The movement of the helicopter about its vertical axis is called?

• A. Yaw
• B. Pitch
• C. Roll
• D. Bank

Answer: (A)

Rotation about the vertical axis is yaw. This is the nose turning left or right around a vertical line that runs through the helicopter’s center of gravity. In a helicopter, yaw is produced by changing tail-rotor thrust with the anti-torque pedals, which alters the torque balance between the main rotor and tail rotor and makes the fuselage rotate around that vertical axis while lift from the main rotor continues. Pitch is nose-up or nose-down motion about a horizontal axis, and roll is the tilting side to side about the longitudinal axis. Bank describes the tilt associated with roll, not the rotation about the vertical axis.