Photo courtesy of Kaman

If you, like me, have wondered how the K-Max flies from a pilot’s perspective, look no further. Elan Head of Vertical has written a great article about this odd looking aircraft which gives you a very good insight into its quirkiness. Being a longline pilot, this is a helicopter I’d love to get my hands on, but they are a rare breed, so reading about it is a close as most of us will ever get to flying it. For those of you not previously familiar with it, I guarantee that you’ll find this helicopter to be even weirder than it looks.

…The K-MAX is unique not only for its intermeshing rotor system, but also for how that rotor system is controlled. In conventional helicopters, pilot control inputs change the pitch of the main rotor blades at their root. In helicopters made by Kaman — which, in addition to the civilian K-MAX, include the H-43 Huskie and SH-2 Seasprite — the pilot is instead controlling smaller airfoils called servo flaps that are attached to the trailing edge of the main rotor blades, around three-quarters of the way toward their tips….

Read about Elan’s comprehensive look into this amazing helicopter here.