21st Century

Nowadays, helicopters have earned their place in aviation as special purpose vehicles. The helicopter cannot beat the airplane in range, speed and noise performance. However, their unique and fascinating VTOL capability means that they are here to stay.

Some existing companies are: Bell Helicopters, Enstrom, Eurocopter, Kaman Aircraft Corporation, McDonnall Douglas, Robinson, Schweizer, Sikorsky, Westland, Mil and Kamov.

Future developments are directed to the issue of environmentally friendly designs, with noise and CO-2 emmision reduction being the primary concern. Moreover, advances in software development will continue to have a significant impact on the avionics in the helicopter cockpit, engine management, and on the way that helicopters are designed.



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