Flying a helicopter The helicopter is steered in any direction by inclining the axis of the main rotor in that direction. Flying a helicopter requires great concentration. You must use one hand on the control lever that is at your side (the collective control stick) to raise or lower the helicopter, while at the same time controlling the throttle (not an easy task). This is a control which is only found in helicopters and is linked to the engine power. Moving this up and down changes the pitch of the main rotors. As the pitch is increased more power is required from the engines so that the rotor speed is kept at the same level. You must use your other hand on the control lever that is just in front of you (the cyclic control stick) to move the helicopter forward, backward and to either side, as if you were in a conventional aircraft. Moving it forward or back will point the nose of the helicopter up or down. It does this by varying the angle of the rotor blades as they go round, tilting the rotor back and forth. When moved left or right the rotor tilts in that direction and the helicopter banks and rolls. And finally you must use the tail rotor pedals, on the floor, to control the pitch of the tail-rotor. For straight flight, the pitch of the tail rotor is set to prevent the helicopter from turning to the right as the main rotor turns to the left. The pilot pushes the left pedal to increase the pitch of the tail rotor and turn to the left. Pushing the right pedal decreases the pitch of the tail rotor and turns the helicopter to the right. Flying a helicopter requires entirely different skills than flying conventional aircraft. This is why it is difficult to fly a vertical take-off or landing (VTOL) aircraft since both skills are required when making the transition from vertical to horizontal flight. On tandem rotors helicopters, like Boeing's Chinook, that had not tail rotor, the pedals are connected to the swashplates and cyclicly change pitch on both rotors in equal, but opposite directions. For example, if the left pedal is pressed at a hover, the front rotor disk tips left and the rear rotor tips right so that the helicopter yaws to the left. Source: Helis.com / posted by Flyboy