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What the Helicopter Is.
  
  
  
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 28. 

What the Helicopter Is.

The helicopter gets its name from being fitted with vertical propellers or helices (see illustration) by the

action of which the machine is raised directly from the ground into the air. This does away with the necessity for getting the machine under a gliding headway before

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it floats, as is the case with the aeroplane, and consequently the helicopter can be handled in a much smaller space than is required for an aeroplane. This, in many instances, is an important advantage, but it is the only one the helicopter possesses, and is more than overcome by its drawbacks. The most serious of these is that the helicopter is deficient in sustaining capacity, and requires too much motive power.