Basic Helicopter Operation

The tail rotor in a conventional helicopter counteracts the torque created by the main rotor. It does this by offsetting the inertial force with lift that literally pushes (or pulls, depending on the design) the tail of the helicopter into position. The action of the tail rotor blades is very similar to the main rotor blades, input from the tail rotor control pedals controls the angle of the blades and this angle determines the amount of force(lift) created and this force can be increased or decreased in order to allow the helicopter to turn along it's yaw axis. The tail rotor in some systems is also tied into the collective to automatically increase lift as the collective is raised. This allows the pilot to not have to input pedal controls to keep the helicopter going in it's intended direction while making collective adjustments.