Though most earlier designs used more than one main rotor, it is the single main rotor with anti-torque tail rotor configuration that has become the most common helicopter configuration. Some helicopters reached limited production, but it was not until 1942 that a helicopter designed by Igor Sikorsky reached full-scale production, with 131 aircraft built. Helicopters were developed and built during the first half-century of flight, with the Focke-Wulf Fw 61 being the first operational helicopter in 1936. English-language nicknames used for helicopters include chopper, helo and whirlybird. The word helicopter is adapted from the French language hélicoptère, coined by Gustave de Ponton d'Amecourt in 1861, which originates from the Greek helix/helik- ( ἕλιξ) = 'twisted, curved' and pteron ( πτερόν) = 'wing'. The capability to hover efficiently for extended periods of time allows a helicopter to accomplish tasks that fixed-wing aircraft and other forms of vertical takeoff and landing aircraft cannot perform.

These attributes allow helicopters to be used in congested or isolated areas where fixed-wing aircraft would usually not be able to take off or land. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward, and laterally. For other uses, see Helicopter (disambiguation).Ī Spanish Maritime Safety Agency AW139SAR rescue helicopterĪ helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by rotors.

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