FAA Private Pilot Helicopter (PRH)Performance and LimitationsMedium
During a hover, a pilot finds that full aft cyclic is required to keep the helicopter from moving forward. This condition most likely indicates that the center of gravity is located
- Atoo far to the left
- Btoo far aft
- Ctoo far forward
- Dexactly at the design CG
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. too far forward
A forward CG causes the nose to pitch down in a hover, requiring the pilot to hold aft cyclic to compensate; if the CG is far enough forward, full aft cyclic travel may be reached with no margin left.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Lateral CG issues affect roll attitude and require lateral cyclic, not fore-aft.
- B. An aft CG would require forward cyclic to hold position, not aft.
- D. A properly centered CG would not require full control travel to hover.
CG and Cyclic Authority
The center of gravity position determines how much cyclic control margin remains available; extreme forward or aft loading can exhaust control authority.
- Forward CG requires aft cyclic to hover
- Aft CG requires forward cyclic to hover
- Exceeding CG limits can result in loss of control authority in flight regimes like hover or autorotation
Memory trick: Nose falls forward, cyclic pulls back.