Guidelines For Reducing Helicopter Parasite Drag

This paper presents an analysis of the considerations involved in reducing the drag of new helicopter fuselage configurations within practical design constraints. Included are drag reduction guidelines for fuselage components such as the nose section, cabin, afterbody, hubs, engine nacelles, landing gear and protuberances. The guidelines are based primarily on wind tunnel test data and analytical studies conducted on numerous tandem and single rotor aircraft.