Left The Notar testbed hovers with its tail in the

treessomething the unmodified OH-6 could

never do. Far left MDH plans the ten-seat tail
-rotorless MDX, but will pave the way with the
Notar-equipped MD520L, bottom, which is
based on the MD500E, below
required. The remaining one-third, and
the excess moment required for direc-
tional control, is provided by a thruster at
the tip of the boom.
This thruster comprises a fixed cone
with port and starboard air outlets, over,
which is a second, movable cone with just
one outlet. Air exiting the pressurised
boom is directed to port or starboard by
this outer cone, which rotates in response
to rudder pedal inputs.
Several improvements have been made
to the Notar concept since the admittedly
crude testbed flew in 1981. At one point
ungainly fences and an engine exhaust
diverter had to be added to isolate the
boom from flow off the fuselage.
Then came the acquisition of Hughes
Helicopters by McDonnell Douglas. More
research money became available and
Notar engineers gained access to a water
tunnel at St Louis. Using this facility they
discovered t hat rotor downwash was sepa-
rating from the boom before reaching the
slot. The solution was to add a second slot
higher up on the starboard side of the
boom. This kept the downwash attached.
FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 27 February 1988
At the same time it was realiseo ^nat the
fan used to pressurise the boom, a cut-
down fenestron, was less than 65 per cent
efficient. A new fan with wide-chord
blades was designed that is at least 85 per
cent efficient.
The Notar testbed is now flying success-
fully with the redesigned fan and two-slot
boom, and MDH now has its own water
tunnel at Mesa.
Notar' s primary purpose is to improve
safety. The US Army attributes more than
10 per cent of its helicopter accidents t o'
the tail rotor striking something or losing
effectiveness. Notar will eliminate those
causes and at the same time make the heli-
copter less hazardous to those on the
ground.
Flight tests have brought another Notar
characteristic to the fore, however. The
system has been found to reduce pilot
workload significantly, requiring far
fewer rudder pedal inputs to hover or
manoeuvre.
To increase rotor thrust in the hover,
the pilot increases blade collective pitch.
Torque increases, but so does rotor down-
wash, and with it tailboom anti-torque
sideforce. The system is self-
compensating. According to MDH, almost
no rudder pedal inputs are needed to
maintain heading in the hover.
Other advantages claimed for Notar
include a reduction in vibration and
mechanical complexity, and a consequent
increase in reliability and maintainability.
MDH also claims that every area of OH-6
performance is improved by Notar. Side-
ward and rearward flight speeds are nearly
doubled.
The 520N will incorporate several
Notar improvements. The tail boom will
be smaller and lighter and the empennage
more effective than on the testbed. The
metal boom and empennage together
weigh more than 1001b on the modified
OH-6, requiring ballast to be added in the
nose. The composite boom and
empennage on the 520N will weigh just
201b, less than the boom, empennage, and
tail rotor on the 520L.
Certification of the Notar-equipped
520N in late 1989 will pave the way for the
larger MDX, a ten-seat commercial heli-
copter which MDH aims to begin
delivering in 1994. The MDX is now in
preliminary design, with the company
seeking risk-sharing partners to provide
roughly half the funds required.
In addition to Notar, MDX will feature
a composite airframe, an all-composite
bearingless main rotor, a grease-
lubricated transmission, and a single-
display glass cockpit. gj
27