The Vertical Hummingbird is an American
helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
, produced by
Vertical Aviation Technologies of
Sanford, Florida
Sanford is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Seminole County. As of the 2020 census, its population was 61,051.
Known as the "Historic Waterfront Gateway City", Sanford sits on the southern shore ...
that was introduced in 1991. The aircraft is supplied as a kit for
amateur construction.
[Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011–12'', page 194. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ]
Design and development
The Hummingbird is a development of the
certified
Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...
Sikorsky S-52
The Sikorsky S-52 is a utility helicopter developed by Sikorsky Aircraft in the late 1940s. It was used by the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.Donald 1997, p. 840. The S-52 was the first US helicopter with all-metal rotor blades. Initi ...
that first flew in 1947, adapted to kit form. The aircraft features a single main rotor, a four-seat enclosed cabin, quadracycle
landing gear
Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...
and an option for skids.
The prototype was converted by Vertical Aviation Technologies from a
Sikorsky S-52-3.
[
The Hummingbird ]fuselage
The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...
is made from riveted aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...
sheet. The nose section is adapted from the Bell 206. Its diameter fully articulated three-bladed main rotor employs a NACA 0015 airfoil
An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the cross-sectional shape of an object whose motion through a gas is capable of generating significant lift, such as a wing, a sail, or the blades of propeller, rotor, or turbine.
...
.
Variants
;VAT S-52-3:Prototype of the Hummingbird family, converted from an original Sikorsky S-52-3.four-stroke
A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directio ...
, dual-ignition
Dual Ignition is a system for spark-ignition engines, whereby critical ignition components, such as spark plugs and magnetos, are duplicated. Dual ignition is most commonly employed on aero engines,Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, ...
Lycoming IVO-435 engineGeneral Motors LS7
"LS engine" is the colloquial name given to the third and fourth generation small-block V8 gasoline engine used in General Motors' vehicles. The name evolved from the need to differentiate the Gen 3/Gen 4 small blocks from the original Gen 1 ...
V-8 automotive conversion engine, derated to fuel injected
Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of an injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines.
All comp ...
IO-540 derated to
Specifications (Hummingbird 300L)
References
External links
*{{Official website, http://vertical-aviation.com/
1990s United States sport aircraft
1990s United States helicopters
Homebuilt aircraft
Hummingbird
Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...
Single-engined piston helicopters
Aircraft first flown in 1991