Aviation Glossary - Rotor Thrust Vector

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Rotor Thrust Vector

The vector representation of Rotor Thrust usually depicted as an arrow with a specified magnitude and direction. In a gyroplane, the RTV is represented to be an upward and slightly aft pointing arrow approximately parallel and in-line with the spin axis of the rotor. The Rotor Thrust Vector is the vector sum of the Rotor Lift Vector and the Rotor Drag Vector. A common error in describing or attempting to understand the moments and forces acting on a gyro is to confuse or intermingle the use of both Rotor Drag and Rotor Thrust – one or the other convention must be utilized consistently throughout an analysis. For instance, if Rotor Thrust (combined lift and drag) is the representation of rotor forces used, then additionally describing the affect of a loss of Rotor Drag would be “double-dipping” the Rotor Drag component.

source: Glossary of Gyroplane Terms

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