variable pitch at a constant
speed, they can turn off completely when
the helicopter is on the ground, allowing for
hot ingress and egress with no danger. The
company also said redundancy is improved,
because there is still tail rotor authority with
three of the four rotors inoperative. The four
electric motors are powered by an enginedriven generator. That would indicate that
power is still being siphoned from the main
rotor, but it's easy to see future scenarios
where batteries or a hybrid solution power
the system.
To this point Bell has been testing the
system for overall viability, but officials
have said that it will go into an optimization program at some point soon. Although
the program is in the commercial helicopter division, it only takes
one look to imagine the small rotors mounted horizontally on an
eVTOL aircraft. Conventional wisdom had said that eVTOL technology would trickle down to traditional aircraft, but it appears in
Bell's case that some of it might move the other direction. The system is fly-by-wire with no mechanical linkage to the anti-torque
pedals, and the build partner, Safran, is also working with Bell on
future optionally piloted technology.

Bell debuts electric tail rotor
Systems is said to be safer
B Y I A N J. T W O M B LY

BELL IS FLIGHT TESTING a new system that it thinks has the potential to make helicopters safer, more efficient, and quieter.
It's called electrically distributed anti-torque (EDAT), and it
replaces the traditional single tail rotor with four electric motors
powering four rotors in a shrouded tail section. Although in flight
testing since May 2019, the system was made public in February.
Helicopter tail rotors have long been a source of engineering fiddling. There's MD Helicopters' NOTAR (no tail rotor) and Airbus'
Fenestron (Provençal for "little window"), and coaxial models in
development. The tail rotor saps power from the main rotor, puts out

EMAIL ian.twombly@aopa.org

AOPA FLIGHT PLANNER TO SUNSET
JEPPESEN IS decommissioning its legacy map engine that powers much of
the information in the AOPA Flight
Planner. Because of this, AOPA planned
to sunset the planner by the end of
April. The engine that powers the
Flight Planner has become obsolete.
After March 31, the Flight Planner will
no longer be supported, and it will no
longer be available after April 30. AOPA
and Jeppesen, a Boeing company, have
long partnered to bring members the
Flight Planner.
38 | AOPA PILOT May 2020

"With the flight planning engine
that powers the current AOPA Flight
Planner being decommissioned, AOPA
has to move ahead and look at new
ways to provide pilots access to other
desktop flight planners, and to have
access to great EFB options for when
they fly," said Jiri Marousek, AOPA
senior vice president of marketing.
"We will keep working with the
industry, and adding those options as
quickly as possible. We understand
that any change of tool like the Flight

Planner is inconvenient for any pilot
using it, and we are working to minimize that. Of course, we are also focused
on our critical mission of protecting and
growing aviation, training and educating
pilots to be better and safer, and adding
benefits for AOPA pilots."
AOPA's other tools that help pilots
plan their flights will still be available, including weather and the AOPA
Airport Directory, which offers downloadable approach plates and taxi
diagrams.

AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2020