One big advantage to a helicopters rotor system is the vertical thrust that allows the aircraft to

hover. However, when this same rotor system is flown edge wise through the air it creates an
aerodynamic problem that limits the helicopters forward speed. The term used to describe this is
dissymmetry of lift.
To generate lift a helicopters rotor blades spin to create airflow. A rotor systems RPM is fixed
at a certain value for all phases of normal flight and increasing the blades angle of attack (the
angle between the relative wind and the blades cord line.) with the collective control generates
lift. In a hover with no wind, lift is essentially equal across the entire rotor disc. However, as the
helicopter begins to move forward it creates a relative wind. One side of the rotor disc has a
blade that is advancing into the relative wind (think headwind) and the other side has a blade that
is retreating (think tailwind). The difference in airspeed each blade encounters between the two
sides grows as the helicopter gains forward speed. This creates an imbalance of lift problem that
early helicopter engineers had to solve to maintain controllability.

To help understand how they did it, consider the equation for lift.
Lift = CL p S V2
CL = Coefficient of Lift, which is a function of angle of attack and blade shape
p = air density
S = total blade area
V = airspeed
At a given moment in time, air density, total blade area and blade shape are all fixed values, so as
each blades airspeed changes the rotor system must respond by changing the blades angle of
attack to keep total lift constant. This is done primarily by allowing the blades to move up or
down in a process known as flapping. Two bladed rotor systems (known as semi-rigid) use a
single teetering hinge that allows the blades to flap as a unit (one go up, the other goes down).
Rotor systems with more than two blades (typically known as fully articulated) use a flapping
hinge on each blade allowing the blades to move up or down independently of each other.
How flapping works is by changing the angle of attack in response to the varying airspeeds the
blade encounters as it moves around the rotor disc. When the advancing blade experiences a
higher airspeed, the lift on that blade increases forcing it to move up. This upward movement
changes the direction of the blades relative wind reducing its angle of attack. On the retreating
side just the opposite happens. The reduced airspeed causes a decrease in lift causing the blade to
move down, increasing its angle of attack. Each blades angle of attack changes in direct relation
to its relative airspeed. As each blades relative airspeed increases, angle of attack decreases and
vice versa to maintain equal lift across the disc as the helicopters airspeed increases.
As you might have guessed, this creates a problem on the retreating side. You can only increase
an airfoils angle of attack so much before it stalls. As the helicopter continues to fly faster the
retreating side must continue to increase its angle of attack to compensate. At some airspeed the
retreating blade stalls and this is what limits the helicopters forward airspeed. This is referred to
as retreating blade stall.
How exactly does flapping change a rotor blades angle of attack? That was a great question
with many good explanations provided by readers. I think to fully understand it is important to
know the difference between pitch angle and angle-of-attack. Pitch angle is the angle between
the rotor blades chord line (a straight line intersecting the leading and trailing edges of an
airfoil) and a reference plane of rotation. Angle-of-attack is the angle between the rotor blades
chord line and the relative wind (the airflow that results from, and is opposite of, the velocity of
an airfoil. Velocity is used here as a vector to mean speed and direction.)
When the rotor blades stay in the reference plane of rotation the pitch angle and angle-of-
attack are the same. The pilot controls the pitch angle with the collective control and thus the
angle-of-attack as well. However, when a rotor blade leaves the plane of rotation (flapping
causes this to happen) the direction component of its velocity changes. Since relative wind is a
function of velocity, it changes as well. In the case of a blade that flaps up the relative wind
moves opposite the blades new direction. This change in relative wind direction reduces the
blades angle-of-attack. The opposite is true for the blade that flaps down on the retreating
side.
As the helicopters forward speed continues to increase, the retreating, or down flapping, side
encounters higher angles of attack. Eventually, the rotor system encounters retreating blade
stall.
From the pilots perspective, when this happens an abnormal vibration will be felt, the nose can
pitch up, and the helicopter can have a tendency to roll in the direction of the stalled side. The
amount and severity of pitch and roll will vary depending on the rotor system design.
The tendency for the nose to pitch up is because the spinning rotor system acts like a gyroscope
and therefore experiences gyroscopic precession (a physical property that states when an
external force is applied to a rotating body the effect will happen approximately 90 degrees
later in the direction of rotation). As such, when the retreating blade stalls and stops producing
lift, the effect of this happens toward the rear of the rotor disc. This causes the disc to tilt back,
and the nose to pitch up.
Conditions like high density altitude, steep or abrupt turns, high blade loading (caused by high
gross weight), turbulent air and low rotor rpm will increase the likelihood of encountering
retreating blade stall when operating close to a helicopters Vne (never exceed speed).
Helicopter flight manuals contain a chart or textual description in the limitations section that
reduce the helicopters Vne at higher altitudes and temperatures. This is the airspeed limitation
chart from a Bell 407.

Should a pilot encounter retreating blade stall, lower the collective and reduce airspeed. Other
actions that will help are increasing rotor rpm and decreasing the severity of any roll or pitch
maneuvers. Taking immediate action at the first sign will normally result in a quick recovery.
However, if a pilot attempts to increase speed a severe stall would develop with possible loss of
control.
Flying a rotor system edgewise through the air creates a problem known as dissymmetry of lift.
One side of the disc advances into the wind (headwind) while the other side is retreating
(tailwind). For a fixed angle of attack, the lift on the advancing side is greater creating a lift
imbalance that increases with airspeed. The rotor system equalizes lift by flapping.
How flapping works is by changing the angle of attack in response to the varying airspeeds the
blade encounters as it moves around the rotor disc. When the advancing blade experiences a
higher airspeed, the lift on that blade increases forcing it to move up. This upward movement
changes the direction of the blades relative wind reducing its angle of attack. On the retreating
side just the opposite happens. The reduced airspeed causes a decrease in lift causing the blade to
move down, increasing its angle of attack. You can only increase an airfoils angle of attack so
much before it stalls. As the helicopter continues to fly faster the retreating side must continue to
increase its angle of attack to compensate. At some airspeed, the retreating blade begins to stall.
From the pilots perspective, when this happens an abnormal vibration will be felt, the nose can
pitch up, and the helicopter can have a tendency to roll in the direction of the stalled side. The
amount and severity of pitch and roll will vary depending on the rotor system design.
The tendency for the nose to pitch up is because the spinning rotor system acts like a gyroscope
and therefore experiences gyroscopic precession (a physical property that states when an external
force is applied to a rotating body the effect will happen approximately 90 degrees later in the
direction of rotation). As such, when the retreating blade stalls and stops producing lift, the effect
of this happens toward the rear of the rotor disc. This causes the disc to tilt back, and the nose to
pitch up. The pilot should lower the collective pitch first and then reduce forward airspeed to
recover.
Conditions like high density altitude, steep or abrupt turns, high blade loading (caused by high
gross weight), turbulent air and low rotor rpm will increase the likelihood of encountering
retreating blade stall when operating close to a helicopters Vne (never exceed speed).
Dissymmetry of Lift
Dissymmetry of lift is the difference in lift that exists between the advancing half of the rotor
disk and the retreating half. It is caused by the fact that in directional flight the aircraft relative
wind is added to the rotational relative wind on the advancing blade, and subtracted on the
retreating blade. The blade passing the tail and advancing around the right side of the helicopter
has an increasing airspeed which reaches maximum at the 34 o'clock position. As the blade
continues, the airspeed reduces to essentially rotational airspeed over the nose of the helicopter.
Leaving the nose, the blade airspeed progressively decreases and reaches minimum airspeed at
the 9 o'clock position. The blade airspeed then increases progressively and again reaches
rotational airspeed as it passes over the tail.
Note the shaded circle in the picture labeled "REVERSE FLOW":

Blade airspeed at the outboard edge of the shaded circle is 0 knots. Within the reverse flow area,
the air actually moves over the blade backwards from trailing edge to leading edge. From the
reverse flow area out to the blade tip, the blade airspeed progressively increases up to 294 knots.
At an aircraft airspeed of 100 knots, a 200 knot blade airspeed differential exists between the
advancing and retreating blades. Since lift increases as the square of the airspeed, a potential lift
variation exists between the advancing and retreating sides of the rotor disk. This lift differential
must be compensated for, or the helicopter would not be controllable.
To compare the lift of the advancing half of the disk area to the lift of the retreating half, the lift
equation can be used. In forward flight, two factors in the lift formula, density ratio and blade
area, are the same for both the advancing and retreating blades. The airfoil shape is fixed for a
given blade. The only remaining variables are changes in blade angle of attack and blade
airspeed. These two variables must compensate for each other during forward flight to overcome
dissymmetry of lift.
Two factors, rotor RPM and aircraft airspeed, control blade airspeed during flight. Both factors
are variable to some degree, but must remain within certain operating limits. Angle of attack
remains as the one variable that may be used by the pilot to compensate for dissymmetry of lift.
The pitch angle of the rotor blades can be varied throughout their range, from flat pitch to the
stalling pitch angle, to change angle of attack and to compensate for lift differential.
The following picture shows the relationship between blade pitch angle and blade airspeed
during forward flight:

Note that blade pitch angle is lower on the advancing side of the disk to compensate for
increased blade airspeed on that side. Blade pitch angle is increased on the retreating blade side
to compensate for decreased blade airspeed on that side. These changes in blade pitch are
introduced either through the blade feathering mechanism or blade flapping. When made with
the blade feathering mechanism, the changes are called cyclic feathering. Pitch changes are made
to individual blades independent of the others in the system and are controlled by the pilot's
cyclic pitch control.
Tail Rotor Dissymmetry of Lift
The tail rotor experiences dissymmetry of lift during forward flight, because it also has
advancing and retreating blades. Dissymmetry is corrected for by a flapping hinge action. Two
basic types of flapping hinges, the delta and the offset hinge, are used on most contemporary
helicopters.
The delta hinge is not oriented parallel to the blade chord:

It is designed so that flapping automatically introduces cyclic feathering which corrects for
dissymmetry of lift. The offset hinge is located outboard from the hub:

The offset hinge uses centrifugal force to produce substantial forces that act on the hub. One
important advantage of offset hinges is the presence of control regardless of lift condition, since
centrifugal force is independent of lift.