Which pair describes the correct hover attitude?

• A. 2 degrees nose up; 1 degree right wing down
• B. 4 degrees nose up; 3 degrees right wing down
• C. 3 degrees nose up; 4 degrees right wing down
• D. 5 degrees nose up; 2 degrees right wing down

Answer: (B)

Hover attitude is the trimmed state the helicopter settles into when you’re holding a hover with no forward or backward motion. In this condition the rotor thrust must balance weight, and the fuselage attitude is adjusted so that that thrust line passes through the aircraft’s center of gravity with minimal cyclic input.

For the MH-65E, the standard hover trim is a small nose-up pitch and a slight roll to the right—about four degrees nose up and three degrees right wing down. This combination places the rotor thrust vector where it needs to be relative to the CG, helping keep the helicopter steady in place and easing control inputs. The slight nose-up helps keep the nose from dipping due to rotor wash, while the right-wing-down corrects for the aircraft’s natural trimmed tendencies and weight distribution, making a stable hover easier to maintain.

Choosing other attitudes would place the helicopter well out of trim, requiring larger cyclic corrections to hold position and increasing the likelihood of drift or instability in a hover.