In hover, the helicopter tends to drift laterally due to tail rotor thrust. This lateral movement is called

• A. Translating tendency
• B. Translational lift
• C. Sideward drift
• D. Yaw drift

Answer: (A)

This lateral drift in hover is called translating tendency. The helicopter’s main rotor creates torque on the fuselage, so the tail rotor provides thrust to counter that torque. That tail rotor thrust also pushes on the tail, creating a sideways force that makes the whole helicopter tend to drift laterally relative to the ground. Pilots counter this by applying pedal to balance the tail rotor thrust and, if needed, cyclic to keep the aircraft in place.

Translational lift is the increase in lift you get as you move forward, which isn’t about lateral drift in hover. Sideward drift isn’t a standard term for this phenomenon, and yaw drift would refer to rotation about the vertical axis, not a sideways translation.